Biography | Catherine Stihler — The Union on St Mary's Place Where Students Made Her President

People treat a university rector as someone who first met the campus from a distant office.

Catherine Stihler ran this student building from the inside.

The Students' Association of the University of St Andrews occupies a purpose-built block on St Mary's Place, postcode KY16 9UZ.

The men's and women's unions had already combined when the association moved into these premises in 1973.

In the 1994-95 academic year the student body elected her president of the Association.

She was an undergraduate reading geography and international relations.

The presidency put her on University Court two decades before she returned as rector.

She finished a joint honours MA in 1996 and an MLitt in international security studies in 1998, still at St Andrews.

The same street still holds the union.

A 2013 refurbishment changed the interior.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete found in the roof in 2023 forced later repairs, including a long closure of the nightclub floor.

The pin is the public association building on St Mary's Place, not a student flat.

Photo: David Iliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons