FOREVER: KEELE for Keele People Past and Present Issue 8//2013
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FOREVER: KEELE For Keele People Past and Present Issue 8//2013 Keele University Contents Who’s Who in the Alumni P1 P6 and Development Team P2 P4 Dawn-Marie Beeston: I graduated from Keele in 2011. I enjoyed my time here so much I didn’t want to leave and last year I was fortunate enough to get a position in the Alumni and Development team. When I’m not at Keele I spend my time with my horses, dogs and family. P8 P10 John Easom: I studied at Keele back in 1980-1981. After twenty years in the Civil Service I moved on to international trade development and then finally got back to Keele in P12 P14 2005. This is the best job of my life. If I could do it wearing skates my joy would be complete. Union Square Lives Fireworks and lasers lit up the Students’ Union Building and the sky above as alumni, students, staff and local residents gathered on 28 November 2012 to witness the official lighting of the ‘Forest of Light’ P18 P32 at the heart of the campus. The 50 slim gleaming stainless steel columns – each Emma Gregory: one representing a Class of Alumni since I started with Keele in 2012. I trained as a 1962 encircle a central plinth inscribed Vet Nurse but being allergic to fur created with a phrase echoing our founder, Lord a bit of a barrier! After four years in the A D LIndsay of Birker: “Search for Truth in Civil Service, it was time for a complete the Company of Friends”. career change. Since starting at Keele I have gained a wealth of knowledge and Union Square Lives On the interaction with an eclectic mix of students past and present makes every On the same night as the lighting of the day great! Forest of Light, Neil Smith (1980) flew in from New York to open the remodelled Contacts ground floor of the Students’ Union Building. Neil is the only person ever to Alumni & Development Office Front Cover Photo serve as both SU and AU President. Directorate of Marketing & Communications, Innovation Centre 2, by Keele student Keele University, Keele ST5 5BG, United Kingdom Matt Thompson During the renovations the illuminated www.keele.ac.uk/alumni Union Square bar sign – so memorable for Alumni & Development Manager – John Easom | +44 (0) 1782 733370 | [email protected] Keelites from the 1990s and 2000s – had Alumni & Development Assistant – Dawn-Marie Beeston | +44 (0) 1782 733856 | been rescued from a skip. It was auctioned [email protected] The views expressed in Forever: Keele and will be preserved in memory of the ‘old’ Alumni & Development Assistant – Emma Gregory | +44 (0) 1782 733286 | [email protected] are not necessarily those of the editor, Union Square. The winning bid of £200 by Fundraising Manager – Robin Cross | +44 (0) 1782 733003 | [email protected] alumni or Keele University. Pritpal Singh Nagi went to local charities. 01 Keele International: Our Man in Cairo The late Paul Rolo, a founder member of all, the EU Delegation (diplomatic mission) the Keele faculty, was a man of many parts. which I head has a staff of about a hundred As Professor of International Relations, he Europeans and Egyptians to cover all had to be. The IR course he coordinated this, and managing them can be quite an back in the 70s, actually a triple honours interesting proposition. in economics, politics and history, was a Egypt will likely be my last post in a career little like the reality of diplomacy today: that after a few years of HMG service and his small IR group was akin to a modern in the private sector has been devoted to foreign ministry, trying to give coherence ‘taking Europe to the World’. Beginning to a host of subjects that in substance were in Brussels 30 years ago, we went first driven by others, often better resourced to Ethiopia in the late 80s, spent most and each with their own agendas. of the 90s and early noughties as EU But using a combination of authority – Ambassador in Jamaica and Jordan, then he was also Deputy Vice-Chancellor and back to Brussels for a decade, where I was a formidable negotiator, as I discovered the Asia Director and out again to Libya when I was Union President – intellect and in 2011 as the revolution unfolded there. charm, he somehow managed it. Such Notice I say ‘we’. That is code for my wife were his diplomatic skills. He was also an Randa and a gaggle of kids, all of whom extremely kind man, as indeed were most of are now (semi) independent and as far his colleagues at that time, infused with the as I can tell relatively undamaged by the tenets of Lindsay’s homespun philosophy. Bedouin lifestyle that we have imposed Paul’s seminars in the Chancellor’s building, on them. laced with his dulcet tones, smoke from his Apart from Paul Rolo, there are other beloved Chesterfields and sharp-edged abiding connections with those halcyon discussions of late nineteenth century days spent in the Sneydian Groves. One is diplomatic history were, to coin a phrase, my link with the European idea: while at most agreeable. Keele I discovered Europe through working Fast forward 40 years to Cairo, where I am for the yes vote in the 1975 referendum, now the European Union’s man in Egypt, and I remember knocking on doors in and reflecting on life’s connections: just a Silverdale, explaining the merits of the then few weeks ago I found out that Paul Rolo in EEC to the good burghers of that fine old fact hailed from Alexandria, which given its town. Memory fades, but I recall reactions extraordinary ethnic and linguistic diversity ranging from utter bewilderment, through was the perfect place for nurturing a 20th ‘capitalist plots’, to one very dignified century IR professor. No wonder he was so old lady who had lost her husband at El good at it. Alamein (another Egyptian echo there) and was for anything that would help We arrived here last February, a year prevent another European catastrophe. I after the Egyptian revolution erupted in wish I could remember her name. Tahrir Square. That revolution is far from over, and the country is still immersed As important, I wish we all could remember in a difficult and messy democratic the essential reason for the EU in the first transition that makes my life extremely place. But as I said, memory fades and it is interesting but also challenging: in the past no longer enough to invoke Armageddon year, we have seen numerous elections, to justify Britain’s continuing engagement changes of governments and endless in Europe. I have spent most of my life since street demonstrations. Keele outside of the UK, and while I love to come home I am the first to admit that I The EU is a major player here: since the am out of touch with public opinion there. Lisbon treaty, we are responsible for But frankly, I am worried by recent trends political coordination at European level toward little Englander-ism. There are far and in a volatile situation like this we must too many opportunistic interests, whether make sure that we get our messaging in the media or elsewhere, whose negative right, whether on democratisation, human views on Europe go unchallenged. Time rights, security or foreign policy. And given for another real debate, perhaps? Egypt’s place at the heart of the Arab world, our stance here has repercussions for the In the meantime, I am eternally grateful region. This is complex when you consider for the Keele experience, and I can only that for the first time we are dealing with wish the University and its students all a new phenomenon here: a democratically that is good for the future. elected, Islamist-led administration. Jim Moran (IR, 1976) We’re also the country’s major civilian assistance provider and its main trade and investment partner. And we deal with the Arab League, which has its HQ in Cairo. In 02 03 Americans get the Premier League treatment American exchange students at Keele have Keele lecturer Dr Jon Parker (American lent their support to Premier League Studies) set up the link with Stoke City footballer and fellow American Geoff FC and said “This was a fantastic chance Cameron. In January 2013, thirty American to experience British culture and get to exchange students met compatriot know the local community first-hand. It Geoff Cameron at the Britannia Stadium. will teach our visiting students more about The Stoke City FC player was very eager England and Stoke-on-Trent than I could to meet our American cousins, who had possibly get across in a classroom. This drinks in Delilah’s bar, watched the match is one of the things they will remember and explored the Stadium before posing and talk about for years to come when for photos with the statue of Sir Stanley they return to America.” Matthews. Geoff Cameron observed, “It’s The Keele connection with Stoke City FC Keele’s University Challenge in 2013 great to hear some American accents is not new… Sir Stanley Matthews, Gordon in Stoke!” Banks OBE and Peter Coates (the current owner) are all honorary graduates of Keele’s team for University Challenge has Keele University. made it through to the filming stages for the 2013 BBC series. Filming started mid- way through February and will continue until the team get knocked out (or, more probably, win the title).