THE TERMLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR EXONIANS
HILARY TERM 2014
Welcome... to the latest edition of Exeter Matters, the termly electronic newsletter for Exonians.
RECTOR’S NEWS Just as Hilary Term drew to a close came the news of the death of Professor Marilyn Butler, my predecessor as Rector. It filled me with sorrow. She was a transformative Rector, and not just because she was the first female head of any of the ancient colleges in Oxford or Cambridge. Her warmth and her scholarship left their stamp on the College which I inherited and has made my job easier and more pleasant. I owe her a great deal. There will be a memorial service in the College Frances Cairncross Chapel on Thursday 24 April at 3.30pm. All are most welcome. It has not been an easy term. Our students boycotted the Dining Hall for two weeks, distressed by the charge we make to defray a third of the costs of running the Hall. We have begun negotiating an alternative way to finance those costs, through a meal plan which we hope will seem a fairer solution to this vexed problem. We carry most of the costs through our vacation conference and summer-school business and through commercial dinners – but we would rather use our scarce cash to offer financial aid to our poorer students than to relieve the whole student body of the entire bill for overheads. It’s a tough balance. The most cheerful event of the term was undoubtedly the Men’s Football Cuppers
Prof Marilyn Butler Final, played against St Catz, which I watched at the Iffley grounds on a sunny Sunday evening. We have some remarkably good footballers in College just now, including three members of the Blues team, one of them the Captain. In a nail-biting game, they reached half-time without scoring, one goal down. And it was a heart-stopping 20 minutes into the second half before they equalised – and only in the final three minutes that they scored the winning goal. It is the first time we have brought home the vast trophy since 1974. We’ll give them a High Table dinner on April 27th, and will welcome any Old Members who want to use their dining rights to join us that evening. We are almost ready to start knocking down the nastier parts of our Walton Street buildings. The building industry’s inflation forecasts shot up last autumn while we were working our way through the delays to our planning application, and we have Cuppers Glory had to work hard to hold costs in check and decide where to alter the design to reduce
| 2 HILARYMICHAELMAS TERM TERM2014 2010 expense without sacrificing quality and style. With luck, we will be able to swing the sledgehammers just about the time we celebrate Founder’s Day at the start of April. Before that, I am heading for Asia: first, to a conference we have organised in Wuxi, birthplace of our most famous Chinese alumnus, the author Qian Zhongshu, and then to our party in Hong Kong. After Founder’s Day, and the weekend celebrations, we have our special Law Day, and then a visit from our Honorary Fellow the Queen of Spain at the start of term. We have another party planned in New York, and then at the
Qian Zhongshu end of June a fabulous Ball. Finally, through my last summer, I want to remember the members of College who lost their lives in the First World War. I plan to visit their graves and memorials, mainly in Flanders and northern France, in the first fortnight of September, to leave an assurance that the College has not forgotten them. There will be details on the College web site in the next few weeks. We will need volunteers to visit some of the more far-flung graves (see the College’s Roll of Honour on the web site), and we hope to raise the money for a plaque in the Chapel to commemorate College staff who died in the war, and the three Exonians whose names are not recorded in our beautiful First World War memorial. Floreat Exon!
First World War Memorial Frances Cairncross
DEVELOPMENT OFFICE NEWS Walton Street plans formally approved Excellent news! The plans for Exeter’s redevelopment of the former Ruskin College site on Walton Street have now been formally approved. The College’s “third quad” has been designed by Alison Brooks, who was named one of Britain’s 500 most influential people by Debrett’s in January.
Exeter marks campaign successes to date Exeter has published a guide to the College’s Exeter Excelling campaign. The guide celebrates the achievements and generosity of alumni and friends of the College and sets out the College’s ambitions moving forward. You can view the guide by clicking here.
Telethon campaign commences A team of 14 students is calling alumni worldwide between 15 March and 2 April as part of Exeter’s spring telethon campaign. The students will be updating alumni on College news and forthcoming events and asking for a 700th anniversary gift to Exeter. If you speak to a student, we hope you enjoy your conversation!
Inaugural careers event to celebrate 35 years of women at Exeter On 5 March Exeter College held its inaugural careers event to celebrate 35 years of women at Exeter and highlight some of the professions they have gone on to enjoy. Chaired by Rector Frances Cairncross, four leading alumnae in the fields of writing, publishing and journalism spoke about their career paths and offered informal advice over dinner to a group of Exeter graduates and undergraduates.
| 3 HILARYMICHAELMAS TERM TERM2014 2010 700th anniversary events in full swing Alumni and students have continued to enjoy events marking the College’s 700th anniversary. Recent events include the Mathematics and Physical Sciences Symposium, the Humanities Symposium, JK Rowling in conversation with Jeri Johnson, Lessons in Leadership, and the City Lecture. We hope to see as many alumni as possible at upcoming events this year.
700th anniversary memorabilia available now! To mark the 700th anniversary celebrations, Exeter has a range of commemorative merchandise available to buy now including: • Piper Heidsieck Rare 2002 award winning vintage champagne, just £70 a bottle • Commemorative ale brewed using hops from the Rector’s garden • Watercolour cards with four evocative depictions of Exeter College • The commemorative book, Exeter College: The First 700 Years • Exeter College alumni publications, including signed copies of Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales and Roger Bannister’s The First Four Minutes To order merchandise email [email protected] or call 01865 279619.
COLLEGE NEWS Exeter mourns death of Professor Marilyn Butler Exeter College is very sad to announce the death on 11 March of Professor Marilyn Butler, Rector of Exeter College from 1993 to 2004. There will be a memorial service held in the College Chapel on Thursday 24 April at 3.30pm. You can read the Guardian newspaper’s obituary here.
Queen Sofía of Spain to visit Exeter College Queen Sofía of Spain will visit Exeter College on 29 April 2014. Queen Sofía is an honorary fellow of Exeter College and gives her name to the Queen Sofía Research Fellow in Modern Peninsular Spanish Literature, held by Dr Daniela Omlor. Queen Sofía will meet and hear from members of the University who teach and research the Spanish culture and language including Exeter fellows and students. Exeter College AFC wins Cuppers final Congratulations to Exeter College AFC for winning the football Cuppers final against St Catherine’s College. St Catherine’s led 1–0 at half time but Exeter played with more positive intent in the second half and triumphed 1–2. It is 40 years since Exeter last won the Cuppers trophy. Here Graham Howell (1972, Jurisprudence) recalls that momentous day.
Lauren Kedar (2013, Earth Sciences) named in Boat Race crew Congratulations to Lauren Kedar (2013, Earth Sciences) who will row at six for Oxford in the women’s Boat Race on 30 March. Lauren has previously raced in the rowing Junior World Championships. We wish her and the Oxford crew the very best of luck.
| 4 HILARY TERM 2014 Dr Joanna Dunkley wins Fowler Prize Dr Joanna Dunkley, Exeter Fellow in Physics, has won the 2014 Royal Astronomical Society Fowler Prize. The Royal Astronomical Society announced the winners of its 2014 awards and medals on Friday 10 January. Dr Dunkley received the Fowler Prize in astronomy for her work with the NASA WMAP satellite, the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and, most recently, the ESA Planck satellite.
Alan Cherry wins the Geographical Association’s Curry MSc Prize Congratulations to recent graduate Alan Cherry (2009, Earth Sciences) who has been awarded the Geological Association’s Curry MSc prize for his MSc thesis entitled “Structural and Metamorphic Evolution of the Lower Crust Granulites in the Northern Oman/UAE mountains”. Mr Cherry’s work was praised for its succinctness overall, and the quality of the tectonic evolution chapter in particular. We also congratulate current Earth Sciences student Dean Khan (2013) who has won a prestigious BP STEM Scholarship. The scholarship is competitively awarded on the basis of a formal application, numerical and verbal reasoning tests, and a face-to-face interview with BP.
UNIVERSITY NEWS Oxford announces honorary degrees for 2014 Six leading figures from the worlds of science, the arts and religion are set to receive honorary degrees from the University of Oxford this year. They are the Most Reverend Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, Sir Anish Kapoor, Mr Robert Silvers, Professor Wallace Broecker, Professor Jean-Marie Lehn, and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Museum of Natural History reopens following restoration After a 14-month roof restoration project, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History reopened its doors to the public on Saturday 15 February. Since reopening the museum has staged events and tours to welcome visitors back. The restoration involved more than 8,500 glass tiles being individually removed, cleaned and resealed with a mastic silicone. Where necessary replacement glass tiles were handmade to match the Victorian originals.
Ashmolean Museum displays Cézanne masterpieces The Ashmolean Museum’s stunning new exhibition, Cézanne and the Modern, has opened. The exhibition features 50 masterpieces of late-19th to mid-20th-century European art from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection. Highlights include Paul Cézanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire, Vincent van Gogh’s Tarascon Stagecoach and Amedeo Modigliani’s portrait of Jean Cocteau, as well as an outstanding suite of 16 watercolours by Cézanne. £12m investment to develop gene therapies for cause of blindness Nightstar, a new spin-out company from the University of Oxford and its research commercialisation company Isis Innovation, is to receive a £12 million investment from Syncona, an independent subsidiary of the Wellcome Trust. The company has been formed to develop and commercialise therapies for retinal dystrophies – degenerative conditions that affect vision.
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OLD MEMBERS’ NEWS Exonian receives New Year’s Honour Exonian Dr Geoffrey Hanlon (1968, Physics), a GP and RCGP examiner, has been awarded an MBE for his services to Primary Care in Leicestershire. Dr Hanlon was one of only five GPs on the list of New Year’s Honours. Dr Hanlon completed his first degree in physics at Exeter College and later studied pre-clinical medicine before moving to Birmingham for his clinical training. He has been a practicing GP in Loughborough for 31 years.
Lord Stephen Green speaks at Exeter @ the Saїd Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint (1966, PPE), formerly Minister of State for Trade and Investment and Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc., spoke at the Saïd Business School recently on ‘The Global Shift from West to East: Opportunities and Challenges All Round’ as part of the Exeter @ the Saїd series of talks. You can watch a video of his lecture and read more here.
Exeter honours Qian Zhongshu Many alumni know that JRR Tolkien studied at Exeter College. But fewer realise that it is also the college of one of China’s most renowned authors and scholars, Qian Zhongshu, author of Fortress Besieged. Qian came to Oxford with his wife and studied at Exeter College as a graduate student in 1935-37. In March 2014, Exeter College, in conjunction with the principal university in Qian’s home city of Wuxi, is holding a unique international conference to explore the ways in which his time in Europe influenced the thought and work of this distinguished writer. The conference continues today and tomorrow (19 and 20 March), and is being generously hosted by the School of Humanities at Jiannang University. Exonians in print Dr John Hughes (1950, PPP) has published his latest book, The Mafia Court: Corruption in Chicago. The book tracks the Mafia bosses of Chicago from 1910 until the present, explaining their effect on the corruption in the courts in Cook County, Illinois. Touching upon the history of mob influence, including the dealings of infamous Al Capone, The Mafia Court asserts both the positives and negatives of organised crime participants who are also functioning members of the Chicago community. Craig Raine (1963, English) has published a collection of essays entitled More Dynamite. The book anthologizes essays by Craig Raine written between 1990 and 2012. Mr Raine is a poet, critic, novelist, Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford and editor. The essays cover subjects ranging from Kafka to Koons and Beckett to Babel.
Call for alumni news This year’s copy of the Register, for our 700th anniversary year, will be edited by Rector Frances Cairncross. She would welcome news items from alumni of between 50 and 100 words. Email [email protected].
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EVENTS English Faculty: “British” World War One Poetry Spring School, 3–5 April Margi Blunden, daughter of the First World War poet Edmund Blunden, will be remembering her father and his work at the World War One Poetry Spring School run by Oxford University’s English Faculty on 3–5 April 2014. Margi will recall life growing up with a father deeply affected by the Great War and shed light on his literary achievements. There will also be discussion groups and lectures to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the war.
Founder’s Day celebrations, 4–6 April Central to the whole 700th anniversary year’s celebrations, Founder’s Day celebrates the foundation of the College in 1314 and all that has been achieved at Exeter and by Exonians during the last seven centuries. A full weekend programme including tours, academic lectures and family friendly activities is planned for all who wish to attend on Saturday 5 April and Sunday 6 April. Formal registration has now closed, but please do contact the Development Office if you would like to attend – [email protected], 01865 279620.
Exeter College Chapel Choir tour of USA, 6–15 April Exeter College Chapel Choir has announced its tour schedule for the Easter vacation. The choir will be touring the east coast of the USA between 6th and 15th of April. If you can join them for a performance do please show your support. The tour schedule is available to view here. The College Choir will also sing Evensong in Westminster Abbey at 5pm on Tuesday 22nd July. Do come and listen at what is sure to be a wonderful evening.
Law Day and Dinner, 9 April Join speakers representing a diverse range of Exeter’s Law and Jurisprudence alumni for an exploration of various themes encompassing law, including Law’s Dominion, Access to Justice and Law at Oxford and Exeter Then and Now. The evening will end with a grand banquet in Hall. Click here to register.
Social Sciences Symposium, 17 May Loosely themed “Welcome to the ‘Post-American World’? The West and the Rise of the BRICS”, the final Symposium in Exeter’s 700th anniversary lecture series will examine the tremendous political, economic, and cultural shifts that are currently transforming the world as a result of the rapid rise of the so-called “BRICS” (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and other emerging powers. Click here to register. | 7 HILARY TERM 2014 Young Alumni Garden Party, 31 May Alumni who matriculated after 2000 are invited to join contemporaries for Pimm’s, strawberries and ice cream in the Rector’s Garden before heading down to the river to cheer on Exeter’s boats on the last day of Summer Eights. Click here to register.
Families in the Fellows’ Garden, 31 May Exonians and their families are warmly invited to this new event at Exeter. Parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren are welcome to join us in the morning for fun and games in the Fellows’ Garden. Exeter’s student- led charity, ExVac, will be selling cakes and snacks, and will organise games of croquet, lawn darts and hide and seek. Click here to register.
ECBCA Dinner, 31 May Exeter’s Annual Dinner for current and former members of the Boat Club Association is the perfect excuse to celebrate or commiserate with generations of rowers on the final day of Summer Eights. More information will be made available soon. Please email [email protected] to register your interest.
AND FINALLY... Exeter alumni lead Oxford University tours to the Adriatic and Aegean coasts Exeter alumni Professor Robin Cormack (1957, Lit Hum) and Dr Jeremy Paterson (1963, Lit Hum) will each lead Oxford University tours to the Adriatic and Aegean coasts respectively later this year. The tours are open to University alumni. Click here to read more.
Exeter student launches Run Africa Toni Weis (2007, Politics) has launched a tourism company for running enthusiasts, Run Africa. Run Africa is a UK-based tour operator specialising in running-themed travel to Eastern Africa. They give runners the opportunity to train with some of the fastest athletes in the world, discover the continent’s vibrant running culture, and immerse themselves in the landscapes and routines which have produced generations of Olympic champions. Find out more here.