UNIVERSITY yourTHE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS 2010 – 2011 Lucy takes centre stage A REFRESHING NEW VOICE IN BRITISH THEATRE page 17 BRIGHT SPARKS : SUPPORTING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS page 12 WINDOW ON TO ANOTHER TIME : LIFE IN RANMOOR HOUSE page 18 WIN Crucible theatre tickets and a signed Enron script see pages 16 and 17 www.sheffield.ac.uk/alumni: your UNIVERSITY : 00 Contents COVER STORY REGULARS Exciting and 04 University news 17 innovative theatrical event 10 Connect Diary of events and alumni benefits Lucy Prebble’s play dramatises an infamous 22 Kaleidoscope financial scandal Exploring the diverse group of people associated with the University of Sheffield 28 Global perspective FEATURES 30 Your Convocation Bright sparks 31 Honours and awards Supporting young entrepreneurs 12 32 Your notes and news Three generations to Catching up with our alumni 14 a solar economy Solutions for the UK’s renewable energy sources 28 18 14 The Crucible reborn 16 £15.3 million redevelopment for cultural landmark Window on to another time 18 Photo archive illustrates life in Ranmoor House I didn’t know they did 06 20 that at Sheffield… Research in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health 12 09 The Development and Alumni Relations Office is your contact Join us on Facebook – search for ‘University of Sheffield Alumni’ point for the University. If you have any questions and become a fan. or feedback, please contact us: The University of Sheffield is an exempt charity (X 1089) DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE Editor: Kate Horton Public Relations The University of Sheffield Design: White Light Media www.whitelightmedia.co.uk 267 Glossop Road Printing: Benham Goodhead Print Limited Sheffield S10 2HB, UK Cover: Lucy Prebble (DAVID LEVENE/GuardiaN NEWS & MEDIA LTD 2009) Tel: +44 (0)114 222 1071 Copyright © 2010 The University of Sheffield Fax: +44 (0)114 222 1044 Email: [email protected] This publication is available in different formats. To request Website: www.sheffield.ac.uk/alumni an alternative format please telephone +44 (0)114 222 1303. 02 Comment Vice-Chancellor Professor Keith Burnett CBE, FRS Standing together Shared values in hard times quality teaching and research. We need to It is my great pleasure as always to address During difficult times, people tend to be ready to explain to others the essential the alumni of the University of Sheffield show their true colours. Under pressure, importance of what we do, and to fortify – former students of an outstanding we need to unite around what most binds our own priorities even in the face of institution which has once again been us together – our values. difficult times. cited as firmly within the top 100 higher It is important for each of us in life to In the 1970s I was a pupil in Bridgend education institutions around the world. be guided by our principles. In the same in Wales. My school motto was taken from Yet 2010 has of course been a year of way, I believe it is essential that we as a The Mabinogion, the ancient mystical saga enormous challenges. To issues of climate University are thoughtful and deliberate of the Welsh people. It reads in Welsh A fo change, health and well-being and how we about defining the things which are pen bidd pont, which translates as might all live richer, fuller lives has been important to us as a community. But “To be a leader, be a bridge”. This advice added a global financial context in which despite a policy and funding climate has never felt more pertinent. the economic concerns of banks have which give very real cause for concern, During tough times, we need to stand spread to nations, governments and all I firmly believe that we also have reason together. As a University, we are determined the areas of work which they support. to be confident. to do this. I would thank all of our alumni for In many of the countries in which our your generous support and encouragement graduates live and work, these issues United we stand in ensuring today’s students and scholars are being addressed through significant Building on our common passion to can continue to uphold the values which political and economic change. Here in ‘discover and understand’ – and to apply Sheffield holds dear. the UK, a new coalition has taken on the that understanding in the wider world task of government and we are beginning – will ensure Sheffield comes through to understand what the likely programme tough times stronger, as it has before of stringent public cuts will mean for in its history of over a century. For that higher education, for current and future reason, I have asked the whole University Professor Keith Burnett CBE, FRS students and for this University. to focus on our core values of the highest Vice-Chancellor to the 2010 issue of Welcome Your University magazine. THIS YEAR SEES THE LATEST reunion events to visit the new buildings that dramatic expansion to the award-winning surround the Brook Hill roundabout – Jessop Union of Students. The building project West and the Information Commons – as will substantially improve the services, well as the new-look Union and the student activities, representation and support residences at Ranmoor and Endcliffe. I think available to our students. I’m sure that you’ll find plenty to excite you as well as to jog many of you have memories of the original your memories of your time at the University. building – named the Graves Building after its benefactor JG Graves – which was the Lost alumni? first purpose-built Union in the country, We know that we are not in touch with all opening in 1936. The developments in the of our former students. If you have friends subsequent 75 years have ensured that or family who went to the University, the Union continues to be at the heart of please ask them if they hear from us. If the student experience at Sheffield. We not, please encourage them to get back are very proud of the work of the Student in touch and we will be happy to include Officers who have been so enthusiastic them on our mailing list to receive future about this latest addition to the building. copies of Your University. The campus has undergone several changes in the last decade – changes Miles Stevenson, Director of Development, that make a visit to the University quite with the Alumni Relations team: (left-right) Helen Booth, Claire Rundström and an experience for our alumni. I invite you Miles Stevenson Alison Muir. to take the opportunities offered by our Director of Development www.sheffield.ac.uk/alumni: your UNIVERSITY : 03 THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE UNIVERSITY’s NEW From Student Villages at Endcliffe and Ranmoor took place on 26 May 2010, with guest of honour alumnus Dan Walker (BA History 1998, MA Journalism Studies 1999), the presenter of Football Focus on BBC1. The celebration brought the University’s £160 million The Edge Student Villages project to a successful conclusion. The scheme involved the demolition of Earnshaw, Sorby and Ranmoor Halls of Residence, together with Wolfson Flats and Woodvale Flats, the Hedge and their replacement by contemporary accommodation for to single undergraduates, mature students and families. The Ranmoor Village provides accommodation for 1,100 students in modern apartments with The Ridge as the social hub of the site. Together with The EndcliffeV illage and its social hub, The Edge, which opened in 2007 and is home to around 3,500 students, the new accommodation is a far cry from traditional halls of residence. A living yew tree hedge – The Hedge of Friendship – has been installed within the grounds of The Ranmoor Village, representing the lifelong friendships and lasting connections made by students at the University. Designed by artist Jo Fairfax, the hedge wraps around one of the oldest oak trees on the site. When two people meet in the archway, sensors detect them and light panels glow red. Pat McGrath, Director of Accommodation and Campus Services, said, “The Hedge of Friendship is such Student accommodation at The Ranmoor Village and (above) a fantastic concept and perfectly illustrates the relationships a detail of The Hedge of Friendship. which begin in University accommodation and last a lifetime.” The best gets better! THE UNION OF STUDENTS HAS CONSTANTLY BEEN development which will strengthen our ability to enhance the reinventing itself since its first building opened in 1936. The student experience and attract new students to Sheffield. I’m Graves Building, named after local business magnate and passionate about the facilities available to the students at the Union benefactor J G Graves, now houses the Interval cafe bar. The last and, although it is already the hub of the University social scene, major rebuild was in the early 1990s, which added a dramatic the refurbishment will create an even bigger and better Union glass frontage and facilities including a 400-seat lecture theatre, with top-class facilities to suit our diverse student body.” informal study space, meeting rooms and catering outlets. The current £5 million project, due to be completed in August Follow the new build’s progress at 2010, is renovating current facilities as well as creating new www.sheffieldstudentsunion.com ones. Union President Paul Tobin said, “This is a really exciting 04 The first of the brave MEMBERS OF THE SHEFFIELD UNIVERSITY SPELEOLOGICAL Society (SUSS) were the first explorers to enter a vast underground cave network on the Greek island of Crete. The 2009 expedition saw the six-strong caving team descend more than 550 metres below ground to discover a vast hidden cavern the size of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.