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1Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
CAMBRIDGE IN AMERICA NEWSLETTERREPRESENTING THE COLLEGIATE UNIVERSITY
ISSUE 23 AUTUMN 2012
Emily Burns (Corpus Christi 2011), aproducer and tour manager of the Footlights2012 tour show, “Perfect Strangers,” reports:
After sell-out shows in London, at theEdinburgh Fringe and at venues across theUSA, the Footlights are rounded up theirinternational tour show for 2012, “PerfectStrangers,” with a final home-run where it allbegan – at the ADC Theatre Cambridge.When the final bow was taken on the 6th ofOctober, the show was seen by over 15,000people at twenty different venues.
Their time in America was the highlight ofa tour six months in the making. After flying
in to Logan Airport, “Perfect Strangers”opened to a sold-out house at ImprovBoston.With some last-minute rewrites to keep allcultural references continent-specific the showwent down fantastically, and the Footlights
INSIDECantabs tour the US…............................1College News…………....................……4Americans at Kings........................…..17Janeway honored……......................…17V-Cs speech………...................………18Gurdons Nobel….….......................…..19Artists and Archives….......................…20
“Perfect Strangers” cast, Second City, Chicago, l-r: Pierre Novellie (Corpus Christi), Phil Wang (Kings),Emma Powell (Homerton), George Potts (Homerton), Jason Forbes (Jesus)
Cambridge Footlights Showcase ComicTalents to U.S. Audiences
Cambridge Choristers, Comics, Actors, DebatersCrisscross North America
2012 has seen an unprecedented multitude oftalented young Cantabrigians touring theU.S., from Florida to Oregon and fromBoston to the Bay Area, and across theCanadian border. At each appearance theyhave dazzled audiences with their wit,artistry, and charm. Cambridge alumni haverelished these opportunities to re-connectwith their Colleges and the University, andlocal audiences have been introduced toCambridge’s heritage of performing artistry.
Tallying up all of their nearly 60performances, the Choirs from Christ’s,Selwyn, Sidney Sussex, and Trinity Colleges;actors from the Cambridge America StageTour (CAST), performing Shakespeare’sAntony and Cleopatra; and the quick-firingcomedic Footlights appeared in a total of 18states and two provinces. At each venue localCambridge alumni proudly joined their localneighbors in applauding the manifold talentsof these current Cambridge students. Severalof these tours are recapped below, in thewords of participants. For others, see theirrespective mentions in the “College News”section of the Newsletter.
If you can help book a local venue for afuture visit by a Cambridge choir or theatertroupe, please go to the performers’ websitesfor contact details, or be in touch withCambridge in America at [email protected]
Check the “Upcoming Events” section ofCambridge in America’s website, www.cantab.org for news about Cambridgeperforming artists visiting the United States.Soon to arrive will be the Endellion Quartet,the chamber ensemble in residence atCambridge, performing Beethoven at NewYork City’s Metropolitan Museum inFebruary, and the King’s College Choirvisiting East Coast cities in April (see page 9).
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2 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
Joel Fenster (Selwyn 2011), DebatingOfficer of the Cambridge Union Society,reports:
The Cambridge Union, the world’soldest debating society (founded in 1815),pays an annual visit to the United States.For nearly a century we have sent a team ofdebaters to schools and colleges across thecountry, teaching the art of debate tothousands of students. Maria English(Corpus Christi 2010), a leadinginternational debater who took part in ourmost recent tour, this past April, describedher experience:
Cambridge StudentsBring DebatingProwess to USCampuses
Maria English and Tom Powell in a workshop withManchester Community College students
The Cambridge Union and Worcester PolytechnicInstitute teams after a formal show debate
were honored to be the opening show of the
Boston Comedy Arts Festival. The company
were then hosted at Yale and then Harvard,
performing to staff and students at both
colleges before visiting their American
counterparts at the Harvard Lampoon.
The two New York City shows at UCB
Chelsea and UCBeast were next on the
itinerary and both played to sold-out houses
and wonderfully enthusiastic audiences. The
group then drove to Philadelphia to perform
as part of the Philly Fringe at the Adrienne
Theater and enjoyed a three-day run in
downtown Philadelphia. Next on the tour was
a double bill at Carnegie Mellon, in
Pittsburgh, and with a standing ovation from
the full house of over 400 students at the
second performance of the evening, their
penultimate show in the USA, was a real high-
point of the trip. Following an overnight drive
to Chicago the Footlights went on to round up
the tour by performing at arguably the most
prestigious comedy venue on the tour – The
Second City Chicago – before flying back to
the UK the following evening.
With over 2,500 miles driven across the
three weeks in September, the whole company
had an incredible time in the USA and were
thrilled to meet alumni and ex-Footlights
every step of the way. Their thanks go out to
their wonderful hosts and producers in each
state and at each venue, without whom none
of this would have been possible.
For more about the Footlights, go to
www.footlightstour.co.uk/2012/(Program note: Fifty years ago, in 1962,
the Footlights made their first Edinburgh
Fringe appearance, including John Cleese and
Graham Chapman in a show produced by
Trevor Nunn).
“Having been lucky enough to attend the2012 Cambridge Union America Tour, it’sclear to me that the Tour demonstrates thebest of what debating can do. America hasproduced some of the world’s most famouspublic speakers and most lively public policydebates, but there is huge variation in theextent to which opportunities are availableto college students to participate in formaldebating. Through touring, our Cambridgecontingent had the chance to introduceBritish parliamentary debating to Americanstudents, share our own skills and motivatestudents to see the wonderful possibilitiesdebating can offer to think critically.
“At each college we visited, we ranspeaking workshops and teamed up withlocal students for a formal show debateattended by the wider school community.Each school offered a very different, butequally rewarding experience. At our firststop, Manchester Community College inHartford, Connecticut, the students hadnever debated before. One very motivatedteacher was in the process of establishing adebate society and used our visit as a meansof sparking student interest. Other collegeswe visited have a longstanding relationshipwith the Cambridge Union, where wedebated for auditoriums packed out withlively audiences.
“The topics we debated were wonder-fully diverse, ranging from whether
pornography is a public service, to themerits of Obama’s healthcare plan. AtWorcester Polytechnic Institute we enjoyedsharing a ‘comedy debate,’ a much-lovedtradition at the Cambridge Union, with thecollege improvisation group. One collegeused the show debate as a contribution to areal policy debate occurring at schoolregarding the publishing of teacher feedbackreports. As part of our preparation for thedebate we interviewed students and teachersso we could understand their variousperspectives and best present them in thedebate.
“The America tour was one of thehighlights of my time at university. I felt it was an overwhelmingly positiveexperience for both our Cambridgecontingent and the schools that hosted us,and brought home for me the real value ofdebating.”
The 2012 tour also included BryantUniversity in Smithfield, Rhode Island andCentral Connecticut State University in NewBritain. The Cambridge Union is currentlyin the process of organizing the 2013 tour.
If you, or an organization with whichyou are associated, may be interested intaking part, please contact Joel Fenster [email protected].
For more about the Cambridge UnionSociety, visit www.cus.org
“This house believes porn is a public service,” at Central Connecticut State University
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3Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
Selwyn College Chapel Choir Toursthe US, September 2012
From Sarah MacDonald, Director of Music:30 members of Selwyn College Chapel Choir (26 undergraduate
and post-graduate singers, two Organ Scholars, one Director ofMusic, and one Dean of Chapel) set out last July for an Americanadventure with great anticipation. The weather here in the UK wascool though passable, and had been for most of the spring. We flewin to Boston, arriving in the midst of last summer’s infamous heatwave, and found ourselves in temperatures about 18 degrees Celsiusabove anything most of us had ever experienced. All complainingabout the UK’s cold wet spring ceased rather quickly!
After a day of sight-seeing in Boston, including, of course, a tripto the Other Cambridge, we began the musical side of the tour witha rehearsal in the mysterious Anglo-Catholic gloom of the Churchof the Advent, and a lunch-time concert in the mosaic splendor ofTrinity Copley Square. Our next stop was New Haven, where wesang a concert in the red-brick gothic Christ Church, and ate ourlunches en masse in the grounds of Yale. No trip to that part ofAmerica would be complete without a few days in New York City.We were fortunate indeed to be able to stay in St. Thomas ChoirSchool, on West 58th Street, in the heart of Manhattan. We wentup the Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building, rode theStaten Island Ferry and visited the Statue of Liberty, walked throughTimes Square, shopped on Fifth Avenue, picnicked in Central Park,and marvelled in the excitement of this greatest of cities. Of course,we did do some singing as well while we were there. We sang Massat Our Lady of Refuge in Brooklyn (followed a most wonderfulCaribbean curry provided by the parish), Eucharist at St. ThomasFifth Avenue (with Bishop Selwyn’s statue overlooking us from thereredos), and Evensong and a recital in the Cathedral Church of St.John the Divine (or, as it is fondly known, “St. John theUnfinished”), the largest cathedral in the world. We had a lovelymeal in V&T Pizzeria opposite the cathedral with local Selwynalumni.
After New York we headed inland to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,where the Cathedral of the Nativity (of course) hosted us for aconcert (see page 15). We then travelled south to Wilmington,Delaware, where we sang a concert in Immanuel HighlandsEpiscopal Church. In both places, the welcome was warm (quiteliterally) and the choir had a wonderful time. We then carried onto Philadelphia to sing a concert in the Episcopal Cathedral, andattended an organ recital on the legendary Wanamaker organ inMacy’s department store. Our final destination was WashingtonDC, where we sang two Masses in the imposingly Anglo-CatholicSt. Paul’s Church, K Street (where the choir learned to genuflect),and ended the tour with Evensong in Washington’s magnificentNational Cathedral. It was a busy but rewarding and enjoyabletour; the welcome we received everywhere was overwhelming, thechoir got on famously and had an excellent time together, and, theirsinging was outstanding (if I do say so myself).
I would like to express my thanks to those of you who helpedwith the tour, especially to those in the States who provided food,host family accommodation, audiences, financial support, etc. I amextremely grateful to Cambridge in America, who providedinvaluable assistance and publicity, and I am thrilled to report thatthere was at least a handful of alumni at every single performancewe gave!
Trinity College Choir tour toUSA/Canada – July 2012
Hannah Partridge,Trinity 2010, ChoirMember 2010-2013,reports:
The beginning ofJuly is an excitingtime to visit thesouthern UnitedStates. Everything isbig: the roads, thecars, the churches,the organs, theportion sizes, thewelcome and, mostof all, theIndependence Dayfirework displays.This summer, TrinityCollege Choir touredNorth America,spending a week inGeorgia andTennessee beforeheading to Ontario,Canada.
Our program was a mix of old of new,ranging from Tallis Salvator Mundi to a piece by Trinityscomposer in residence, riks Eenvalds, A drop in theocean. The a capella repertoire was contrasted with worksaccompanied by our organ scholars, including Bachs Lobetden Herrn and Elgars Great is the Lord.
The diversity of our repertoire and the decision tomemorize the entire program proved to be a winningcombination. Memorization frees us from our copies, allowingus to really engage with the audience and the music in a waythat seems to be becoming a hallmark of the Choir.
You might think that after seven concerts, seven standingovations and countless enthusiastic conversations at post-concert receptions, members of the current Choir mightbecome immune to praise. You would be wrong. As over2,000 organists and choir directors (probably the mostinformed and critical audience well ever face!) rose to theirfeet in the cavernous First Baptist Church, Nashville, theatmosphere was electric. This invitation to sing as part of theNational Convention of the American Guild of Organists(AGO) was a personal highlight of an unforgettable tour.4 July Eucharist, Christ Church Cathedral, Nashville5 July Concert for AGO National Convention,
First Baptist Church, Nashville6 July St. Marys Cathedral, Memphis8 July Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta13 & 15 July Elora Festival, Ontario, Canada14 July Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario18 July Festival of the Sound, Parry Sound, Ontario
Trinity College Choir performing in theCathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta
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4 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
CHRISTS COLLEGEwww.christs.cam.ac.uk
Rosie Applin, Alumni Officer, writes:
As always at this time of year, there is a feeling of anticipation and excitement in the air, as the College prepares to welcome new and
returning students. One of our new arrivals this term is a new College Teaching Fellow in English, Dr. James Wade. James (originally from Alaska;
from 2008 to 2009 he was a lecturer in English at Penn State). As I write, Professor Frank Kelly, the Master of Christ’s, is in Washington DC to be
inducted into the National Academy of Engineering. The membership recognizes Dr. Kelly’s contributions to “the theory and optimization of
communication networks.”
On May 31 the new Men's 1st VIII boat, “The Todd of Trumpington,” was officially named by Dr. Yusuf Hamied (m. 1954) in the presence of
Lord Todd's son, Sandy Todd, and the Master, as well as alumni and current members of the Boat Club. Lord Todd was Master at Christ's between
1963 and 1978 and during his time as Master he also served as President of the Boat Club. Dr. Hamied and the Boat Club thought it was fitting
therefore to name the latest Men's boat after him in honor of his achievements and contributions to the College and Boat Club. The Boat was used by
the M1 crew for the annual May Bumps in June, where we had a record 160 attendees (alumni, Fellows, staff and guests) in the Christ’s area cheering
on our boats!
On September 15, Christ’s boaties from a variety of vintages came together to row down the Cam in a gala regatta and enjoy a dinner in Hall
together with current Boat Club members. Christ’s alumnus Dr. Kieran West (m.1995) gave a speech and a toast to the Club, reflecting on his time at
Christ’s and the importance of his rowing experiences there in terms of his path to Olympic gold. It was a very special occasion and marked the
beginning of our campaign to raise funds for the College boat house redevelopment project.
We hope those of you on the West Coast of America had the opportunity to enjoy one of the performances by the Christ’s Choir tour this summer!
Don’t forget to keep up with all forthcoming alumni events here: www.christs.cam.ac.uk/alumni/events/forthcoming_alumni_events/Keep up with all the latest College news on our social media:
• @christs_college
• “Christ’s College” on Facebook
• “Christ’s College, University of Cambridge” official alumni Linked In group
CHURCHILL COLLEGEwww.churchillians.net
Professor Raymond Goldstein, Fellow of the College, was part of the Anglo-American team who have been awarded the Ig Nobel
Prize in Physics this year for their work on the complex mathematics that control the shape and movement of a human ponytail. The
22nd Ig Nobel Awards were awarded at Harvard at the end of September and are a spoof of the Nobel prizes. To find out more, the article which
appeared in the Guardian on September 21 can be found at www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/sep/21/ig-nobel-awards-dead-salmon.
Jeffrey Evans, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA, has been awarded an
Overseas Fellowship at Churchill for the 2012 Michaelmas and 2013 Lent terms. “I feel fortunate,” said Evans. “It's a great academic environment
with a powerful intellectual atmosphere." He will be in residence for six months at Cambridge during his sabbatical from Bucknell beginning September
24.
The College is pleased to be taking part in two joint collaborative events: “1972 Cambridge: Churchill, Clare, King’s and Lucy Cavendish –
A Celebration of the Admission of Female Undergraduates.” These Colleges pioneered the admission of female undergraduates in 1972. Churchill,
Clare and King's Colleges were the first all-male Colleges to accept female students and Lucy Cavendish, a graduate college at that time, accepted
their first intake of female undergraduates over the age of 21. We will be celebrating this 40th Anniversary with two events: the “1972: Gala” on
November 17 at Clare and King’s Colleges and “1972: Conversation” on April 20, 2013 here at Churchill and at Lucy Cavendish College. Full details
of this exciting collaboration can be found at www.1972cambridge.co.uk.
The College is pleased to announce that it has published four new books to add to its collection. The books available include:
• Canon Noel Duckworth: An Extraordinary Life by Michael Smyth (U67)
• Flying Roast Ducks: Recollections of Sir Hermann Bondi 1983 – 2005 by Paula Halson
• Graffiti: Artworks and Poems from Churchill College by John Kinsella
• New revised edition of Corbusier comes to Cambridge: post-war architecture and the competition to build Churchill Collegeby Mark Goldie
The books and other 50th Anniversary merchandise can be ordered from www.chu.cam.ac.uk.
CLARE COLLEGEwww.clarealumni.com
During this academic year, the College celebrates the 40th anniversary of the admission of women. Along with King’s and Churchill,
Clare was the pioneer among Cambridge colleges of this landmark moment in the University’s history. There will be various events
during the year which alumni are welcome to attend – please see the website for details.
Dr. Gillian Tett (1986) will be speaking at the Cambridge in America Day in San Francisco on 3 November. Gillian is a highly distinguished
journalist and currently Managing Editor of the Financial Times in New York.
The tenth anniversary of a scheme set up for Clare students to research at Massachusetts General Hospital was celebrated at the College in the
College News
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5Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
summer with a dinner in Hall. Mark Poznansky (1986), Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has sponsored and worked with
Clare medics at his laboratory in Boston for the last decade and he attended the dinner along with many of the alumni of the scheme.
Another long-standing opportunity in the US for Clare students is still going strong
in the form of the JD Watson Scholarship. Set up by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sir
James Watson, a Clare student is able to carry out research at the Cold Spring Harbor
Institute near New York City each summer. Alexandra Batchelor (2nd year Natural
Scientist) was this year’s Watson Scholar and spent several weeks researching how
cocaine affects optimal decision making.
The Master and the Paul Mellon Professor of American History, Tony Badger, has
announced to the Governing Body that he will retire as Master in September 2014. He
was recently elected a Fellow of the Society of American Historians (founded 1939),
recognizing his literary distinction in the writing and publishing of history and biography.
He has written extensively on FDR and the New Deal as well as JFK and Martin Luther
King.
CLARE HALLwww.clarehall.cam.ac.uk
Easter term was marked by the visit of the Tanner Trustees in Cambridge.
The Tanner Trustees are all members of institutions which present annual
Tanner Lectures on Human Values. Those include Harvard, the University of Michigan,
Princeton, the University of California, Stanford, Yale, the University of Utah, the
University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge (represented by Clare Hall). In
collaboration with the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, we organized a series of events to
welcome these very special guests. A private dinner took place at the Fitzwilliam Museum.
The new exhibition, “The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China,” was
opened for the occasion. Guests were welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir
Leszek Borysiewicz, the President of Clare Hall, Sir Martin Harris, and the President of
the Fitzwilliam Museum, Timothy Potts.
Our next Tanner Lecturer will be Professor Joseph Leo Koerner from the Department
of Art History of Harvard. His lecture entitled “The Viennese Interior: Architecture &
Inwardness” will take place on Tuesday 13 November. The next day, four respondents
will comment on his lecture: Dr. Steven Beller, Edmund de Waal (author of The HareWith Amber Eyes), Dr. Irena Murray and Professor Peter Pulzer (Oxford).
Our annual Alumni Weekend took place on 21, 22 and 23 September. Highlights
included a concert of music for voice, violin and harpsichord by French composer
Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729), and a lecture by Fellow Professor Malcolm
Longair and Life Member Deborah Howard on “Recreating Lost Soundscapes: Music,
Architecture and Acoustics in Renaissance Venice.” A video of the lecture should shortly
be available on our website. We were thrilled to have with us US Life Members Professor Norman Hammond and Professor Evan Zimroth who
travelled to Cambridge especially for these events.
Music and art continue to thrive at Clare hall. In September, we had the opening of a retrospective exhibition of picture by Anthony Nicholson.
The “Intimate Engagements” chamber music series is entering its sixth season and we are looking forward to a French Piano Series by pianist Patrick
Hemmerlé at the beginning of October.
All of the activities described above enable our students and Visiting Fellows to benefit from an academically, culturally and socially enriching
time which would not be possible without the ongoing support from our Life Members, particularly those living in America. Once again, we would
like to extend a “Thank You” to all of you who continue to make the Clare Hall experience come alive.
CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGEwww.corpus.cam.ac.uk
The Development Office has undergone a radical change of staff in the past few weeks, with Francesca Watson moving on to a new
job at Newnham College, and Lucy Sparke on maternity leave looking after Alana Grace (who arrived mid-September). We now
have Rowena Bermingham as our new Development Officer and Robin Morton who is with us for a year. Both are recent graduates of other Cambridge
colleges and they have displayed amazing qualities of enthusiasm, assimilation and integration, already helping to organize the opening of the new
accommodation building at Leckhampton with the Chancellor (see photo), the MacCurdy Dinner (’86-’89) and a raft of other events and duties, all
within days of starting.
We are pleased to say Old Member and multi-award-winning garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith will be giving a guest lecture at the New York
Botanic Gardens at the end of January and would be delighted to meet any Corpuscles who wish to go. Details are on the College and Botanic Gardens
websites.
New Fellow Commoner Tim Walker, chief executive of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, will also be in New York when the orchestra performs
at Lincoln Center on 8 and 11 March 2013. Details on the LPO website. Tim will be our Fellow Commoner for a year and hopes to be involved in
the musical and academic life of the College while still performing the highly demanding roles of CEO and Artistic Director of the LPO.
Boston research alumni at Clare; the Master and Dr. Poznansky in back row
Tanner Trustees at Clare Hall: back row l – r: JohnHennessy (Stanford), Nick Brown (Linacre College, Oxford),
Robert Birgeneau (UC- Berkeley), Sandi Pershing, DavidPershing (University of Utah), Martin Harris (Clare Hall,
Cambridge), Dave Peterson, Stephen Tanner Irish, BarbaraHarris, Jennifer Falk, Mark Matheson, Ken Coleman, Mary
Sue Coleman (University of Michigan). Front row l – r:Andrea Hennessy, Teri Peterson, Mary Catherine
Birgeneau, Fred Quinn, Carolyn Tanner Irish, The Vice-Chancellor, The Chancellor, Charles Rosenberg, DrewGilpin Faust (Harvard), Shirley Tilghman (Princeton)
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6 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
Other Corpus musicians Tarik O’Regan and Nicholas McGegan are busy on the music front in the US. Tarik
will be conducting the world premiere of his work Now Fatal Change at Trinity Church, Wall Street, NYC on
28 December, and then on 2 February 2013 he conducts another world premiere, this time of his work NightCity, at Vassar College. After that he will be performing in Texas at several venues. For more details, see his
website. Nic McGegan will be conducting a program of Haydn and Mozart with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s on
November 1 in NYC, before moving to California for a series of concerts, and on to Kansas City to conduct
Carl Orff’s ever-popular Carmina Burana.
We were very touched by the very warm welcome the Master, Bursar and the Right Honourable Sir Terence
Etherton received on their recent visit to Hong Kong. The aim of the visit was to celebrate the 40th anniversary
of the Nicholas Bacon Law Society and to meet Old Members. We hope this is the first of many visits to the
region.
Finally, we are absolutely delighted to draw to your attention the election of Dame Jacqueline Wilson, much
loved children’s author and former children’s laureate, as an Honorary Fellow of the College at the end of last
academic year. Dame Jacqueline will be admitted on October 3. The next edition of the Pelican will carry an
interview with her.
DARWIN COLLEGEwww.dar.cam.ac.uk
Professor Willy Brown, the 5th Master of Darwin College, retired from the Office on the last day
of September 2012 and he leaves with a fond farewell and our very best wishes for the future.
As, of course, is the nature of continuity in Cambridge, we immediately welcome the new Master, Professor
Mary Fowler, who will soon be broadly involved in the life of the College, and intends especially to become
involved with alumni/ae events and happenings. We hope that many of you will meet her in person soon.
Life in College has been hectic over the summer, particularly in the lead up to the change of Master. Willy
Brown had painstakingly to clear out his office and, after 12 years in post, had around 70 boxes of papers, books
and journals to decant ... not taking into account all the recycling bags he filled!
September saw a further major change in College, as Matthew Edwards joined us as Fellow and Domestic
Bursar. The appointment should allow Peter Brindle, our Bursar, to devote more time to Alumni and Development
matters in the lead up to the College’s 50th Anniversary Year in 2014-15.
And, of course, we have just matriculated the largest intake cohort yet – over 250 happy, excited ... maybe,
a little apprehensive ... new students!
The College is also busy with preparations for the 28th Darwin College Lecture Series that will run through
the Lent Term 2013. The series theme is “Foresight,” inspired by a BBC series on the same topic. The Lectures
are co-organized by Darwin alumnus and Junior Research Fellow Dr. David Feller. David arrived to take a PhD
at Darwin College in 2005, after a “first career” as an attorney in Hawaii. After two years of commuting to the
Pacific on term breaks, he realized he preferred the weather in Cambridge (!) and has lived here since. Perhaps
surprisingly, his PhD had a Darwin slant, not a legal one, and arose from his sideline as a dog breeder, which
prompted him to apply Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory to the development of dogs.
The Alumni Office has just redesigned the Alumni/ae E-Bulletin, and we have had some great feedback. If
you would like to sign up for this, please go to http://eepurl.com/pLzBH. We also have an active Facebook page where you can find many beautiful
pictures of the College and news of students, alumni/ae and Fellows: www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/facebook. We have even ventured onto Twitter:
www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/twitter. However, we do like to keep in touch, and it is always a pleasure to talk to you and to read your emails and letters,
so do keep in touch any way that suits you – our contact point is [email protected].
DOWNING COLLEGEwww.downingcambridge.com
Downing College Master Professor Barry Everitt and President Richard Stibbs made a visit to the United States in June. In
Charlottesville, Virginia, 18 former Thomas Jefferson Visiting Fellows attended a reception kindly hosted by Ellie and Richard Wilson.
Richard, Commonwealth Professor and Chair of the Department of Architectural History at University of Virginia, was the Thomas Jefferson Visiting
Fellow in 2007. The Thomas Jefferson Visiting Fellowship program between Downing and the University of Virginia has been running successfully
since 1978. We look forward to welcoming our new Virginia Fellow to Downing soon.
The Master and Senior Bursar Susan Lintott also held a dinner in New York at the Harvard Club with alumni in June. They brought an update
from Downing and a progress report on the Catalysis Campaign. They were delighted to see Sam Baker (2005), George Cross (1961), Peter (1997)
and Erin Forester, Felicity Gore (2006), Flemming Heilmann (1954), Eugene McCarthy (1954), Andrew O’Neill (1991), Maggie Pack and David
Wallis (1979).
In November 2012 the Senior Bursar Susan Lintott and Development Director Gabrielle Bennett will be in California and look forward to seeing
as many Downing alumni as possible. On October 30th Downing alumnus Howard Jacobson (1961, English) will be in New York publicizing his
new book with an event hosted by Cambridge in America.
As 116 new undergraduate matriculands arrive and Downing embarks on another academic year, the Catalysis Campaign will reach its halfway
point. The overall goal is £20 million. At the time of writing the Campaign has reached £9.8 million and will reach the £10 million mark shortly. The
The Chancellor, Lord Sainsbury, andthe Master, Stuart Laing, opening
the new accommodation building atLeckhampton, September 14
Professor Willy Brown
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7Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
College is extremely grateful to all alumni donors who have gotten us to this important milestone.
We are always keen to hear from our US based alumni so please do stay in touch with news and updates at [email protected] or
+44 1223 334850. Also, should your travels bring you to Cambridge, please do come for a visit.
EMMANUEL COLLEGEwww.emma.cam.ac.uk
Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE, MA, MPhil, currently Director-General of the National Trust, became Master on 1 October in succession
to Lord Wilson of Dinton. She is on leave for 2012-2013. The Vice-Master, Dr. Richard Barnes, is acting as Master during that time,
and Lord Wilson of Dinton is assisting him, especially regarding the College’s relations with its Members and supporters.
The then Master, Lady Wilson, and Development Director were delighted to meet many Members and guests in Cambridge (MA), Boston, San
Francisco and Los Angeles in September. There were excellent turnouts from all generations. The Emmanuel Society is planning meetings in Boston,
New York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. If you would like to attend, or can help, please contact the Emmanuel Society
Office ([email protected]). To receive early notice of these meetings, please ensure the Office has your e-mail address; this will
also enable you to receive the College’s email newsletter, which is also available at www.emma.cam.ac.uk/collegelife/newsletter.
See also the Emmanuel in America group on Facebook, and follow us on http://twitter.com/EmmaCambridge.
The College’s connections with Harvard were celebrated in the UK in June with the annual Harvard Dinner in College. Amongst those present
were former scholars from Emmanuel to Harvard and vice-versa, and some of the scholars who are going to Harvard in September. The Master, Lord
Wilson of Dinton, gave the after-dinner speech. We are looking forward to welcoming more scholars from Harvard, Williams College and elsewhere
in the US to Emmanuel this academic year, and four of our recent graduates are embarking on Herchel Smith Scholarships at Harvard.
By the time you read this Newsletter, you should have received your copy of the Emmanuel Review. It shows the very welcome and generous
support of Members and friends in the USA to the New World Fund, and how these donations are being used. The Fund has made a substantial
contribution to the costs of refurbishing and extending the Library, and is acknowledged in glass on the ground floor. The plaque to John Harvard has
been moved into the building and we are always pleased to show it to you so do get in touch when you plan to visit.
Please let us know when you are next in the Cambridge area as it would be good to see you in College; a little warning to the Development Office
(+44-1223-330476; fax +44-1223-762793; e-mail [email protected]) is always helpful.
FITZWILLIAM COLLEGEwww.fitz.cam.ac.uk
It’s been a notable six months for Fitzwilliam Fellows, students and alumni. Professor Kevin
Brindle became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Professor David Cardwell
has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He also becomes the first director of the new
collaborative research center set up by the University of Cambridge and the King Abdulaziz City for Science
and Technology (KACST), in Saudi Arabia. The center will form the platform for cooperation in scientific
research, the transfer of technology and the training of postgraduate students and post-docs within the two
institutions.
This year, Fitzwilliam students achieved their highest ever Tripos results, with at least one First in each of
22 different subjects and many outstanding individual achievements at all levels. Congratulations to all our
students, supervisors and Directors of Studies!
Congratulations are also in order to two notable legal alumni. Dean Spielmann (LLM 1989) has been elected
vice-president of the European Court of Human Rights and Sarah Asplin QC (Law 1979), the first female Fitzwilliam Law graduate to take silk, has
been appointed a justice of the High Court. In College, Fellow and Director of Studies Nicola Padfield becomes Reader in Law, and new Law Fellow
Ms. Niamh Dunne joins Fitzwilliam to strengthen our provision. The College is now planning the launch of a campaign to support teaching in Law.
One of our current students – and Siren – Alice Higgins organized a Choir tour for twenty-eight singers to Canada and America in July. Fellow
(and alumnus) Dr. James Aitken ([email protected]) will be in Chicago at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting, 16-20 November. James
is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity, and welcomes contact with alumni.
Alumni in the US may have heard that the Master will be retiring on 30 September 2013, after eight years in post – he first joined Fitzwilliam as
a Fellow in 1973. Professor Lethbridge said: “September 2013 still seems a long way off! I hope that, during my final year, I will have the opportunity
to say au revoir to many alumni. A handsome new book, Fitzwilliam: The First 150 Years of a Cambridge College, will be published in September
2013, and I urge you to subscribe.”
The Master will be in San Francisco, 1-6 November (Board of Directors of Cambridge in America); in Seattle, 30 November – 3 December
(Trustees of Gates Cambridge); in Washington DC, 30 January – 3 February 2013; and in New York City in June next year. He welcomes the opportunity
to arrange meetings with alumni, who should contact Dr. Helen Bettinson, Development Director, in the first instance.
GIRTON COLLEGEwww.girton.cam.ac.uk
In March this year, we launched our new fundraising campaign, A Great Campaign, with the aim of doing three things by the College’s
150th Anniversary in 2019: increase the funds available for teaching, rationalize the College’s estate, and secure a sustainable financial
future for the College. A key part of our strategy for the College’s estate is to build a new wing at Ash Court. Construction of this 50-room wing is
now in progress (see picture) – when completed, it will provide excellent rooms for students during the academic year, and, outside of term, will
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8 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
enable us to attract a higher grade of residential conference business. The new wing will also incorporate
a gym, erg room, the rebuilt swimming pool, and the refurbished squash court. Support for this project,
and for the other areas of A Great Campaign, is greatly appreciated, and if you are interested in obtaining
more details, please do get in touch with the Development Office.
In August this year, Girton Fellow in Economics Dr. Kamiar Mohaddes visited Washington DC, and
enjoyed meeting Girtonians based there at a drinks reception at the Cosmos Club, which was kindly hosted
by Professor Angela Stent. At the time of writing, the Mistress is about to head to the USA, accompanied
by the College’s new Development Director, Elizabeth Wade. They are very much looking forward to
meeting alumni and friends of the College in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.
Finally, thank you again to all our donors and supporters, and please do remember that if you happen
to visit the UK, you are most welcome to call into Girton. If you let the Development Office know in
advance we can usually provide tea/coffee, or lunch!
GONVILLE & CAIUS COLLEGEwww.cai.cam.ac.uk
On October 1st, at the beginning of the new academic year, Professor Sir Alan Fersht (Caius
1962) became the 43rd Master of Gonville & Caius College. He is however only the 42nd
holder of the post, as Thomas Batchcroft, the Grover Cleveland of Caius Masters, was deposed by
Parliamentarian factions following the execution of the Charles I in 1649, only to be restored to the
Mastership in 1660, at the age of 88. (Sadly, Batchcroft’s second term didn't last a year).
By the time this newsletter reaches your mailboxes, all US Caians will already have had the opportunity
to meet Sir Alan as he visits New York at the end of October with the Director of Development, Dr. Anne
Lyon, and the Deputy Director of Development, James Howell.
In May, Sir Douglas Myers (1958), the College’s most generous living donor, unveiled a new memorial
commemorating the greatest benefactors to the College since its foundation in 1348. The green slate
monument, commissioned from the renowned Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge, is headed by the three
founders of the College, Edmund Gonville, William Bateman, his Bishop, and John Caius who re-founded
the College in 1558. Below them are the names of our most significant supporters from every century of
the College’s history. At the other end of the list are donors from this century, including Rita Cavonius
from Quincy, Massachusetts, who named the conference center in the Stephen Hawking Building for her
late husband Dick, who had been a visiting scholar at Caius. Since the completion of the wall, the names of Shirley and Christopher Bailey have been
added to it, in recognition of their most recent donation. The Wall still has space for future benefactors, as many as are already there, so quite possibly
for the next 664 years!
Our annual telephone campaign in March raised £642,727, almost exactly $1 million. This is not only a record for Caius, but probably represents
the best ever performance by an Oxbridge College, during a two-week telephone campaign over the Easter Vacation. It is also the eighth year in
succession that our telephone campaign has raised over £400,000 ($600,000). We are grateful to many of you for your generous support.
We are always delighted to welcome our US alumni back to their College and hope to see many of you here during the coming year. For further
information, please contact the Development Office (+44 1223 339676 or [email protected]).
HOMERTON COLLEGEwww.homerton.cam.ac.uk
Homerton has gone through many changes since the arrival of Dr. Kate Pretty as Principal in 1991. She has been instrumental in the
complete rebuilding and refurbishment of the College, adding six new large buildings, including the new Library, the Mary Allan
Building and four new halls of residence. As well as presiding over a program of academic diversification, gaining us full College status in the
University and with it our Royal Charter, she has held down such senior posts in the University as Head of School, Head of Faculty, and of course as
a Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Kate has recently announced that this year will be her last at Homerton, so the search is on for a new Principal. Her legacy to
both Homerton and Cambridge is prodigious, but she has asked that her parting gift should be a fund for graduate students. This is an area of great
need; almost no public funds are available for our brightest graduates wanting to go on to do a Masters or Ph.D. Many of our former students have
fond memories of Kate and we are confident they will want to support her in this aim. Her departure marks the end of 22 years of hectic and devoted
service; she has secured the future of Homerton in Cambridge, for which we are all deeply grateful. In the next Newsletter we hope to able to report
on her successor.
One of her more recent creations, to mark our coming of age in March 2010, was the Charter Choir. Homerton offers small Choral Scholarships
and more recently an Organ Scholarship. This year, for the first time, Homerton Charter Choir went on tour. A week-long trip to the Alsace involved
performances in several different venues: a rural chapel in the Vosges mountains (Obersteigen), a former Benedictine abbey in the countryside
(Marmoutier), and two Protestant churches in the region’s historic capital city, Strasbourg (St.-Pierre-le-Jeune and St.-Matthieu). The Choir also sang
at the Sunday morning Eucharist at Strasbourg’s Anglican parish, St. Alban’s. The tour was a huge success. Their performances were gratefully
received, with impressive turnouts both in town and country venues. The Choir was given a chance to bond socially over a number of days; this has
not only forged many friendships but also means that they will feel a more cohesive unit on their return to Homerton. Closer to home, the Charter
Choir performs regularly at St. John the Evangelist parish church on the other side of Hills Road, but is essentially a secular choir and sings a varied
repertoire. A future tour of the USA is not out of the question.
Ash Court under construction.
Benefactors Wall in the Great Gate
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9Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
HUGHES HALLwww.hughes.cam.ac.uk/development
During March, President Sarah Squire made her annual trip to the USA, hosting reunions
in Los Angeles and San Francisco. She greatly enjoyed reconnecting with the College’s
American alumni, and hearing their stories and memories of Hughes Hall. On her return journey, the
President held a gathering for alumni in New York, and again was delighted by the turnout and the
opportunity to strengthen the College’s US friendships.
Several of our Research Fellows have recently moved on to the next stages of their careers in America.
Dr. Rafael Dinner has taken up a position with Areté Associates in the greater Los Angeles area. Dr. Sovan
Sarkar is now a post-doctoral associate at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at the "other"
Cambridge in Massachusetts, while Dr. Sohini Chakrabortee is also at the Whitehead Institute working
on the role of intrinsically disordered proteins during stress. Hughes Hall Fellow Dr. Mark Turin, who
directs the World Oral Literature Project and the Digital Himalaya Project, is also an associate research
scientist at Yale.
In sporting news Hughes Hall Boat Club was pleased to have on board Americans Jack Lindeman
(BA Anglo Saxon Norse and Celtic) and Niles Garratt (BA History) who represented Cambridge in the annual Boat Race. Two more American students
hoping to make it into Cambridge University Boat Club this year are Rosemary Ostfeld (MPhil Environmental Policy) trialling to be a Cox and Robert
Otto (MPhil Nuclear Energy) trialling to be an Oarsman – good luck to them both!
The Development Office has been very lucky this summer to have had the help of American alumnus and former MCR President Jeff Cook (1983,
LLM) who devoted his time to volunteer with us in our efforts to search for lost alumni. Jeff focused on reconnecting with his year group from 1983-
84 and responses came from as far afield as India and Pakistan, bringing back some happy memories. Jeff also spent his time living his dream of
coaching on the Cam with Trinity Hall Boat Club.
We are delighted that Hughes Hall 1885-2010, written by Honorary Fellow Prof Ged Martin, has won an award this year from the Cambridgeshire
Association for Local History. If you are interested in purchasing a copy visit www.hughes.cam.ac.uk/bookHughes Hall is always pleased to hear news from our US alumni and to welcome them back to College at any time. If you are planning on visiting
or are interested in helping the College by hosting an event in the US then please contact [email protected].
JESUS COLLEGEwww.jesus.cam.ac.uk
We were delighted (and not a little relieved) that the works to Chapel Court were
completed on time at the end of September, one week before the start of the new academic
year. Over 100 first-year undergraduates are currently in residence there and enjoying the much-improved
facilities and, as the weather turns colder, insulation. Thanks to the hard work of our gardeners in
particular, it is now hard to believe that such a major building project, involving so much disruption, ever
took place.
However, work never stops on the cycle of maintenance and refurbishment of our College buildings.
We are now turning our attention to the fragile state of the Chapel’s stained glass windows. These are
currently being removed one at a time and worked on by specialist conservators offsite at their workshops.
It is not only the glass and lead of the windows which needs attention; much of their surrounding
stonework has crumbled and threatens to collapse. Newly-carved sections are therefore being inserted to
replace the old.
After a hugely successful tour of the east coast in December 2010 (see www.jesuscollegechoir.com/site/performances/tours/america_2010),
the Jesus College Choirs will be returning to the United States in December 2012. This time they will cover the western side with performances in
Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. The Choir have recently released a new Christmas album directed by Mark Williams, Journey into Light, which
is available through the Development Office.
If you would like to be kept informed of the dates and venues for the West Coast concerts please contact: [email protected]
KINGS COLLEGEwww.kingsmembers.org
From Julie Bressor, Fellow and Director of Development:
Many thanks to all of you who supported our two telephone campaigns this year. A news article has been posted on the Members and
Friends website (www.kingsmembers.org) with details, which include the following facts: 18 student callers had 958 conversations, worked 3
overnight shifts, drank 1,449 coffees, dialed 11,355 numbers, ate 143 chocolate bars, received 938 donations and raised £323,000 in support of students
at King's. We very much appreciate the time and consideration you offered to the callers.
We have been delighted to see so many of our US NRM's returning for anniversary, reunion and subject events, and a notable number of Friends
have joined us for the Easter Festival and other special events in the past few months. Do let us know when you are visiting College, or need a Member
or a Friend card; we are happy to help with arrangements. And do let us know when you move or change your e-mail address, so we can stay in touch
with you. We will soon be asking you to identify your postal and e-mail address preferences, in order to send you the information from the College
that interests you in the format you prefer (postal vs. email, etc).
In April 2013, the Choir of King's College will be touring the US; stops include Chicago (April 3), St. Paul, Minnesota (April 4), Philadelphia
Alumni and the President, Palo Alto: HamishHughes, Stefano Orowitsch, President Sarah
Squire, Clare Brown and Zarco Matetin
Chapel Court, Jesus College
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10 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
(April 6) and Washington, D.C. (April 7). We expect to host events in each city, in partnership with the British Embassy and consulates and Cambridge
in America. The Provost, Ross Harrison, and several Fellows will join each of the events planned around the tour.
Keith Carne, the First Bursar, will join me for visits and small get-togethers in Boston, Washington and New York in December. This will be
Keith’s first visit to the States since he was a graduate student at Princeton! We look forward to seeing NRM's and Friends in these areas.
In other news, Professor Michael Proctor FRS is the Provost-elect of the College, to take office following the retirement of Ross Harrison at the
end of July 2013. Michael Proctor came to Trinity College in 1968 to read Mathematics. After Part II he spent a year in MIT as a Kennedy Scholar,
returning to Cambridge to complete his PhD. He served as an Assistant Professor at MIT for two years, and in 1977 became a lecturer in the Department
of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and a teaching Fellow at Trinity College. Mike presently holds the Chair of Astrophysical Fluid
Dynamics and researches and lectures in the Mathematics Faculty and directs studies and supervises at Trinity College. Most recently he served as
Vice-Master of Trinity (2006-2012).
We look forward to hearing from you; e-mail [email protected] or phone +44 (0) 1223 331313.
LUCY CAVENDISH COLLEGEwww.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk
The College was delighted to host its first-ever Alumni Reunion Dinner on Friday 21st
September as part of the University wide Alumni Weekend. The evening was a great
success and was enjoyed by many College alumnae and Fellows, who were very pleased to be joined by
Dame Anne Warburton, the 4th President of the College. On Saturday 22nd September the College hosted
a concert by Gülsin Onay, member of the Lucy Cavendish Combination Room. Originally from Turkey,
Gülsin Onay, is a world-renowned concert pianist whose career has spanned over 68 countries across all
continents, from Venezuela to Japan. Gülsin played pieces by Chopin, Beethoven, Haydn and Turkish
composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun. The concert was followed by a Turkish buffet in her honor.
American criminologist Dr. Tiffany Bergin, the Sutasoma Research Fellow at Lucy Cavendish
College, and Dr. Emmanuela Orlando, the Isaac Newton-Dorothy Emmet Research Fellow at Lucy
Cavendish, have run a conference at Lucy Cavendish on the weekend of 15th-16th September. The
international conference, “Linking Green Criminology with Law: A Socio-Legal Approach to
Environmental Crimes,” addressed topics including “A Green Perspective for Criminology: Some
Thoughts on Ecocide” and “Climate Change and Environmental Harms.” Dr. Bergin and Dr. Orlando are
currently writing up the conference for the Modern Law Review, which supported the Conference. Before
coming to study in Cambridge, Dr. Bergin was at Princeton where she earned an AB with highest honors
in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
One of the prestigious Pilkington Teaching Prizes, recognizing excellence in teaching at the University,
was awarded to Dr. Sue Brindley, a Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College and a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education. From her appointment as
co-ordinator for the English PGCE, taking it from an Ofsted grade 3 to an “Outstanding” in less than a year, Sue Brindley has been noted for her
energy, vision and intellectual leadership.
In the last academic year Lily Huang was awarded the Marie Lawrence Prize for First Class Results in Part IB Medical & Veterinary Sciences.
Lily was born in China but her primary citizenship is now the United States. Before coming over to the UK in 2006, Lily had been at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT).
The College wishes to congratulate Dr. Hong Jin, Ethel Cruickshank Research Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, who has been appointed as
tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-
Champaign in the United States. Dr. Jin will commence her new position in January 2013.We were delighted to welcome back Dr. Barbara Wittman
(1975) who returned to Lucy Cavendish College as a Visiting Scholar on six months sabbatical leave from teaching at the University of Akron in
Ohio (January to July, 2012). Barbara commented on the expansion of the college facilities: “In comparison to our original college facilities, all the
building in the past fifteen years to accommodate an increased student population exceeded all of my expectations.”
MAGDALENE COLLEGEwww.magdalenecambridge.com
Duncan Robinson, Master. CBE, FSA, DL, writes: “The entire Magdalene community
rejoices at the award of the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine to our former Master
and Honorary Fellow, Professor Sir John Gurdon, FRS. His pioneering work in the field of stem cell
research, which began in the 1960s with a series of experiments in the cloning of frogs, has long been
recognized by scientific awards from all over the world. Today he remains as research-active as ever,
often dining at High Table after a day’s work in the Wellcome/CRC Institute for Cell Biology and Cancer
which he helped to establish in Cambridge, and which was named the Gurdon Institute in his honor in
2004. For those of us privileged to know John as a colleague and a friend, it is especially gratifying that
someone who carries his distinction so lightly, and so often with a self-deprecating smile, should be given
the highest international accolade of all. On behalf of the whole College, I salute our Nobel laureate.”
See page 19 of this Newsletter for an appreciation of the work of John Gurdon, written by Magdalene
Fellow Prof. Peter Grubb.
We are delighted to welcome a number of graduate students from the United States. Mr. Vittorio De’
Medici-Rodrigues from George Washington University is taking an MPhil in Politics; Mr. Michael Mager
Dr. Emmanuela Orlando (left) and Dr. TiffanyBergin (right)
Professor Sir John Gurdon with fellow Nobellaureate Nelson Mandela (Honorary Fellow,
2000) at his admission ceremony inMagdalene on 2nd May 2001
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11Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
is joining the College from Harvard to read for an MPhil in Economic and Social History; Ms. Courtney Sato, from Wellesley College, is pursuing an
MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies; and Mr. Michael Sugarman, from the University of California Los Angeles, has joined Magdalene as an MPhil
in Historical Studies. We also welcome Dr. John O. Ifediora as a part–time graduate student in the Faculty of Divinity focusing on Jewish – Christian
Relations.
By the time you read this the Master’s “Farewell Tour” to America will have taken place. Please look out for Magdalene E-Matters at the beginning
of Lent and Easter terms for details regarding our first visit with the new Master during 2013. If you currently don’t receive E-Matters then we don’t
have your email address; please contact [email protected] to update your details.
MURRAY EDWARDS COLLEGEwww.murrayedwards.com
At the beginning of July, the College announced that our President, Dr.
Jennifer Barnes, had decided to resign as President of the College in order
to concentrate on her current leadership role within the University as Pro-Vice-Chancellor
for International Strategy and as a Deputy Vice-Chancellor. The Governing Body of the
College has now begun the search for a new Head of House, to begin at the start of the
2013-14 academic year. In the meantime, Professor Ruth Lynden-Bell will continue as
Acting President.
We were able to celebrate an excellent set of academic results from our finalists this
year, with 93% of them achieving a First or 2:1. There were also some exceptional
performances in a number of individual cases and subjects: 5 out of 7 History finalists
achieved a First; half of our PPS finalists achieved a First; all 3 finalists in Natural Sciences
(Experimental and Theoretical Physics) achieved a First, and half of our Master of
Engineering students achieved a Distinction.
It has also been a busy summer for our alumnae. Over 90 guests joined us in July for our annual New Hall Society Family Day, for alumnae and
their young children or grandchildren. Although the weather was not very favorable, this didn't dampen spirits and everyone had a great time. Activities
included making torches and medals in our Olympics-themed arts and crafts, creating volcanoes and slime in a fun science class, planting flowers to
take home, and learning Chinese. There was also a fantastic magic show performed by William Bearcroft, son of alumna Sandra Bearcroft (née
Kulkarni, 1982), a talented member of the Young Magicians Club. We are already looking forward to next year's event!
In September, we once again welcomed our alumnae back to College for our annual Alumnae Weekend. Guests from a number of Colleges joined
us for a fascinating talk from our Fellow in Slavonic Studies, Dr. Rachel Polonsky, about her book Molotov’s Magic Lantern: Travels in RussianHistory. Our Alumnae Dinner was very well attended, and we were particularly delighted to welcome back groups from 1969 (who were celebrating
40 years since graduation), 1972, 1982, 1992 and 2002.
In the next few months we will be launching our brand new Law Network, for all alumnae, students and Fellows who studied or taught law, and
those who became lawyers subsequently. Our Acting President and Director of Development are planning to visit the East Coast of the US early in
2013 and hope to hold a number of events and meet with many of our alumnae while they are there.
NEWNHAM COLLEGEwww.newn.cam.ac.uk
From Penny Hubbard, Development Director:
We were delighted to welcome Professor Dame Carol Black, FRCP, FMedSci as new
Principal of Newnham College.
Dame Carol holds an eminent position in the world of healthcare. President of the Royal College of
Physicians from 2002 to 2006, she then became Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, a
charity representing all the medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Great Britain and Ireland, a post she
held until 2009. She has also been Chair of the Nuffield Trust for Research and Policy Studies in Health
Services since 2006. In 2011 she completed a five-year appointment as the National Director for Health
and Work, whose task was to provide a new cross-government Health Work and Well-being agenda. Her
independent review Working for a Healthier Tomorrow (2008) received broad cross-party support and
most of its recommendations have been implemented. She has published a second independent review
covering sickness absence, entitled Health at Work.
Dame Carol read History at Bristol University before switching to Medicine. She went on to be a
practicing clinician. Under her guidance as Head of Rheumatology, the Royal Free Hospital became a
leading center for the treatment of connective tissue disease and scleroderma.
Dr. Catherine Seville, Vice Principal, says: “Dame Carol offers the College a wealth of influential
experience in guiding institutions in changing environments. We are excited by the inspired, practical
leadership and supportive approach she has shown in her career to date and believe this will transmit
extremely well to Newnham at a time of radical changes in the higher education sector. As one of Great
Britain’s most highly regarded public figures in healthcare and science she is a role model for talented
young women to aim high and to grasp the opportunities that coming to Newnham will offer them.”
Dame Carol says: “I am honored to have been chosen to work with Newnham, a College which holds
an iconic and pioneering place in women’s education. Its distinguished fellowship and dedication to
New Hall Society Family Day at Murray Edwards
The Principal, Professor Dame Carol Black
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12 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
encouraging and supporting talented young women provides a vital role in an outstanding university. Mentoring young women and preparing them
for the particular challenges they face as they progress through life is something which is close to my heart and which I very much look forward to
continuing.”
Dame Carol has already met Elizabeth Cropper (NC 1963) and Heather Wolfe (NC 1993) of the US Alumnae Committee when she visited
Washington and is very much looking forward to meeting the US Alumnae on the West Coast on 24th February 2013. We are very grateful to Audrey
Richards (NC 1959) who is hosting dinner in her lovely home in Berkeley. Details will be issued later in the autumn; please put the date in your diary.
We also hope to see many of you at the first-ever Newnham Ball being held especially for alumnae, at the College, on 21st June 2013. Please let
us know if you have not received your invitation; details and on-line booking at www.newn.cam.ac.uk/after-newnham/events
PEMBROKE COLLEGEwww.pem.cam.ac.uk
In the Spring Newsletter we were delighted to announce that Pembroke had surpassed its Excellence in Perpetuity campaign target of
£25 million. By the time the campaign drew to a close on 30 June, this figure had risen to £29.05 million. Pembroke could not have
achieved this magnificent total without the support of our American alumni and the College would like to reiterate its thanks to you. Please keep an
eye out for e-mail communications from Senior Fellows over the coming months offering feedback into how this money will benefit and already is
benefiting the College, its students and its academic staff. However, the British higher education system is undergoing a period of flux and Pembroke
needs to face these challenges head on. As well as helping undergraduate students we need to improve our support for graduate students. We will also
be focusing on raising our participation rate from 17% (good for the UK) towards a much healthier 30%.
It has been far too long since Pembroke held a Members’ event in the US and we are pleased to announce that we will be holding a drinks party
in New York (venue tbc) on December 5, hosted by the Master. Sir Richard Dearlove will be accompanied by our Deputy Development Director,
Nami Morris, who recently joined us from Clare Hall. Hopefully a number of the twenty new American students who started this Michaelmas will
also be able to attend. This is the first in what we hope will be a far more regular program of US Member events. We are committed to reinvigorating
our contact with you and will endeavor to visit the US every year.
In the first half of July 2013 the College Choir will be traveling to Boston, New York, and Newport, which will coincide with the 350th anniversary
celebrations of Rhode Island’s Colonial Charter. Watch out for more details via email and on Pembroke’s recently redesigned website
(www.pem.cam.ac.uk) as events are confirmed. If you have not already supplied us with your email address, please send it to
[email protected] to be kept up to date with this and other College news.
Finally, we would like to congratulate Stephen Greenblatt (1964), John Cogan Professor of the Humanities at Harvard, on his Pulitzer Prize for
General Nonfiction, awarded earlier this year for his book The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (W.W. Norton & Co.).
PETERHOUSEwww.pet.cam.ac.uk
Work is about to start in earnest on the Whittle Building in Gisborne Court. Earlier in the summer all the plumbing going to the Birdwood
was redirected, the trees and shrubs that had screened the Birdwood were moved to temporary holding beds behind the William Stone
Building, an old oil tank in the ground beside Fen Court was removed (fortunately a soil test indicated that it had not leaked so there was no need to
remove the soil as well), and the wall at the back of the College was prepared for dismantling. The actual building work has been slightly delayed
because the plans for the tunnel under the building needed modification to take into account the new, larger, fire engines! Contractors are putting up
a large wooden fence across the lower end of Gisborne Court, behind which the new building will arise. We hope that it will be possible to install a
webcam or at least to post regular pictures on the website to show the building’s progress. The College still needs more funds to pay for the building
without depleting the endowment. A number of US-based Petreans have already generously supported the naming of the William Brewster Room. If
you have not done so yet, this is your chance to be permanently associated with the College – so don’t be surprised to receive a call from Saskia Murk
Jansen (the Development Director)!
QUEENS COLLEGEwww.queens.cam.ac.uk
From Dr. Diana M. Henderson, Fellow and Director of Development:
The Queen Mother’s personal standard is flying from the roof of Old Court, the sun is reflecting off the Cam, there is an autumn chill
in the air, so, it must be the beginning of the Michaelmas term!
We welcome 143 new undergraduates and an incredible 200 new graduate students to the College; matriculation is completed, official photographs
have been taken and studies are underway. As you can imagine the College is a hive of activity.
I am delighted to report that we received in funds raised £1.3 million in 2011-2012 with some US$ 6 million currently under negotiation. In
support of our “Forging the Future 575 Campaign” and as a result of very generous donations from Hong Kong and Canada we have funded the
Munro-Greaves Bursary in Pure Mathematics and the Professor Ajit Singh Bursary in Economics. These and other awards will attract top students to
Queens’.
You should all by now have received your personal copy of the 2012-2013 Events & Services Guide. (An on-line version is available at
www.quns.cam.ac.uk/alumni/2012/2013-events). We will host 150 Members and guests to Academic Saturday in October and especially welcome
will be Steven DeWolf from Dallas, Texas who has kindly agreed to give one of the lectures which he has entitled, “Tilting at Windmills: Wind Power
in the Twenty-First Century”.
Anniversary Dinners this term will be held for the matriculants of 1982, 1992 and 1972 and at these we have the pleasure of the company of at
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13Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
least three Members from the US. In the autumn Dr. Peter Mercer (1976), president of Ramapo College, NJ, called in to see us. His visit was very
welcome and as I am sure you know you do not need a specific invitation to come back to Queens’; we are always pleased to see you.
Thank you for your support and encouragement. Do wander around the Alumni pages of the College web site when you have a moment; it is a
great way of keeping in touch; look out for the regular updates on the final stages of the Round Project.
Floreat Domus!
ROBINSON COLLEGEwww.robinson.cam.ac.uk
As the academic year begins afresh, we are looking forward to another full program of events for alumni, their families and friends of
the College. The events range from our traditional Christmas concert on going-down weekend, when the Warden and Fellows also
entertain the Freshers and their parents to lunch in Hall, to dinners and gatherings in Hong Kong, London and Cambridge. Full details can be seen on
the College website at www.robinson.cam.ac.uk/alumninews. We hope that any US-based alumni who are travelling to any of the areas where we
are holding events would like to join us; we would greatly enjoy catching up with you. Please don’t hesitate to contact the Development Office if you
have any questions, or if you would like to host an event in your region.
Looking back over the summer, we would like to thank everyone who took time to speak with one of the current students undertaking our annual
telephone calling program. The students greatly enjoyed speaking to alumni and updating them on College life today and asking for their gifts to help
the College support current and future students. If you still intend to make a gift following such a call, we would be delighted to receive it. For US
tax-payers, gifts may be made to Cambridge in America with a request that the gift be directed to Robinson College at www.cantab.org or, for non-
US-taxpayers, directly to the College at www.robinson.cam.ac.uk/donate. This year’s campaign has raised US $135,000 to date, with some pledged
gifts still coming in and adding to that total. Thank you to all our donors!
Contacts: e-mail to [email protected]; telephone +44 (0)1223 339036.
ST. CATHARINES COLLEGEwww.caths.cam.ac.uk
From Deborah Loveluck (2007), Fellow and Development Director:
Many of you share our affection and vision for St. Catharine's and I am delighted to say
that together we have raised £2.5 million for the College this year. This will be invaluable in securing the
future for all who live and study here. I extend the warmest of thanks from the Master, Fellows and
students for your generosity. These gifts now bring the St. Catharine's Campaign total, including the
Annual Fund, to £17 million.
Of course, much of our recent fundraising has been conducted in aid of the College's newest building,
which is to be called the McGrath Centre. I am particularly humbled by your unswerving support of the
construction of the McGrath Centre. The project is now fully funded, entirely through gifts from our
Members and Friends. Thank you very much indeed. Named in recognition of the major contribution that
Harvey McGrath (1971, Geography) has made to St. Catharine's, it will be at the heart of College life,
providing the long-needed public rooms we have hitherto lacked for lectures, concerts, performances and
supervisions, as well as a new JCR and bar.
Another year of academic success and sporting success in College was aptly rounded off on the
morning of 3 August when George Nash (2008, Engineering) won a bronze medal for rowing in the
Olympics.
Professor Sir John Baker and I will be visiting the U.S. in early December this year. There will be two events on the East Coast:
• Monday, 3 December, Boston – a supper evening hosted by Mr. Michael Davies (1979, Engineering)
• Wednesday, 5 December, New York – a supper evening hosted by Mr. Christopher Jones (1979, History)
If you wish to attend either of these occasion RSVP to Harriet Colley ([email protected] +44 1223 338337). Partners are warmly welcome
at both events.
Our biannual year-group reunions continue to be a huge draw and we look forward to welcoming more of you back in 2013 (6 April for 1972-
1974 and 28 September for 1990-1992). Further information can be found in the Events section of the College website (www.caths.cam.ac.uk/events)
If you are planning a visit, please do let us know and call into the Alumni and Development Office: we are located in A1, next to the Porters'
Lodge. In the meantime, if you feel you need anything, please contact the Alumni & Development Office by telephone (+44 1223 338337) or email
[email protected]; we will be happy to help you.
ST. EDMUNDS COLLEGEwww.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk
From Katharine Cantell, Development Officer:
With a further 19 US students joining the College this year, we now have a total of 61 Americans studying at St. Edmund’s. We are
also pleased to welcome back one of our alumni, James Friedman (PhD, Philosophy, 1970) as a Visiting Scholar this term.
To update you on life here at the College, we have undertaken some major structural work over the summer, with the extensive refurbishment
of the Norfolk Building, together with the renovation and extension of the White Cottage. The Von Hügel Institute has moved into refurbished
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14 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
office space in the Norfolk Building and the White Cottage will be used for additional
student accommodation.
We remain indebted to all the St. Edmund’s alumni and friends who continue to
support the College through their advice and help, or through a gift to the College. We
extend our warmest thanks to you all for your support and interest in St. Edmund’s
and its future. Generous donations from our alumni have enabled the College to assist
many students through the Annual Student Support Fund, in the form of travel grants
and student support awards together with a number of new initiatives, such as granting
Dean’s Awards to students in recognition of exceptional service to the College
community. The Student Support Fund has also been used to provide pastoral care and
practical help to students, such as a workshop to provide advice on technical thesis
writing. The American Alumni awards for 2011/12 of £1000 each were made to
Shidharth Ram and Bridget Senior to assist with research trips and projects in the USA.
If you should find yourselves in the UK, we do hope your schedule will give you time for a return trip to Cambridge and St. Edmund’s. We
recently celebrated the annual Alumni Dinner, at which we were entertained by a speech from one of our US alumni, the author G.M. Malliet.
Over the coming months there will be several events in London and at the College at which alumni are especially welcome. These include the
College Guest Night on 7 December and the College Quiz Night on 19 January. Details of forthcoming alumni events are listed on the College
website and you can also stay in touch with College news via Facebook, LinkedIn and regular e-bulletins.
We would love to hear your news. If you have any comments or questions, or your contact details change, please do contact the Alumni and
Development Office on [email protected].
ST. JOHNS COLLEGEwww.joh.cam.ac.uk
The conclusion of our £50 million Campaign (to our knowledge the most successful single fundraising drive of any Oxbridge
college) was not, of course, an end to our fundraising plans. The need for more resources to support our students, maintain
academic standards, steward our historic buildings and strengthen the endowment is starker than ever, and we hope our Development Programme
will continue to draw the support of Johnians around the globe. We are much encouraged by the results of this year’s Telethon, with almost
£300,000 being raised and 68% of those spoken to making a gift. This includes a significant number of donations from the US. One of the key
goals of the Development Programme is to increase participation rates from the current level of around 20%. Johnians in the US continue to
show the way in this respect, with over 27% having made a gift. We remain grateful for this wonderful generosity and loyalty.
The questionable British summer has not deterred Johnians from attending events in droves. Those who attended the Larmor Award Dinner
in July were treated to a (drizzly) early morning viewing of the Olympic Torch as it was punted along the River Cam through College.
After two years of excavations and renovations the Divinity School opened in October. The complex is a new home for the Admissions
Office as well as containing a purpose-built auditorium. You can find out more about this project in the forthcoming Johnian News.
You can also follow us on Twitter, @stjohnscam, as well as on Facebook. Make sure we have your correct email address so that we can stay
in touch with you and ensure you receive our monthly e-newsletter.
SELWYN COLLEGEwww.sel.cam.ac.uk
From Sarah Harmer, Development Director:
Since our last update in the spring, Selwyn has made two fantastic trips to the US. In July, the Selwyn Choir toured the East Coast
for ten days. They had a wonderful time, and would like to thank all of the alumni and friends who came out to support and welcome them. You
can read more about their trip from Selwyn’s Director of Music, Sarah MacDonald, on page 3.
Then in September, the Master and I spent a week in New York City, and were delighted to meet many alumni during our time there. The
highlight of the trip was a walking tour of the High Line led by Dave Richards (1967), who is a partner at McCarter & English LLP and handled
the transfer of the park rights from CSX Transportation to the City of New York. He
gave Selwyn alumni a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the High Line, which all
thoroughly enjoyed. After the tour, alumni gathered for cocktails and canapés at a local
restaurant. Following on from the event, Selwyn alumni in the New York area are
hoping to start organizing regular informal gatherings; If you are interested in joining
them or hearing about potential meetings, please do be in touch with the Development
Office.
Closer to home, I am delighted to be able to announce that the refurbishment of
Cripps Court has started. The work, which will commence two or three staircases at a
time and started at the end of August, will completely redevelop the inside of the court
and make all rooms en-suite. An extra floor will also be added, giving the College
another 50 student rooms. Scaffolding is up and the builders are in the process of
refurbishing M and N staircase. The work on M and N is due to be finished in March,
when the builders will move on to J, K and L. If you want to follow the progress of
the building works, please do join us on Facebook where we will be posting regular
updates (www.facebook.com/Selwyn.College.Cambridge).
Group photo from the Alumni Weekend, September 2012
The Choir at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, PA
OLIV
ER
KAY, S
ELW
YN
2008
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15Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
Finally, I would like to thank all of our alumni and donors in the US for their continuing support. Selwyn’s overall participation rate rose
from 12% to 15% this year, and we are extremely grateful.
As ever, if you have plans to visit Cambridge or London, please do let us know. We would be delighted to welcome you back to College or
drop down to London to say hello.
SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGEwww.sid.cam.ac.uk
Sidney is saddened to report the death of former Master Professor Sir Gabriel
Horn.
Professor Sir Gabriel Horn MD, ScD, FRS, FRCP served as Master of Sidney Sussex College
between 1992 and 1999. A former head of the Department of Zoology and Fellow of King’s
College between 1962-74 and 1978-92, he was awarded the Royal Society's Royal Medal in
2001 and in 2002 was knighted “for services to Neurobiology and to the advancement of
scientific research.”
Professor Horn worked as Master to increase the size and diversity of our Fellowship and
the quality of the College's facilities. In March 1996 he welcomed HM Queen Elizabeth II and
HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to the College for the unveiling of the foundation stone
of the William Mong Hall, the first-ever visit by a reigning British monarch. The building was
opened by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in 1999, Professor Horn’s retirement year.
Acting Master Professor Richard Penty writes, “Gabriel was an extremely distinguished
scientist, a highly respected former Master of Sidney, but perhaps most importantly a warm-
hearted human being, much loved by all who knew him. He was still playing an active and
important part in the life of Sidney and the Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour and will be
greatly missed by the whole College community.”
Details of arrangements for a memorial event to celebrate Gabriel's life and work will be
published on the College website as soon as they are known.
In other news, Professor Rosamond McKitterick has recently returned from the US where
she gave the Eberhard Faber lecture in Princeton. Professor McKitterick was accompanied on
the trip by a group of her PhD students who took part in a graduate workshop with their
counterparts in Princeton, also early medievalists studying for PhDs.
Meanwhile, Dr. David Skinner, Osborn Director of Music, visited the USA over the Summer
as part of a tour with the College Choir. The Choir enjoyed appreciative audiences in a number
of venues including Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and Memorial Chapel at Stanford University. They also visited Las Vegas, Fresno, Carmel-
by-the-Sea, and finally Santa Barbara. The Choir was featured in both radio and television coverage, and received enthusiastic reviews from
local and state newspapers. The tour was made possible with support from the Parry Dutton Fund and also Ann Mather (1978), who sponsored
both the Grace Cathedral event and the reception following the concert in the Basilica at Carmel Mission.
TRINITY COLLEGEwww.alumni.trin.cam.ac.uk
The College is delighted to announce the very recent installation of Sir Gregory
Winter as Master. The historic ceremony took place in glorious sunshine on the
2nd of October at Trinity College and was enjoyed by an enthusiastic crowd of students, alumni
and staff. Sir Gregory Winter is a protein engineer and best known for his research and inventions
relating to therapeutic antibodies. His research career was based at the Medical Research
Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, and he was until recently the Deputy
Director. He has won numerous scientific awards, and founded three biotech companies:
Cambridge Antibody Technology in 1989 (bought by AstraZeneca), Domantis in 2000 (bought
by GSK) and Bicycle Therapeutics in 2009.
On the 8th of July, we welcomed the Olympic Torch Relay to Trinity. The visit included a
re-enactment of the Chariots of Fire run around Great Court and despite the bad weather and a
very early start we were immensely pleased that so many people turned out on this wonderful
occasion.
Unfortunately, bad weather was something of a theme this year as torrential rain forced us
to cancel both the Annual Family BBQ and the Benefactors’ Garden Party. We were very sorry
not to be able to go ahead with these events and hope for better weather next year.
The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge has become the recipient of a prestigious
Gramophone Award for its 2012 recording of Herbert Howells’ Requiem & other works. It is
the first Cambridge College choir to be awarded this accolade and follows on from its nomination
for a US Grammy Award earlier in the year. The winners were announced at the 2012
Gramophone Awards event at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Thursday the 27th of
September.
Professor Sir Gabriel Horn (1927-2012)
Sir Gregory Winter
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16 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
TRINITY HALLwww.trinhall.cam.ac.uk
From Jocelyn Poulton, Development Director:
Our summer was shattered by the devastating news of the sudden and
unexpected death of Dennis Avery (TH 1980) on 23 July 2012. Dennis Avery’s support of
the College and of the University – made either personally, with his wife Sally Wong-Avery,
or through his various charitable foundations – was exceptional, earning him the Medal for
Outstanding Philanthropy bestowed upon him by the then Chancellor, HRH The Duke of
Edinburgh. All those who had the privilege to meet him will miss his beaming smile, his
interest in people, his energy and enthusiasm and his love of life.
The Master, Professor Martin Daunton, represented both Trinity Hall and the Vice
Chancellor at the funeral in San Diego, and writes the following tribute: “At the funeral
service, Dennis's children and Sally spoke of Dennis as a family man. We then moved to a
Chinese restaurant which expressed another side of Dennis’s life with Sally – his love of
Chinese culture. I was privileged to visit Sally's Chinese school during my visit, and to see
how much they achieved. Over lunch, tributes were paid to Dennis. We all knew how much
Dennis meant to us at Trinity Hall, but we did not know the full range of his generosity –
neither did anyone else. Again and again, we heard of a gift – usually anonymous or
unpublicized – that transformed the lives of people Dennis met. He always wanted to help
people fulfil their potential, and did so with an openness and graciousness that was
remarkable. Dennis was a man who lived modestly and gave generously, not only in material
terms but of himself. He knew how to make friends, not least here at Trinity Hall, and will
be remembered here in College as a man who transformed Trinity Hall and many other
institutions and people. He will remain in the memory of the Hall as long as we survive,
alongside our other benefactors from Bateman to Nathanael Lloyd to the present. Future
generations will not have experienced the warmth and gentleness of a remarkable man. We
will think of Sally in the time to come as she deals with a loss which is obviously all the
more intense.”
The College will be holding a memorial service for Dennis, details of which will be posted on the website once arrangements are in place.
Tributes can be read on the Trinity Hall website www.trinhall.cam.ac.uk/dennisaveryIn this Olympic year, we send our congratulations to Tom James (2002) for winning a gold medal at London 2012 in the Men’s Coxless
IV, and to Emma Pooley (TH 2001) for her strategic approach in the Women’s Road Race which won her fellow team member silver.
If you do find yourselves in the UK, we do hope your schedule will give you the time for a return trip to Cambridge and Trinity Hall,
where a warm welcome awaits you and perhaps a visit to the Old Library. Already, Michaelmas Term has started and the Freshers of 2012
have settled in to the routine and excitement of university life. The College has an interesting and diverse program of events for the coming
academic year, more details of which are given on the website.
We remain indebted to all the Trinity Hall alumni and friends who continue to support the College through their advice and help, or through
a gift to the College. We extend our warmest thanks to you all for your support and interest in Trinity Hall and its future.
WOLFSON COLLEGEwww.wolfson.cam.ac.uk
Thank you to all our members who joined us on August 18 for a reception and recital in the spectacular setting of BargeMusic
on Brooklyn, New York’s East River. Wolfson Fellows Tom D’Andrea – the driving force behind the concert – and Tom Grant
were with us, and we were also delighted that Kim Fink from Cambridge in America was able to join us.
The evening began with drinks and canapés at the Water Street Restaurant & Lounge. We then moved to the concert venue – formerly a
large houseboat – which has been transformed into a concert hall, with the glass wall against which the musicians perform overlooking the
Manhattan skyline. Leading NYC-based pianist, and past performer at a Wolfson Music and Madeira evening, Olga Vinokur was joined by
virtuoso violinist Mark Peskanov, the artistic director of BargeMusic, and cellist Eugene Osadchy in a program of 18th and 19th century gems:
Mozart's C Major Piano Trio, K548, followed by Franz Schubert's effervescent Rondeau Brillant in B minor for violin and piano, and
Tchaikovsky's masterpiece Piano Trio in A minor. Photographs can be seen on our Facebook page at facebook.com/WolfsonCollegeBack at College, we are pleased that ten of our Visiting Academics in the 2011-12 year hailed from the USA. We very much look forward
to staying in touch with you all. As we write, we are looking forward to welcoming our new Visitors at this term’s reception. If you are
interested in applying to Wolfson in this capacity, details can be found on the website at www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/applying/academicvisitorsWe were also delighted to welcome members from the US to our recent alumni reunion. With alumni from eight countries attending, the
event was a lively and international one. Members are invited back to College every five years, and our next reunion will be on 22 September
2013, for those who started at Wolfson during the academic years beginning 1 October 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2003.
Please save the date now if you are in one of these year groups; invitations will be sent closer to the time.
Once again, our US alumni have been the largest group of supporters to Wolfson, and we are enormously grateful for your gifts.
This year we have been able to increase our support for Wolfson students, and we aim to increase our ability to do so even further, with student
support being the main goal for our 50th anniversary in 2015. Thank you so much for all that you do; it really does make an enormous
difference.
Dennis Avery unveiling the Avery Court plaque
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17Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
At the start of Michaelmas Term, 87 newly
minted Gates Cambridge Scholars arrived to
take up their courses of study, including 45
from the United States. One among them is
Daniel Walden, from Berkeley, CA, Oberlin
College’s first Gates Scholar, who will be
pursuing an MPhil in Music Studies at King’s
College:
“At Oberlin I completed degrees in
Classics and Piano Performance with a minor
in Historical Performance. For my senior
honors thesis, I explored the uses of Greek music theory in the design
of theaters, temples, and technological devices by the Roman author
Vitruvius, showing how he proposed that temple columns should be
spaced at the intervals of a musical scale and theaters should be made to
resonate like musical instruments.
”For the MPhil in Musical Studies at Cambridge, under the direction
of Professor Iain Fenlon, I am investigating how sixteenth-century Italy
turned to Classical antiquity to develop musical theory and architectural
practice, facilitating a unique culture of scientific, musical, and even
magical experimentation that have had an enduring influence on music
and architecture.
“I am also an active performer on the piano and harpsichord. I am a
passionate advocate of contemporary and 20th-century music, and have
worked with composers in the United States and Europe in introducing
new classical works. This March, I performed Arnold Schoenberg’s
Piano Concerto with the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra as winner of the
Oberlin Concerto Competition.
“My extracurricular interests include historical instrument design
and repair; in 2009 I built a clavichord closely modeled on an 18th-
century instrument called the ‘King of Sweden,’ and am currently
working on the repairs of an 1803 Broadwood grand piano.
“It means a lot to me to be part of the Gates family of students from
around the world who are investigating all sorts of different topics in the
humanities and sciences, who are committed to positive social change
and the application of their research to a broad community beyond the
experts in their fields. I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to represent
music and the humanities alongside these peers.”
For profiles of all the matriculating 2012 Gates Cambridge Scholars,
and for information about how to apply, go to www. gatescambridge.org.
Spotlight on One 2012 GatesScholar: Oberlins Daniel Walden,
Now at Kings
Bill Janeway HonoredWilliam H. Janeway (Pembroke), chair ofthe Board of Directors of Cambridge inAmerica and co-chair of the Cambridge800th Anniversary Campaign, has beenawarded an Honorary Commander of theBritish Empire (CBE) “for services toeducation in the support of the Universityof Cambridge and to UK/US relations.” He is a SeniorAdvisor and Managing Director at Warburg Pincus, andauthor of the recently published book Doing Capitalism inthe Innovation Economy (Cambridge University Press).
A Kingsman Returns to Collegeto Teach About Bloomsbury
Peter Stansky, the Frances and Charles Field Professor ofHistory, Emeritus, at Stanford, reports:
This past September I had the splendid experienceof returning to my old Cambridge College, King's, for anintense twelve days. After graduating from Yale in 1953 Ihad done a second B.A. there, reading history. I had kept upwith the College to a degree over the years, but mostextensively more recently twice teaching a Bloomsburycourse there to a group of Stanford Universityundergraduates. It was a thrill to do so at the very place ofBloomsbury's paternal birth – Keynes, Fry and Forster atKing's – Strachey, Woolf and Bell at Trinity. (Its mother, soto speak, was Vanessa and Virginia Stephen in London –Virginia irritated at being denied a Cambridge education.)Those undergraduate classes were held in Dadie Ryland'sdining room, with its fantastic view over the lawn to Clare,with the Cam on the left. It was the location of a veryfamous and elegant lunch, lovingly described in VirginiaWoolf's A Room of One's Own and wonderfully recreated bythe kitchen as the concluding event of the course. Now thistime I was teaching a Bloomsbury class to Stanford maturestudents. The class was in the Munby room, named afterthat fine man, A.N.L. Munby, who was Librarian of theCollege in my day. (The present Librarian, Peter Jones, andthe Archivist, Patricia McGuire, were extremely helpful tothe class in making the experience work.) King's has themost extensive Bloomsbury archive in existence and eachstudent wrote a paper using a small selection of originalletters or manuscripts from one particular Bloomsburyfigure. It is an exciting and special experience. There is nological reason that a photocopy or digital version shouldn'tbe the same, but it isn't. Similarly, studying Bloomsbury atKing's might not be all that different from studying itelsewhere, but it is. Soit was lovely to be backat my old College. TheStanfordundergraduates Itaught there had awonderful time butperhaps the maturestudents, with muchmore life experience,got even more frombeing there. I know thatit meant a lot to me tospend those daysrecapturing to anextent an experience Ihad had more than fiftyyears ago. I was alsorenewing my presentand future life thanksto being within theCollege once again.
Peter Stansky's most recent book is astudy of a Kingsman: Julian Bell: FromBloomsbury to the Spanish Civil War
(Stanford University Press, 2012)
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18 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Leszek
Borysiewicz, delivered his annual address to
the University in the Senate House on
Monday October 1st to mark the start of the
new 2012 - 2013 academic year (his third, of
seven, as V-C).
The address, entitled “The Scale of our
Ambition” highlights Cambridge as one of a
handful of truly world-changing universities
and one of the UK’s greatest national assets.
“We are curators of an 800-year-old
institution, which has the potential to last
many centuries more,” he said. “We have a
responsibility to the past, and especially to the
future. How are we to discharge that
responsibility?
“What actions must we take today to
ensure our place tomorrow among the leaders,
forcing the pace, keeping the world’s greatest
universities contributing to the utmost of their
potential?
“I offer three answers. First, Cambridge
needs to grow. Second, we need to change; and
third, we need to ensure that growth and
change are informed at every step by our
values, our principles, and by the spirit and
ambition that have seen us flourish for our first
eight centuries.”
The Vice-Chancellor drew attention to a
growth opportunity of international
Growth, Change, Values, Ambition: Watchwords for theNew Academic Year
Aerial view of the North West Cambridge plan, looking north, bounded by Madingley Road (bottom), Huntingdon Road (right center to upper left), and the M11 (left)
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19Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
importance: the chance to develop a new
quarter of the city, North West Cambridge, and
to make an investment now in the Cambridge
community which would ensure the
University’s academic health for the years to
come. “To continue to research at the highest
international levels of excellence, we need to
increase the numbers of postgraduate students
and postdoctoral researchers. These groups are
essential in all disciplines to sustain active
research programs, and so are key to our
future academic development and
competitiveness, just as we are responsible
for theirs.” This development is “the biggest
capital project that this University has ever
contemplated….The development of our
physical infrastructure is of a size and scale
that enables our future development and
ensures that we can grow our postgraduate
community.”
For more details and progress reports
about the plan for North West Cambridge, go
to www.nwcambridge.co.ukThe V-C continued: “However, our
success in the future does not depend on
buildings and facilities, but on continued
growth and change in our academic staff. In
doing so, we must maintain our commitment
to our values and hence excellence…Here,
support from philanthropy will be vital.” He
concluded: “Cambridge is one of a small
handful of truly world-changing universities
and we are ambitious for our institution. That
ambition is born not just because we find
ourselves curators of an 800-year legacy, but
because we have a duty and a responsibility
for its health and strength, its spirit and its
power to transform. It is incumbent on us to
look to its future. That we do so matters, for a
score of reasons, rational and emotional: our
own institutional loyalty and affection; a
respect for Cambridge’s past; a competitive
streak, glancing westwards to our sister
institutions in the United States, and
increasingly to the East. There is, too, a
responsibility to the UK: in our teaching,
where we want the country’s 18-year-olds, and
others of more mature years, to have options
for further study worthy of their talents; in our
cultural contribution to the nation; and in our
economic contribution. Like North West
Cambridge, our ambition must be on an
Olympian scale, commensurate with our
ambition for our future. Not least among the
reasons why it matters is that Cambridge
transforms lives, through our teaching and our
research.”
To read the full text of the V-C’s October
1st speech, go to the University’s website,
www.cam.ac.uk
Professor Sir John Gurdons NobelPrize: A Colleagues Appreciation
Sir John receiving his knighthood, with Lady Gurdon, 1995
HRH the Duke of Edinburgh opening the John Gurdon Institute, 1989
Professor Peter Grubb (Magdalene, 1960),
Emeritus Fellow, Emeritus Professor of
Investigative Plant Ecology, writes:
John Gurdon began his research career
in Oxford at a time of pivotal importance
in biology. He was intrigued by one of the
most pressing problems in biology: if
every cell in an organism contains the
same set of genes (messages), how is it
that the many different kinds of cells in an
adult come to develop differently from
one another? One possibility was that
particular genes are lost or at least
somehow turned off irreversibly along any
given line of cell development. That this
is not the case was shown by John’s first
breakthrough, published in 1962. He
established that differentiated cells can
still contain in a functional state all the
genes necessary to control the
development of an unfertilized egg up to
the stage of reproductive adult. This
fundamentally important point was shown
by taking a nucleus from a fully
differentiated cell in the gut lining of a
tadpole, and injecting it into an enucleated
egg, which then developed into a normal
fertile frog. The task of extracting the
nucleus from one gut cell (about one
hundredth of a millimetre in diameter),
and injecting it into an egg is easier said
than done! Great skill and lots of practice
are needed. John’s experiment was the
first case of what came to be known as
“cloning” an animal – familiar to most
people in the much later work on Dolly
the sheep.
John, who moved from Oxford to
Cambridge in 1972, went on to tackle the
question of how particular genes are
switched on in particular cells. He kept
ahead of his competitors by imaginative
micro-manipulation experiments with
amphibian embryos, including the injection
of single genes rather than whole nuclei
into specific cells. Meanwhile Martin
Evans, who joined John in leading the
Welcome Trust and Cancer Research
Campaign Institute of Cancer and
Developmental Biology (now the Gurdon
Institute), discovered “stem cells” –
isolated from mice. These cells can be
cultured in the laboratory, and turn into
many different kinds of adult cell, given the
right conditions. The race was then on find
the chemical signals that would turn adult
cells of mammals into stem cells,
especially with a view to their being used
in medicine. It proved to be a hard problem
to crack. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto
University, who shares the Nobel Prize
with John, was the first to succeed – in
2006. After many abortive attempts, he was
surprised to find that he could do it by
adding just four genes. It turns out that in
other vertebrates the formula doesn’t work,
and John’s team is still trying to solve the
problem for mature cells of amphibians.
We hope so much that his team will win the
race for this type of animal!
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Sculptures by Christ’s College alumnus Anthony Caro, who studied
engineering at Cambridge, are featured in “Caro: Close Up” at the Yale
Center for British Art until
December 30. The museum
is located at 1080 Chapel
Street, New Haven, CT.
Telephone toll free: 1 877
BRIT ART (274 8278)
within the United States;
International: +1 203 432-
2800. E-mail ycba.info@
yale.edu For more inform-
ation go to http://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions/caro-close
20 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012
The CAm Newsletter is published by Cambridge in America
292 Madison Avenue, 8th floor, New York, NY 10017Telephone: (212) 984-0960, Fax: (212) 984-0970,
Email: [email protected], Website: www.cantab.org
The landmark exhibition “Churchill: The Power of Words” at New
York City’s Morgan Library & Museum, organized by Cambridge’s
Churchill Archives Centre, attracted more than 60,000 visitors while
on view from June 8 to September 23. It won plaudits in The NewYork Times (“fine…marvelously compact”), The Wall Street Journal(“riveting…elegant”), and The New Criterion (“packs a great
wallop”), was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, and was
the centerpiece of a Charlie Rose TV panel discussion about Churchill
on June 17, including Cambridge historians Peter Clarke (former
Master of Trinity Hall), David Reynolds (Christ’s), and
Lord Watson (Queens’) as well as Winston Churchill’s grand-
daughter Celia Sandys (view the 52-minute video at www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12407). Attendees and speakers at
a gala opening reception on June 7 included Vice-Chancellor Sir
Leszek Borysiewicz, Master of Churchill College Sir David Wallace,
and London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Churchill ExhibitionTriumphs at NYCs
Morgan Library
Entrance to the exhibition gallery
Churchill Archives Centre Director Allen Packwood addresses gallery visitors
Recent paintings by Rackstraw Downes, who earned a BA at
Cambridge (St. John’s) in 1961, are on exhibit until November
24, at the Betty Cuningham Gallery, 541 West 25th Street in New
York City’s Chelsea neighborhood (near the High Line). Telephone
(212) 242-2772; www.bettyCuninghamgallery.com.
The artist’s 2009 MacArthur Fellow Award citation reports:
“Rackstraw Downes is a painter whose minutely detailed, oil-on-
canvas landscapes invite viewers to reconsider the intersection
between the natural world and man-made objects…Considered one
of the most distinctive representational painters of his generation,
Downes is challenging familiar conceptions of realist painting in
works of formal rigor and quiet, yet stunning, beauty.”
Cambridge Artists Workson View in New York &
New Haven
Anthony Caro: Table Piece XCVII
Rackstraw Downes: Delancey at Suffolk
Presidio in the Sand Hills Looking East with ATV Tracks and Water Tower
Table Piece LXXX
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