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Rooms of Our Own 17 - 31 October
New Senior Tutor Dr Stephanie Ellington
Alumnae News
Annual Newsletter 09 Lucy Cavendish College University of Cambridge
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Rooms of Our Own
3
Letter from the President
4
Gyll Moore’s study carrel
8
New Senior Tutor
9
Something to say:
10
Nineteenth-century ‘Chick lit’
12
Women’s Word
13
Fellows’ news
14
Alumnae News
18
In Memoriam
24
Art in College
27
An exhibition from 17 to 31 October . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
A lasting memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Dr Stephanie Ellington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
English undergraduate and author Annabel Banks, interviewed by Anna Bull (2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Anna Bull (2006) talks to Research Fellow Dr Katharine Mitchell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The new Curator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Lucy Cavendish Singers: A new choir for the College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Newsletter Editors: Meryl Davies and Alison Vinnicombe Photographs: Nigel Luckhurst, Phil Mynott, Alison Vinnicombe
Page 2 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
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Rooms of Our Own An exhibition from 17 to 31 October
prospect of women’s colleges as it is represented in literature, polemic
and the visual arts will be conveyed
alongside the fear and mockery on the part of men and women
towards the idea of grown women living together and devoting
themselves to learning.
Lucy Cavendish College is working closely with Chawton House
Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum
and other collections to put together
this exhibition that will include
manuscripts and early editions of
works in which women’s education is imagined and discussed. Before any women’s colleges
existed in England, Margaret
Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle,
imagined them in The Female
Academy (1662) and The Convent of
Pleasure (1668). Three hundred
years later, in 1965, Lucy Cavendish College was founded, a unique
Documents relating to the
establishment of women’s colleges,
The Exhbition will run from
satirical responses to the idea of
Saturday 17 October until 31
comic songs, articles, letters,
Cavendish College. Opening hours
women’s education, Punch cartoons, personal recollections and archive material will all be included.
October in the Library, Lucy are 12 Noon until 5pm, with an extended opening on Wednesday 21 October until 8pm.
institution where women of all ages and backgrounds come together to
pursue an intellectual education. It
is the latest and perhaps the last
women’s college to be founded in
the United Kingdom.
Rooms of Our Own is an exhibition
spanning several centuries of the
real and imagined female academy.
The education of girls was
widespread but the foundation of institutions for the education of
women of marriageable age
provoked both excitement and fury. In the exhibition, the liberating
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Letter from the President I have now finished my first year as
President of Lucy Cavendish
College. It has been a remarkable time, not always what I expected but never dull.
There have been many
achievements during the year.
Firsts for Sarah Hickmott in Part II Music, Anna Bull in Part IIB and
Daniella Ritzau-Reid in Part IIA of
SPS (now PPS - Politics, Psychology
and Sociology).
Sporting successes are equally
impressive. More blades for our
rowers and, in addition, Alice
Barnes got a Blue for tennis and
together by a whole host of people,
college and go on to deliver many
Isobel Maddison. This exhibition,
and indifference encountered by
Fund, is subtitled ‘the Female
higher education for women.
most notably the English Fellow,
supported by the University’s 2009
Academy from Margaret Cavendish to Lucy Cavendish College’. This is
not just a coincidence of names
although it is a felicitous one.
mocked by men and women for her
fascination with science, her desire
to publish in her own name (and, it
interest in Lucy whetted or
dress). One woman, noting her
that there were ‘many soberer
Samuel Pepys called her a ‘mad
conceited, ridiculous woman’.
Nonetheless a distinguished female
the politician and barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy. Our first Saturday conference called the University of Aberdeen,
start with her fantasies of a female
one of my doctoral students from Natasha Solomons and featured our medical Fellow, Sarah Gull and
English Fellow, Dr Isobel Maddison. It was a moving event which
connected arts and sciences,
during the long struggle to get the
medical concerns and literary
College started, then accredited and
treatments.
finally given full status within an originally unsympathetic
I myself have three more day
University.
seminars planned: a Jane Austen day on 14th November, a day
Some of our history will emerge in
Page 4 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and
scholarship despite having no
and—of necessity—resilience
to Lucy and which has been put
enhanced, most notably the new
‘Infant Sorrow’ was organised by
how these were met with courage
which I proposed when I first came
fascinating women had their
educator of the time claimed that
instruction. The exhibition will
the exhibition Rooms of Our Own,
time, including the author Ali Smith
eagerness to trespass on the male
Of course the College has always
were here in the early days know
Meryl Davies’s organisation to the
many people who gave ideas and
and alumna Jane Wood. Many very
she overtopped many men in
had challenges. Those of you who
Saturday seminars. Women’s Word
must be said, her eccentricities of
the year, I realise I arrived at a
difficult but challenging moment.
them Rooms of Our Own, an annual
exceeded my hopes and, thanks to
Newcastle, was, despite her
People in Bedlam’, while the diarist
Looking back to the beginning of
imagined various events, among
elevated social status, much
Figures for Cross-Country Running Von Eye for Water Polo.
When I thought of joining Lucy I festival called Women’s Word and
preserve of knowledge, remarked
and by Sally Bullock and Maxine
those daring seriously to propose
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of
Rosalind Lloyd for lacrosse , while
Half Blues were won by Emma
examples of the mockery, hostility
entitled ‘English the Changing
Joan Armatrading
Profession’ on 21 November and a celebration on 19 June 2010 of the
journal Women’s Writing. Other
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exciting Saturdays include ‘Re-
reading Georgette Heyer’ (a
collaboration with Professor Sarah
Brown of Anglia Ruskin University)
on 7 November and on 23 January,
‘Women and the Gothic’ organised
by our alumna Dr Maria Purves - on whom see more below. We also
have planned a conference on the future of feminism, jointly
organised by fellows Dr Kate
Mitchell, Dr Mirca Madianou and Dr
Isobel Maddison. So please do
watch the News & Events section of
the College website for
announcement and details of
Carole Ann Duffy and Professor Janet Todd
am a victim of the British education
Hewitt at Barclays Private Bank and
physics and chemistry at the age of
with the author Diana Athill. I do
events. You are of course all
system which had me dropping
come to everything. And last but
14—but I do know how strong the
welcome—rather encouraged—to
not least we have set up our fiction
room at the top of the Library, stocked by novels donated by
anyone who has enjoyed a book by
sciences are in the College and we
hope that those of you who find it easier to get to London than to
have had some excellent events
Cambridge will be able to come to
Jenny Koenig through AWISE (the
coming academic year we are
here organised by our Fellow, Dr
a woman and wants to pass it on.
Association of Women in Science
I should here apologise for being so
of the year were the carol singing
arts-based in that last paragraph. I
featuring a fascinating interview
and Engineering). Some other joys
the next London Forum . This
organising a series of invited
speakers for Thursday evenings
before formal hall: these promise to
organised by the President of the
be informative and entertaining.
Foxcroft, the plays staged by
My own research work has rather
Alumnae Association, Louise
students in Warburton Hall, and the events put on by our non-
fallen by the wayside during this
packed time, although I have
auditioned College choir and the
managed an introduction to an
Cavendish Singers under the
four of which will be aired in the
establishment of the Lucy
leadership of Katharina Megli
(1991). And, of course, it was a great joy to welcome Joan
Armatrading to give our CWL Lucy
Cavendish Lecture in June. We also
Austen novel and some broadcasts, autumn on Radio 3. Several foreign
students have come to Lucy to work with me. One is Natsuko Hirakura,
who is studying women and letters
in late eighteenth-century England
had the latest Alumnae Association
and plans to translate one of my
by Fellow Commoner Joanna
already translated the calligraphy in
London Forum generously hosted
books into Japanese. She has
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the Wood-Legh Room. The words
Current Lucy Associates include
are by a woman writer Hiratsuka
writer Ali Smith; Geoff Morris,
Raichō (1886-1971) and can be
Head of the 800th Year; Julie
translated as ‘In the beginning,
Spence, Chief Constable of
passage goes on to lament that
Stenner, Under Sheriff of
woman was truly the sun.’ The
Cambridgeshire and Caroline
woman was once ‘An authentic
Cambridgeshire. Entrepreneur Alex
person. Now she is the moon, a wan
van Someren is another Lucy
reflecting another’s brilliance.… ‘
Development Officer for
and sickly moon, dependent on another, Raichō used the passage at the beginning of the journal Seito,
which she founded as the first publication in Japanese about
women and for women; she aimed
to help Japanese women reclaim
their sense of self-worth, reaffirm
their creativity, and fulfill their human potential.
This is very much what Lucy
Cavendish has done and aims to
continue doing. The College must
go forward, expand to stay the same, and always improve its
standards and aspirations. For any improvements fund-raising is
essential and I hope that we can all be involved in this. There is a professional element to fund-
raising, but for those of us without
training there is networking and
always the hope of the
serendipitous contact. This year we
have had some generous donations
and bequests but we need much more. Both the Head of
Development, Meryl Davies, and I
greatly appreciate the help we receive from the friends and
alumnae of the College, as well as
students, who give their time and
Page 6 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
Associate, as is the Literature
Dr Jenny Koenig teaching in front of the Japanese calligraphy
energy to fundraising and I have
been immeasurably helped by a
past president, Baroness Pauline
Perry. In recruitment, too, we have had much help from people in the
wider community. Lindsey Traub, a
past Vice-President and Lucy
Lyttelton Fellow Benefactor, has spread the word about Lucy
Cavendish in publications aimed at
professional women who may be
considering a course of study before making a career change. We would
like many more of you to be
involved in reaching out to people
and stirring them to believe in what
we are doing here: whether funds or applications follow, you will have raised the profile of the
College and feel—I know from
experience—a sense of achievement and community.
Lucy Associate is the name we have given to people who are coming in
to College to help us to raise the
profile of the College or to raise funds. These people are mainly
local and all are excited by the
College and the work that we do.
Cambridge, Helen Taylor. There are new arrivals into posts and into the Fellowship: I am
excited to be working with our new
Senior Tutor, Dr Stephanie Ellington and our new Admissions Tutor Dr Maria Purves, an alumna of Lucy Cavendish and an enthusiastic
supporter of the College. Two new Fellows have joined us in recent months: Dr Helen Taylor and Dr
Fiona Walter, both in medicine, and we have two more in Law and Art
History whom we will be inducting
this autumn.
Sadly we have some departures:
Julie Dashwood is stepping down as
Senior Tutor after six years, and
Jane McLarty is leaving us for the
position of Senior Tutor at Wolfson
College. I wish them both well in their new roles.
I look forward to the next academic year and to seeing more of you all. Please do let me know when you visit the College so that we can
meet and get to know each other. Professor Janet Todd President
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Alumnae Association London Forum The literary editor, novelist, and
memoirist, Diana Athill, was our
speaker at
the Alumnae Association London
Forum in
April this
year. She
had just won
the Costa Book Prize for biography, for Somewhere Towards the End,
and been awarded an OBE. Diana
graduated from Oxford in 1939
and, after a stint at the BBC during the 2nd WW, she spent fifty years in publishing, working with,
among others, Jean Rhys, Simone
de Beauvoir, Margaret Atwood,
Philip Roth, John Updike, Norman
Mailer, and VS Naipul.
Diana suggested we have an
informal interview followed by
questions from the audience, and
this lead to a lively, entertaining, and occasionally unpredictable
conversation. We covered many
subjects, including her career as an editor, the nature of honesty, and
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Kingdom Come It may not look the way it does in your imagination. If you’re from north of here you’ll want more rise and fall; southerners want more sunshine, lusher vegetation: only children will confess they came expecting ancestors or men with wings. Flatness is a common theme in postcards home the first few days, as though we live in two dimensions here and this vast dome of light were one thin pencil arc drawn on a sky of watercolour paper. But soon they’ll come to see that our more subtle contours open to them gradually like streamers of concertina’d tissue when their cardboard ends are pulled apart. And when the birds blow in ahead of Russian blizzards visitors stand like figures in a toy snow-shaker: dwarfed, in awe. And now the white flocks settle on the fen their feathers foam, thick on its earthy tide. The barns are boats, becalmed in greening seas and farmers walk the lands which once were ocean. They will be ocean once again in time: water is history and destination. All the while the sails of windmills creak their weathered shanties, grinding song from stone, and though this may not be the heaven of your imagination, dusk will find you dead reckoning, reading horizons like ship’s instruments, looking for Angles or angels, or whatever kingdom comes.
how age might allow one to escape
Gill Saxon 2009
really going from strength to
This poem was the winning entry in the
Association is already busy making
held in Spring 2009 on the theme of Journies.
the ego. The London Forum is strength and the Alumnae
arrangements for 2010.
Lucy Cavendish College Poetry Competition
Louise Foxcroft, Alumnae Association President
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Gyll Moore’s study carrel A lasting memory
Dedicating a library carrel to a loved one is a way to make a difference to the College and leave a lasting memorial. Elizabeth Speller (1992) here tells the story of how her family has joined together to name a carrel in honour of her mother, Gyll Moore. Marriage and pregnancy meant that
brother’s widow and my own
my mother, Gyll, left St Anne’s
former husband, who had always
About the time Lucy Cavendish
more money gave what they could,
College, Oxford without a degree.
was founded she finally went back to London University and
been close to her. While those with
others thought of imaginative ways
to raise funds. Miranda is training
completed her studies an unusual
for a charity run. My other
for a married mother of three.
putting the extra money she makes
and not entirely popular step then We are a family of late-starting women. My sister left her first university after a year but
eventually read History at York as a
daughter, Abigail, a junior doctor, is
from signing cremation certificates aside, and my mother’s sister has
One of the things my mother loved
was her garden and I am very glad the library carrel now named after her looks out over the College’s
peaceful green spaces. Please think of her if you should find yourself sitting there.
Elizabeth Speller (Classics, 1992) For more information on naming a
library carrel, or any other aspect of
giving to the College, please contact the
Head of Development, Meryl Davies,
on 01223 764020 or mgd24@cam.ac.uk
sold a painting to raise her contribution.
mature student. My daughter, Miranda, got an MA from
Edinburgh but at thirty applied to Kingston to do the art course she
had always really wanted to
pursue. My daughter-in-law left
behind a career as a city solicitor to
re-train as a primary school-teacher.
So when I was thinking of a way to
remember my mother, and
especially because she now has
three great-granddaughters who
never knew her, a family donation
to Lucy and a permanent memorial seemed particularly appropriate.
My mother died relatively early and many who knew her were happy to give. But it was not just the obvious people who contributed. My
parents were divorced but my
father and step-mother were
generous in support, as was her
Page 8 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
A study carrel looking out over the College gardens
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New Senior Tutor Dr Stephanie Ellington
This year, Dr Stephanie Ellington (pictured right) will take up the
post of Senior Tutor at Lucy
Cavendish College. It is a huge job,
overseeing all aspects of
educational and pastoral care of
students, ensuring that the running the Tutorial Office is going
smoothly, working with her team of Tutors and, crucially, working
closely with the Admissions Tutor
and Graduate Tutor to make sure that the College attracts
Being a mature College we need to find imaginative ways of spreading the word that we are here. I am looking forward to working with the whole College community promote awareness of this amazing place and to make sure that every woman over 21 who is thinking of applying to do a degree knows that we are here. Dr Stephanie Ellington
applications from bright women
aspects of early pregnancy: the
from all over the UK and the world.
effects of maternal obesity on
Stephanie also has a busy life as
offspring, early cardiac
College Lecturer in Physiology and
she runs a Part II course on early embryonic development and the effects of maternal diabetes on
programming the appetite of the development, damaging effects of reactive oxygen species on
embryonic development, and a
statistical analysis of the outcome of
1A and 1B of the Medical and
Veterinary Science Tripos.
Meanwhile in another area of her
life, Stephanie has been granted the Freedom of the City of London, an
honour of which she was rightly
proud. She attended the City of
London School for Girls as a pupil and is currently a Governor of the School so feels very pleased to
have been able to formalise her
association with the City. However,
says Stephanie, “legendary rights of Freemen to drive sheep across
London Bridge, to be drunk and
development . Last academic year
pregnancies of diabetic mothers.
disorderly without fear of arrest
doing dissertations on a range of
demonstrate and supervise in Parts
drawn sword apparently, sadly, no
she supervised four Part II students
She has also continued to lecture,
and to pass through the City with a
longer apply�.
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Something to say: English undergraduate and author Annabel Banks, interviewed by Anna Bull (2006)
'For me, writing is about the
genius' trope, she talks in
something to say, so listen,
process of writing and the reasons
Cambridge and beyond is starting
lot of things I want to say and I
arrogance of saying, I've got
dammit.' The literary world in
to listen to Annabel Banks. The
Lucy Cavendish College English
student still has a year to go before graduating with her BA, but has
already amassed armfuls of prizes
I ask Annabel whether studying
fascinating detail about both the
English has changed the way she
behind it. 'I write because I have a
awareness of technique. Besides my
writes. 'I've got more of an
studies of literature and criticism,
don't think anyone's going to listen
Lucy Cavendish College set me up
a crazy, handing out leaflets'. One
winning poet and author Tobias
to me otherwise - I don't want to be
of the themes that Annabel keeps
creative writing lessons with award Hill, who was amazingly helpful.
returning to and 'worrying over' is
He made me write in the third
and prestigious include winning the
character type I might be writing
closely focussed on the first person
prize in June and publishing a short
was raised Catholic, but now, as I
to write first person is always most
and publications. The most recent John Kinsella/Tracy Ryan poetry story in the prestigious Mays
anthology of the best of Cambridge
religion. 'I think if I was a different
religious or philosophical tracts. I look around me, I’m becoming
person – The Handmaid's Tale is
and that's all I was doing. He said comfortable, while third person is
more of a reacting anti-theist. I'm
daunting because you're in charge
writing, as well as placing second in
think you'd understand.'
narrator-as-god.' On the other hand,
As if this weren't achievement
She also uses dystopian science
practical criticism has asked
Recorded Drama Society where she
our own society, such as in the
practical criticism is that you can
writes regular theatre reviews for
published in the Mays. 'You can
and judge its value, but I don't
injustice that you’re socialised into
But 'whereas before I wasn't really
and Oxford students' creative
a national short story competition.
enough, she is also president of the
writes and directs her own plays,
the Cambridge student papers, and is working on a novel.
I met Annabel when she arrived in Cambridge two years ago, fresh
sorry God if you're there, but I
fiction to provide a social critique of
post-apocalyptic story which was create a world that explores any accepting'. In Auguries of
Experience (the Mays story) I
wanted to dwell on sexual-social
of all these things, you're the
the Cambridge emphasis on
interesting questions. ‘The idea of look at something out of context
think you can do that: it's a fallacy.'
worried about the mechanics of
sentences it has helped me develop
more of a sense of the weighting of
from work hand-making bespoke
mores and what it means to be
words and literary devices.'
and promptly set up theatre group
Speculative fiction as a genre can
This technical sense has helped with
has twice won the Alumnae
but Annabel's work refuses to
won the Kinsella/Ryan prize has
parts for Formula One racing cars,
The Lucy Players. Since then, she
Association Prize for contribution to
excluded because of them.’
often be overlooked as literature, accept this hierarchy. One of her
writing poetry. The poem which
got a complicated rhyme scheme. 'It
the arts at Lucy Cavendish College.
inspirations is Margaret Atwood's
should read aloud as prose but it's
rather than dwelling ad infinitum
Tale, a sci-fi dystopia which is also
running through it – each major
wanted to ask about why and how
inspiration is TS Eliot. 'He should
But in my interview with Annabel, on the prizes and publications, I
she writes. Far from subscribing to the 'author as mysterious creative
Page 10 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
work, in particular The Handmaid's
got perfect rhymes and half-rhymes
serious literary fiction. An anti-
word should echo back on itself,
have stuck to writing about cats!’
scheme echoes the theme of the
like radioactivity.' This rhyme poem, which links together
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Chernobyl and the death of
College Prizes 2008-09
worked so hard on a poem in my
The achievements of the undergraduate and graduate students, the award of
Alexander Litvinenko. 'I'd never
life. It's still not finished. I was quite
surprised because they gave me a
copy to read out at the prize giving
and I looked at it and thought, oh
no, it’s completely changed! But I've
got to try and abandon it now.'
Winning the prize has also saved
Annabel's poetry career. 'I had been
considering not writing any more
poetry but it's re-enthused Me. I’ve
just had another short piece
accepted for an anthology.’
Finally, a tribute to Lucy Cavendish College. 'Coming to Cambridge
changed my life. A full-time focus
on words is something I only
dreamt about when I was working. Having creative writing
supervisions has been brilliant, but it’s more about encouragement. At
the college there's definitely a
feeling of “you can do this” which
becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.'
For a writer, Annabel argues that
being a mature student is a definite
advantage. 'They say you can't
really write anything good until
you're thirty. You can't have a
world view when you're younger. I
look back at all the writing hidden
under my bed and cringe, but now? Let’s just say I've done a lot of stuff in the last 33 years.' I predict that
Annabel will do a lot more stuff in
the next 33 years, and I look
forward to reading it.
prizes for sporting Blues, and the range and versatility of the students who have received prizes for their contribution to College life show how vibrant and successful we are. My thanks go to all those who make it possible.
Julie Dashwood Senior Tutor
Marie Lawrence Prize for First Class Results in Tripos
Sarah Hickmott, First Class result in
Part II Music; Anna Bull, First Class
result in Part IIB Social and Political
Sciences; Daniella Ritzau-Reid, First
class result in Part IIA Social and
Political Sciences
John Butterfield Prize for Clinical
Medicine
Alumnae Association Prize for
Contribution to the Arts
Annabel Banks, for her work with
the Lucy Players, and for winning the Kinsella Poetry Prize
Annabelle Dixon Prize for the
student who has made the most of her time at Lucy Cavendish Carol Atack
Emma Yeoman
Emmeline Pankhurst Prize for
Berti Sapir Medical Prize for the
Sara Jackson and Jane Anderson
student with the best results in
Contribution to College Life
Clinical Stage Two (first part of
Myson College Exhibition for
Caroline Woods and Katherina
Anna Blumstein and Holly Cox
Final MB) Kohler
Kate Bertram Prize for
distinguished performance in non-
Tripos exams
Lorna Brokenshire, Merit in two Papers in the Final Veterinary
Personal Achievement
Dame Veronica Sutherland Prize for Sporting Blues
Alice Barnes, Full Blue for Tennis;
Rosalind Lloyd, Full Blue for Lacrosse
Examination, Part III; Sal
College Prize for Sporting Blues
Project for the Engineering Tripos
Country Running; Sally Bullock,
Drummond, for a high First for her
Part IIB and Overall Merit; Felizitas Weidner for Merit in Part III Maths
Emma Figures, Half Blue for CrossHalf Blue for Water Polo; Maxine
Von Eye, Half Blue for Water Polo
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Nineteenth-century ‘Chick lit’ Anna Bull (2006) talks to Research Fellow Dr Katharine Mitchell
“Romantic love and physical beauty
debates on the changing role of
of 19th century Italian women who
largely illiterate Italy; in 1870 only
to hold a bank account, let alone a
are probably the most destructive
women in a newly unified and
thought" asserts Toni Morrison in
2.5% of Italians could read and
ideas in the history of human
The Bluest Eye. Research Fellow,
Kate Mitchell, explores the idea of
romantic love as an unattainable
ideal in her forthcoming book, Gendering the Everyday in Late
write the new official language,
which was based on the Tuscan
dialect. “The realist novels of these
three women writers give glimpses
were ill-educated and unable even
job. “It does seem that it's all fitted
into place. I still have to pinch
myself on a daily basis to remind
myself that I got here. I think Lucy
is one of these spaces in British
of the everyday”, Mitchell
society which is really special and
Realist Fiction and Journalism by
these writers presented themselves
nurtured, particularly in our day
The book, to be published by
being women in the public eye, but
Nineteenth-Century Italy: Domestic
Women Writers.
Toronto University Press, is based
on Mitchell's PhD from Warwick
University. But it also draws on her
earlier interests and research,
describes. “In their journalism
as anti-feminist in order to preserve
the propriety which they lost by
their fiction reveals covert
engagements with debates on the
changing roles of women such as
creative but also it needs to be
and age because there are questions
about whether there should be colleges just for women”. The
continuing inequality of our society
“goes disregarded - actually we're
not equal, because men still do less
including reading literature by
lack of access to education and the
workplace”.
housework and childcare and earn
Margaret Atwood and Nadine
One aspect of these novels that
In a paper given recently in London
women as a teenager, particularly Gordimer, and research into
representations of heroines in tragic
opera. The latter formed her final-
year undergraduate dissertation in Italian Studies, and alerted her to
the fact that there was very little
written about real women in 19th
struck Mitchell on first reading
them was the protagonists'
realisation that there is no such
thing as romantic love; “they're
the women writers she has been
day-to-day reality they're expected
She notes that “whether a women is
dreaming of, their ideal, because in
Italian women's history in the 19th
is still very much alive today -
comes out next year.
or double bind', highlighting
another parallel between the lives of
researching and life for women
to marry as a business transaction
century – at least until her book
Mitchell explored the 'couple bond,
never going to get what they're
century Italy. There is still no
English-language monograph on
more than women”.
and produce children”. This ideal “we're conditioned from a young
age to look for our prince”. In 19th
today – the stigma of singledom.
singled or partnered matters very
much to society today, and is even a
defining feature of her identity,
such as race or class”. Far from
being solely of interest to historians,
century Italy, as now, the ideal
Mitchell's work explores discourses
journalism and the realist fiction of
day-to-day life, work and children.
women in contemporary, as well as
La Marchesa Colombi (1840-1920),
think?
Mitchell's research examines the
three women writers of this period: Anna Radius Zuccari (1846-1918), who wrote with the pseudonym Neera, and Matilde Serao (1857-
1927). Their writing engaged with
Page 12 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
tends to clash with the realities of
Maybe less has changed than we
I suggest to Kate that being a fellow
at a women's college provides an
interesting contrast to the position
and cultural representations of
19th century, society, showing how
received ideas that we may take for granted have developed over time.
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Women’s Word
Women's Word at Lucy Cavendish is our new summer festival. From 13-28 June 2009, audiences enjoyed workshops,
readings, discussions and talks featuring Carol Ann Duffy, Helena Kennedy QC, Prue Leith, Fay Weldon, Irma Kurtz and many other exciting writers. We worked in collaboration with the Cambridge Film Trust on Women’s View: a celebration
of women in cinema which was part of Women’s Word shown at the Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge.
In June 2010 we will continue the festival with more workshops, readings and screenings. Please keep an eye on our
website for more information and join the mailing list by email womensword@lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk
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Fellows’news We are thrilled to announce that Dr
Ruth Cameron, a Fellow here since
1992, has been promoted to a
and at international conferences.” Still in the area of medicine, Dr
personal Chair in the Department of
Allison Curry, Admissions Tutor for
and Dr Laura Wright is now Reader
Associate in the Cambridge Clinical
exciting change is the appointment
focuses on the immunology of
Materials Science and Metallurgy
in the Faculty of English. Another
Medicine, is a Senior Research
Neurosciences division where she
of Dr Stephanie Ellington as Senior
Multiple Sclerosis: a clinical trial
year we have welcomed new
demonstrated that Alemtuzumab,
Tutor her at Lucy Cavendish. This
Fellows Dr Fiona Walter and Dr
Helen Taylor and we say goodbye to Jane McLarty, Admissions Tutor, who leaves us to join Wolfson
involving 334 patients in 2002-2004
which has previously been used to effectively treat patients with
leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis and
in transplantation, was more
College as Senior Tutor. Farewell,
effective in treating MS than the
Banaji, Julia Forman, Jo Depledge
treatment but was associated with
Dashwood, who for six years was
currently being recruited to
conventional interferon beta 1a
Julie Dashwood has been one of the
autoimmunity. A subsequent trial is
Tutors’ Committee. She published,
Senior Tutor, will become a College
understand further the effectiveness
Federico de Roberto, which she co-
2009.
underlying effects on
also to Research Fellows Ferzina
and Erica Bithell. Meanwhile, Julie Senior Research Fellow in autumn
Research News
Associate Secretaries of the Senior in July 2009, The Risorgimento of
of Alemtuzamab in MS and the
edited with former Visiting Fellow,
autoimmunity.
came from the University of
Dr Anna Abulafia, College Lecturer
has also published several articles,
Professor Margherita Ganeri, who
Calabria to work with Julie. Julie
Professor Ruth Cameron writes:
in History, has now finished her
and medical materials has
Christendom’ and it will be
Research is ongoing in materials for
Dr Edith Esch, University Senior
Dr Isobel Maddison, College
regeneration, drug delivery through
continues her work on second
enjoyed researching the nineteenth-
development of artificial tissues to
focus on educational development
“My research in pharmaceutical continued to progress well.
orthopaedic applications, nerve
oral and pulmonary routes, and the reduce and replace animal testing.
Industrial and academic
collaborations continue within Cambridge, the UK and the
international community. Results
from the group have been
published in peer reviewed journals
Page 14 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
book on ‘Jews in the service of Latin published by Pearson (Longman).
Research Fellow in Education,
including one on Pirandello’s
literary legacy and another on Pirandello and Balzac.
Lecturer in English, has particularly
language education with a special
and twentieth-centuries for the
in post-colonial contexts and
Female Academy from Margaret
multilingual societies. Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are a special
exhibition, ‘Rooms of our Own: The Cavendish to Lucy Cavendish
College’ which will open in October
interest because of the contrast
2009. Interesting connections have
pedagogical cultures.
World War II, for example, Bedford
between the UK and the French
emerged from the research: during College, London, evacuated its
newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2
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This has been Dr Jo Depledge’s last
One application that I'm currently
Fellow, working principally on the
objects under a rough surface,
Jo has been pleased to see her
mines.
which would go on to become part
year as a Sutasoma Research
Strathaird.
global climate change negotiations.
of Lucy Cavendish, Barrmore and
Professor Christine Howe has two
major research interests: peer
publications attracting increasing
attention, with several invitations to
interested in is the detection of
which could for example be buried
I'm delighted to be able to use my
groups and children's development,
present her work, including to the
research in my Part III course this
mathematics and science. Her work
Nations, the UK Foreign Office, and
Inhomogeneous Media' and give
and children's reasoning in
on peer groups has resulted in a
number of publications this year,
including an article on
'Collaborative group work in
middle childhood: joint
Academic Council of the United the University of Cambridge
"Festival of Ideas". She was also interviewed by a Swedish TV
channel for a documentary to be
aired in November. One of the early
publication, with her co-author
Dr Mirca Madianou, College
book "The International Climate
Sociology (formerly SPS) writes:
highlights of her fellowship was the
knowledge', which appeared in
Farhana Yamin (Sussex), of the 2004
Human Development. Her book
entitled 'Peer groups and children's
the students a flavour of interesting,
topical research in the making.”
Conferences, papers and research travel
construction, unresolved
contradiction and the growth of
year 'Wave Scattering in
Change Regime: A guide to rules,
development' will be published by
institutions and procedures". In
Walter is a new Fellow in clinical
they are now making preparations
Lecturer in Politics, Psychology and “I spent the winter of 2008-09 conducting fieldwork in the
response to demand from readers,
Philippines for my ESRC-funded
to write a new edition of that
and new communications
primary care-based studies into
to-date analysis of the fast-moving
tremendous experience during
(oesophageal and melanoma), and
negotiations.
people at higher risk of serious
Dr Orsola Rath Spivack writes: “my
disease and diabetes. One example
inhomogeneous media is turning
this research exploring the
within this area, which is basically
family separation.
Blackwells early in 2010. Dr Fiona
medicine (general practice), whose
current research activities involve earlier diagnosis of cancer
using the family history to identify illnesses such as cancer, heart
is a randomised controlled trial set
in 15 general practices around
Cambridgeshire, assessing whether
using a diagnostic device known as
the MoleMate system improves the accuracy of GP referrals of
suspicious pigmented lesions
(possible melanomas) to secondary care.
volume, in order to present an up-
world of the climate change
research in wave propagation in more towards inverse problems trying to find what causes an
observed scattered field - rather
research on transnational families
technologies. This was a
which I collected some excellent
research data. I am now reliving
this experience as I am writing a
book on ‘Parenting from a Distance’ and a series of articles drawing on
phenomenon of migration and
Our new Fellow Dr Fiona Walter has
than the easier 'direct problem' of
been Clinical Senior Lecturer at the
or a radar, or ultrasound) at a well-
School of Primary, Aboriginal and
scattered field will be observed.
earlier this year was awarded a
aiming a wave (for example light,
defined object and predicting what
University of Western Australia’s
Rural Health Care since 2007, and
travelling fellowship by the Raine
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Medical Research Foundation to
visit the department. She gave talks
at the Universities of Sydney,
Melbourne and Western Australia
in Perth, as well as leading a day-
long workshop on qualitative
research and addressing the Human
Genetics Society of Australia’s
Western Australia Branch.
Dr Isobel Maddison, College
Lecturer in English, spoke on her
research on Elizabeth von Arnim at
an international conference,
‘Middlebrow Cultures,’ was held at the University of Strathclyde in
July. Her paper, ‘Complementary
Cousins: Elizabeth von Arnim and
Katherine Mansfield’, was based on
a chapter from her critical study of
von Arnim, for which research is
on-going.
Dr Anat Scolnicov, College Lecturer in Law, represented the Centre for
Public Law, of which she is deputy
director, at a conference on the
constitutional aspects of judicial
independence at the Jagellonian
University in Krakow and during a
term of research leave she
participated in a conference at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem on
Judicial Review (in domestic and international law) and gave a
lecture at the University of Haifa on
Religious freedom in international
law.
Dr Anna Sapir Abulafia, College
Lecturer in History, gave a paper at
an international seminar on
Page 16 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
‘Encounters & Perceptions –
Christians, Jews, Muslims and
Research Fellowship, which
followed an extended career break.
Mongols in the High Middle Ages’
She writes that “ it was a proud
Closer to home, she had the honour
presented my recent research at an
at Aalborg University in Denmark.
of addressing the Graduation
moment last September when I
international conference (the 2008
Ceremony for Access students at
European Microscopy Congress in
handing out the certificates to the
building on the opportunity given
Cambridge Regional College and successful graduates.
Dr Edith Esch gave a paper entitled
Aachen). I am looking forward to
to me by this Fellowship scheme as
I continue work in this area”.
‘Cameroonian Teachers’ Interviews:
Jane McLarty gave a seminar paper
Context’ at the ‘Cutting Edge’
Swansea University (a centre for
Developing Discourse Data in conference organized by
to the Kyknos group based at
research on the narrative literatures
Canterbury Christchurch and
of the ancient world), and a
paper entitled ‘Primary school
their July conference ‘The Erotics of
travelled to Beren, Norway to give a teachers’ autonomy in the
Cameroonian context : the
ambiguous role of the official
conference paper on Jealousy at
Narrative’. Both of these papers flow out of her PhD dissertation.
languages’ at the 10th Nordic
Teaching
in the Foreign Language
Dr Jenny Koenig (Dean and
putting in place a Virtual Doctoral
the history and use of herbal
University to support research
audiences from FE Summer school
Conference on ‘Learner autonomy
Classroom’. Bergen University is
School jointly with Yaounde
training to which she has been invited to contribute
Dr Erica Bithell has now come to the end of her Daphne Jackson
Steward) has given several talks on
medicines today for a variety of
students to the University of the
Third Age. She is currently working on an outreach project linked to the
Cambridge Science Festival to bring
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the science of pharmacology to
Tutor on the Graduate Diploma in
She also talked on the use of
Dr Isobel Maddison, College
in teaching at Cambridge and is
“Creative writing has continued to
contributions.
Kelly Smith (2003), a Lucy alumna
Dr Jane Greatorex writes: “I started
alternative health practitioners.
technology, particularly CamTools, now developing a course to train
new supervisors to teach maths for
biologists. She gives introductory
Notarial Practice.
Lecturer in English, writes:
be a feature of English at Lucy with who has recently graduated with a
investment portfolio in 2007 has
helped to contain our losses. And throughout this ‘looking on
darkness’ of a year, all who work
here have again made outstanding
a new job in June 2008, in the
and advanced courses in
Master’s in creative writing from
Health Protection Agency at
pharmaceutical industry and is co-
running workshops with the first
working on a project investigating
pharmacology for employees in the
authoring a text-book on
mathematical modelling in biology. Jenny has published two books on
calculations in pharmacology which are available through her website
www.sci-etc.co.uk.
the University of East Anglia, years.
things we needed to know about
In the Michaelmas Term, several of
pandemic…. As we now know this
studies by teaching sixth form
been awarded almost £150,000 to
Academy. The theme is ‘Love
caused by so-called swine ‘flu.
our students will develop their pupils at the Northampton
across the Ages’ and the intention is
The Cambridge Graduate Course in
to move beyond the sonnet and the
enthusiastic students from diverse
initiative arranged with the Head
medicine continues to attract
academic backgrounds. The course is evolving in line with the
“standard” clinical course whilst
working the Faculty of Biology to
National Curriculum. This is an
Teacher and the Head of English at
the school in an attempt to break down misconceptions about
Cambridge, whilst allowing our
make the course as coherent as
students to test their knowledge of
Cavendish is very well placed to
completely different and
possible with medical science. Lucy
‘practical criticism’ from a
deliver strong student support with
challenging angle.”
Fiona Walter from the Department
The Bursar, Dr David Carter, writes:
the addition of two medical fellows:
of General Practice and Helen Taylor, consultant radiologist.
Jillinda Tiley spent 6 weeks in March
and April in Sydney and Melbourne
and returned in time to act as
influenza virus before the next
was timely and we have recently
investigate the on-going pandemic
As well as influenza, I have
commercial money to look at ways
of preventing the spread of
norovirus, and I will be moving into
molecular testing for a range of bacterial infections.
I shall be supervising all the second
year microbiology for the Biology of Disease course. and will be Director
of Studies in Pre-Clinical Veterinary
Medicine.
When the economy takes a
Lastly, I finally realised an
suffer, but amidst all the challenges
made it to the Andes to ride. I am
downturn, the College finances
there are many positives,
contributing to Lucy’s long term
wellbeing: student numbers are on
Director Of Studies to the Lucy
the up; we have continued to invest
on leave. She continues to act as
equipment; diversifying our
lawyers while Anat Scolnicov was
Addenbrookes Hospital. I was
in our accommodation and
ambition at the end of the year and
now full of enthusiasm and am
planning a cross Andes horseback trip with three companions,
travelling from Chile to Argentina just after the snows melt in 2010.”
Annual Newsletter 09 | Page 17
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Alumnae News one-woman shows: Ten Days that
www.ginnydavis.com
I would do that….”
my new flexibility, which allows me
Matters, in which the narrator, a
Sarah Lovell (2007) has spent the last
and travelling. (I need to former to
Ginny Davis (1984) has written two
shook the Kitchen! and Family
beleaguered mother of three,
describes life at the cutting edge of
year working in Iraq as a computer
time to take aerobics and weight
training, as well as do more cooking offset the latter!)”
Elizabeth Kincaid-Ehlers has recently
family life. She performed Ten
Days.. in the summer of 2008 at the
published her second volume of
Family Matters which she has
Leaping and Looming (2005) was a
verse, Seasoning. Her first book
Edinburgh Fringe and then wrote
collection of poems written from
performed up and down the
1979 to 2004. Elizabeth was featured
country in venues ranging from
in the first year of the Sunken
state of the art theatre spaces to
Garden Poetry Festival and has
school gyms via a Literary Festival
received many awards, including
the North Country Poetry Prize and
Nimrod magazine.
Policy Graduate Fellowship with
For the last ten years Polly
Sciences that will start this autumn
season (Jan Feb March) directing
the Christine Mirzayan Technology
the U.S. National Academy of in Washington, D.C.
Cynthia Glassman (Hon Fellow Marquee and the fourth plinth in
Trafalgar Square as part of Antony
Board of Directors of Discover
artefacts, there are comprehensive
Trustee of the SEC (Securities and
Exchange Commission) Historical
went on to get a First in the exam!).
Society. In May, I gave the
good, I tells myself, though I might
George Washington University
have done better if I’d stuck to Law. My two children are now teenagers. They watch my shows with suspicion; just waiting for
representations of themselves. As if
Page 18 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
Lucia. The site includes C18th ruins
Aristocrat who was Governor of St
Financial Services and become a
That, in the world of theatre is
Historic Site of Mamiku Estate in St
Secretary of Commerce in the Bush
position in January as Under
in the words of John Tiley when he bad, but not good either’ (though I
excavations and research at the of the Residence of Baron de
Administration, I have joined the
marked my final Equity essay: ’Not
Thompson (1989) has had an annual
2006) writes: “Since leaving my
Gormley’s One and Other project.
Ginny writes: “the financial loss is,
a Pushcart Prize nomination from
technician and has been awarded
Micoud (1765), a colourful French Lucia. As well as a wealth of
records: personal, colonial state
/military and intriguing documents referring to a period of
imprisonment in Holland for
commencement speech at the
spying. She would eagerly welcome
undergraduate business school
researching in any related area.
graduation. I am in discussions with other boards about the
possibility of joining them, and
have other speaking engagements
scheduled for the fall. I am enjoying
input from anyone who is
When not in St Lucia, Polly lives in Appledore and is the secretary to
both the Appledore Book Festival and the Appledore Visual Arts
Festival. Both festivals attract
newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2
national and international artists
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Lorraine Cavanagh (1994) has now
and authors.
seen her PhD published, in totally
Vanessa Fox (2003) has moved to
the title By One Spirit:
Nairobi to start a new job as chief accountant for a sisal company
there. Her daughter Emily is with
her, and they are thoroughly
enjoying meeting up with the large number of family members they have in Kenya.
revised and updated form, under Reconciliation and Renewal in
Anglican Life published by Peter Lang.
Philippa Jones (1975) has two books out at the moment: Satan's
perfectly timed to take the hard
edge off a downturn in health.
Patapia M Tzotzoli (2004) returned
Housebound for long periods with
to Greece almost a year ago, and is
now working at Hygeia Hospital as
ME, I was (and can) escape to
neuropsychologist at the
commitment to linear, analytical
different worlds. After years of
a clinical and research
Department of Neurosurgery &
thinking, I was finding that words
Initially, she was employed to carry
themselves, making their own
have a way of organising
Gamma Knife Radiosurgery.
connections. At the time I was
out a research project on the quality
unable to follow the plot in a book
of life of patients with brain
and following the trail of my own
metastases who undergo either
thought in a conversation was
knife or WBRT. This project will
beyond me. So I felt a great
conclude in June 2012. In the
excitement at having these poems
meantime, she also perform
come along� She has since been a
Kingdom came out in 2007 to
abolition of the slave trade; The
"Feeling Trapped (A True Story)"
celebrate the bicentennial of the
the tale of Jonathan Trappe, a man
the accession of Henry VIII.
of them. You can see Mary's poems
Mary Courtney (2004) writes “I
http://marycourtneypoetry.co.uk
started writing poems at the age of
offers psychotherapy to patients.
were selected from 7,500 entries and
Other Tudors came out this year to celebrate the 500th anniversary of
neuropsychological evaluations and
commended winner in the National
Poetry Competition:. 13 poems
most prone to day dreams, was one
on:
45 - when I thought there was
Laurel Patterson (1999) lives in
surprise me. Never before having
Director for UNDP Somalia.
nothing about myself that could
the urge to do such a thing, it was a
Kenya and is Assistant Country
delightful shock! Pure playfulness -
Annual Newsletter 09 | Page 19
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Rachel Brown (2004) has completed
Soma Sengupta (1998) is currently
English teacher at Samuel Ward
Harvard and writes that she is
her NQT year as a secondary
Upper School in Haverhill, Suffolk.
She did her PGCE last year at
Cambridge and is loving being a teacher
Marcia Schofield (1992) writes:
training in neurology at BIDMC-
enjoying the work enormously.
June Thompson (1975) writes:
“having 'officially' retired eight
years ago, I continue to edit the
international journal ReCALL,
published by Cambridge University
Sue Swan (1996) is working at
Press, which I co-founded twenty
Birmingham as a Criminal Defence
research on new technologies and
Russell Jones & Walker Solicitors in
years ago. The journal publishes
“This year, the Chief Medical
Police Federation.
Solicitor, primarily working for the
language learning, which means I
knowledge of health care
Together with a number of
operate electronically between East
Officer's report highlighted the poor professionals in the assessment and treatment of pain. Our group, the
colleagues from the UK and
Education Special Interest
have to keep abreast of the rapid
developments in this field and also Yorkshire, Cambridge and India. It
also means I help to organise the
annual conference of EUROCALL,
committee of the British Pain
the journal's parent association, this
Society, has recently completed a
year to be in Valencia, Spain”
nationwide survey of
undergraduate courses for doctors,
Louise Ogundere (Louise Allum,
to determine the amount of
clinician at The Beaumont Animal
pain. Following on from this work, I
Royal Veterinary College, this
nurses and health care professionals
1992) started a new job as staff
curriculum devoted to the study of
Hospital in Camden, part of the
have moved into assisting with
compiling a large database of web-
January. As well as being a busy
based educational resources for
overseas Svetlana Kurtes (1997) is
is our hope that the results of this
international research network for
emphasis in the assessment and
education activities. The Network is
addition to my elected duties, I
initiatives clustering around the key
Lecturer at the University of
specific aspects of communication,
inter-professional pain education. It
survey will lead to a greater
treatment of pain in the NHS. In have been appointed Senior
Cardiff: seconded from my NHS
work. I will be helping to revamp the MSc course in Pain
currently involved in setting up an
linguistic and intercultural
meant to undertake a variety of
concepts of language and culture
especially with reference to English
for Academic Purposes and English
as a Lingua Franca. Svetlana has
first opinion practice they teach
final year vet students their 'first
day skills'- from consulting skills to
routine surgery. Louise is loving the new challenge and the added dimension of teaching.
Nicole Laviolette (1997) is Associate
Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa. Her research and
publications are devoted mainly to
international human rights,
international humanitarian law, and
Management for completely on-line
been busy promoting and
the rights of refugees. She is also
course for students worldwide”.
carrying on with her own research
issues, international feminist theory
delivery to improve access to the
Page 20 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
expanding the Network and work.
interested in lesbian and gay legal
and transnational family law. She is the co-editor of The Human Rights
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Next April Granta are bringing out a paperback edition of her latest
book, Hot Flushes, Cold Science: A
History of the Modern Menopause, and she spent a good deal of this year promoting it. She is now
working on the next book now, as well as doing radio work and
starting her fourth year as a Non-
Alcoholic Trustee of Alcoholics Anonymous GB and being
company secretary to my sons' arts
business.
of Anti-Terrorism (Irwin Law, 2008), a collection of papers
discussing the Ottawa Principles on
Anti-Terrorism. Along with Mélanie
Claude and Richard Poulin, Prof.
LaViolette also edited Prostitution et traite des êtreshumains, enjeux nationaux et internationaux (Les Éditions L’Interligne, 2009). Her
chapter is entitled, “Le cadre
juridique interaméricain face aux
problèmes engendrés par la traite des femmes et des enfants.” In
March 2009, she presented a lecture
entitled, “Independent Human
Rights Documentation and Sexual
Minorities: An Ongoing Challenge for the Canadian Refugee
Hot Flushes, Cold Science A History of the Modern Menopause Louise Foxcroft ‘Gripping ... Packed full of the thoughtprovoking information you never come across ... Read this book’ India Knight, Evening Standard
Hilary Levey (2002) recently finished her PhD at Princeton and for the
next two years will be a Robert
Wood Johnson Scholar in Health
Determination Process” at an
Policy Research at Harvard working
Angeles which focused on sexual
for economists, political scientists,
international conference held in Los
orientation and the law.
Louise Foxcroft (1992) is in her final year as President of the Lucy
Cavendish Alumnae Association.
on an inter-disciplinary programme
and sociologists.
Elizabeth Speller (1992) has been
short-listed for best single poem in
The Forward Prize for Poetry. She
has also run poetry workshops
which Caron Freeborn at Lucy
Cavendish which she says have been “enjoyable and very
interesting explorations into poetry
and full of surprises. (I hope
attendees were as stretched by it all as I was)”. Elizabeth’s new book and first novel The Return of
Captain John Emmett will be
published by Virago on March 4th
2010 and a second novel is due out
a year later. From October she
takes up a Royal Literary Fund Fellowship at the University of Warwick.
Morag Kersel (2002) is now the co-
director of the Regional Exploration
into the Galilean Ancient Landscape
(REGAL) project, a new initiative investigating social and ritual
organization in the Chalcolithic (c. 4500-3600 BC) of the Levant. This
coming academic year she will be a
postdoctoral fellow at the Joukowsky Institute for
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Commission (expenditure patterns
booklet on "Assessment in Schools.
(submissions on the regulation of
policy makers to think more about
of retired people), Age Concern NZ
financial planners), Age Concern Wellington (pre-retirement
education) and the NZ Institute for Research in Ageing (family, ageing
and migration in the NZ Indian
at Brown University where she will be teaching classes on museum
policy and the archaeology of the
Middle East.
Former Fellow, Harriet Crawford
the uses and misuses of assessment and testing.
Anne McDougall (Visiting Fellow
2006) is Professor of Academic
Gerontology of which she is the
Wollongong and Principal Fellow at
national and Wellington branch
secretary. She has also become an
"accredited visitor" to older people who are housebound.
Mary James (Fellow Commoner)
retired from her Chair at the
(1971) is still raising money for the
Institute of Education, University of
and is chairman of their scholarship
back in Cambridge, her new role is
archaeologists and museum staff
the Faculty of Education. This
British Institute for the study of Iraq
increasing public understanding of
community). Her unpaid work is for the NZ Association of
Archaeology and the Ancient World
Fit for Purpose?" which challenges
Development at the University of the University of Melbourne. Her
latest book, which she has co-edited with John Murnane, Anthony Jones and Nick Reynolds is Researching IT in Education: Theory, Practice
and Future Directions. The book is
intended for everyone interested in
or undertaking research on IT in
London, in December 2008. Now
education: academics, research
Associate Director of Research at
and others. The 31 contributors to
enables her to help colleagues with
the UK, Germany, Italy, Greece,
colleagues here and update their
publications, using some of the
Argentina, New Zealand and
contract with Routledge to edit
almost ten years working on the
programme which brings Iraqi
over to this country for short stays during which they can meet
skills. She has also just signed a
writing research proposals and
experience she has built up over
another in their Ancient worlds
ESRC's UK-wide Teaching and
World.
2008/9 she completed her ESRC
series to be called The Sumerian
Judith Davey (1967) continues to be attached to the Institute if Policy Studies at Victoria University of
Wellington as a Senior Research
Learning Research Programme. In Programme Director's Fellowship, travelling to the USA, Australia,
New Zealand, Hong Kong, South
Africa, Spain, Sweden and Norway. She is now editing a section of 57
Associate. As well as being
articles on the theme of educational
institute - seminars, lectures, round
Elsevier's "International
involved in the activities of the
table discussions - she undertakes
contract research. In the last year
she has worked for the Retirement
Page 22 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
assessment for the Third Edition of Encyclopedia of Education". With
colleagues in the UK's Assessment
Reform Group, she has written a
students, teachers, policy makers
the book come from ten countries:
Switzerland, Iceland, Botswana,
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Australia. The chapters describe a
Karen Stephenson (1995) and Will
perspectives, some of them
May 2009 at Shire Hall and St
variety of approaches and
contrasting markedly with one
another. This is intended; there is
no single ‘correct’ way to approach
research in this area, and awareness
of the range of possible methods
to search for - and study -
Miller were married on Saturday 2
transitions to novel
Peter’s Church, Cambridge.
states. This technically challenging
Christina Duffy Burnett (Christina
understanding in an area of great
Duffy 1994) is looking forward to
and strategies is important for
superconducting and magnetic work will further our
theoretical and technological interest.”
researchers. Anne writes: “My early
For Beverley Cottrell (1979) training
a Visiting Fellowship at Lucy
year graduate conversion course at
work on the book was done during
as a barrister involved doing a one
Cavendish College. I thank the
the University of Hertfordshire and
project during that time, and for
City University, London. She is due
College for its support for this
a one-year bar vocational course at
provision of a most congenial
to be called to the Bar by Middle
academic environment for my
Temple on 8th October, having got
work.”
a Very Competent grade overall -
Beverly Floersheimer (1982) recently
returning to teaching at Columbia
in a Thai Monastery, with her
constitutional law) having been on
meditation. She is on the parent
of her second daughter, Consuelo.
spent several very wonderful weeks
daughter, studying Buddhism and
boards of her children’s schools.
Her husband, Dan, continues to
work in the Alternative Investment environment with Hedge Funds and Private Equity Companies.
i.e. over 70% average.
Law School (immigration and
Penny Granger has published her
maternity leave following the birth
and Liturgy in Medieval East
Her elder daughter, Francesca is two years old.
book ‘The N-Town Play: Drama Anglia: Drama and Liturgy in Medieval East Anglia’
Patricia Alireza (1999) was one of
the winners of the four 2009 L’Oreal UNESCO UK and Ireland
Fellowships For Women In Science which were announced on 1 July
2009 at an awards ceremony at the Royal Institution in London. Dr
Alireza’s award will allow her to
undertake research on new
electronic transitions under extreme conditions of pressure, magnetic
field and temperature. As the
UNESCO website states: “Patricia
Alireza’s research will use pressure and new measurement techniques
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In Memoriam Steph Gray 1979-2008
for de-Wildt Cheetah Sanctuary in
All who knew her agree Steph was
called Ukuthula. At the time of
experience at Lucy Cavendish, she
Sarah Pellet remembers: “On the
South Africa, sponsoring a cheetah
tragically killed in a car accident
sponsoring she was three years old
28th January 2008, Steph Gray was while working in South Africa.
and staff are hopeful that she will
major part of college life, she rowed
breeding program.
When she was at Lucy, Steph was a for college, she ran the bar and
bring new blood lines to the
a large part of our lives and
was a very special person with so
much to give and a great friend to
us all.
Angela Lang 1948-2009 Bel Trew has written to us with the
somehow found the time to do her
following sad news: “My mother,
vet degree.
Angela Lang, was a mature MPhil
I am lucky to have lived with Steph
student at Lucy Cavendish between
Not only did she help with the
in college life, as well as truly
2004 - 2005 and was very involved
during the final years at vet school.
loving her time at Lucy Cav. I am
academic side, she got me involved
writing to sadly inform you that she
with things in and out of college,
soon getting me into the Cambridge
way of life and very quickly
becoming a close friend.
Steph’s love was horses, and all the
Ukuthula the cheetah adopted in memory in Steph Grey
In 2009 I went to South Africa to
work with a wildlife vet, fulfilling a
passed away a week ago, after an eight year battle with cancer. I
know there are many people at
Lucy Cavendish who knew her
well, from those working on the
way through vet school she was
promise that I would go over to
academic side to the housekeeping
vet. Since the age of seven she had
country Steph loved. Two days
the family if you could pass this
riding and become very good at
sanctuary where there is a plaque
determined to work as an equine
fundraised for Redwingsgone horse
dressage. She achieved her
South Africa and get to see the
were spent at De-Wildt cheetah
on the wall in memory of Steph to
ambition and after graduating in
say we have sponsored a cheetah.
work as a racehorse vet. Her hard
De-Wildt Cheetah Centre was
2006, moved to South Africa to work, determination and
established in 1971 with the aim of
personality came across where she
breeding endangered species. More
male dominated area in South
born at De-Wildt. The conservation
became very well respected in a
Africa. Steph fell in love with South Africa and wanted her friends to
visit to share her enthusiasm for the country.
Steph’s friends have raised money
for two charities in her memory:
£400 for Redwings and over £200
Page 24 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
than 500 cheetah cubs have been
ethic soon widened to include other rare and endangered species such
as the African wild dog, brown
hyaena, serval, African wildcat and
staff, and so it would mean a lot to news onto the college. I do
appreciate that many people might
have moved on since then but her
year at Cambridge was really one of her happiest.”
Our Guardian Angel: Dr Barbara Oldham, 1913- 2009 Lucy Cavendish College’s first
purpose-built building, Oldham Hall, was named after Barbara
Oldham, its principal benefactor
and in memory of her late husband,
vultures. Many of these species
Edward Oldham.
later reintroduction into the wild.
Barbara Oldham was herself a
have been successfully bred for
mature student, reading medicine at
newsletter 2009 24 09 09 final:Lucy Newsletter v2
Manchester University. She took a keen interest in this College when
she met one of our trustees in 1978.
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As Phyllis Hetzel wrote in The
Japan”.
neither I nor she knew it, was to be
Among memories of Carmen as an
came from both the Oldham Trust
that she subscribed to Buddhist
Crucial Years “This lady, although
undergraduate stand out the fact
She became a supporter of the
our guardian angel”. Donations
Oldham Foundation and the
and the Edward Oldham Charitable
thought and that she kept a
Settlement.
difference to the College: without
immediate postwar years,
College and donated funds from the Edward Oldham Charitable
Barbara was born in 1913 in what
Settlement and made a crucial
these gifts the College would not have been in a strong enough
harpsichord in her room. In those
undergraduate ages and experience ranged more widely than is usual
was then Southern Rhodesia where
financial position to gain Approved
today and Carmen (at 25 and ex-
the family returned to Derbyshire
the path to becoming a full
good discussions she particularly
her father was a missionary. In 1919 where she was educated at Lady
Manners School, becoming Head
Foundation status, a crucial stage in Cambridge college.
Girl in 1931. Barbara became a
The relationship with the College
hats for her family drapers business
was a firm friend to the College and
teacher, but it was when delivering that she met Edward Oldham,
grandson of the founder of Oldham and Son, battery manufacturers.
lasted for decades: Barbara Oldham
to many of those who worked here.
Barbara and Edward were married
Carmen Blacker OBE FBA, 1924-2009
post as a teacher but went on to
Carmen Blacker: Carmen Blacker
in 1939 and Barbara gave up her
Dame Anne Warburton remembers
train as a doctor, at Manchester
was an unusual First Year student
medicine during the war years. She
1947. She already had a BA in
University as a mature student in
specialised in psychiatric work and
spent 20 years working among
when she went up to Somerville in
Japanese (first class honours) from
SOAS and had worked on Japanese
Manchester students.
matters at Bletchley. With Senior
In the summer of 1978, Alastair
call an Affiliated Student), she did
Wordern, one of the Lucy
Cavendish College Trustees was on
a trip to New York and met Barbara Oldham on a Concorde flight. She
took a keen interest in the College, having herself been treated as a
curiosity when she sought to study as a mature student in the 1940s.
Status (ie what we in Cambridge
Bletchley) contributed fully to the enjoyed over Dining Hall meals. In
doing so she made good friends,
won by her personality and also the remarkable modesty about her own abilities and achievements and her readiness to praise and encourage
others.
After Oxford and a year as Fellow
at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, a
Treasury studentship made possible
her first visit to Japan. (Carmen told
later of her embarrassment then to discover that her spoken Japanese shocked those listening because,
having been taught by a man, she
used masculine word endings!) Her research at Keio University on its founder was the basis of her
the full Oxford PPE course in two
doctoral thesis, published in 1964 as
later, on her 85th birthday, The
Study of the Writings of Fukuzawa
years. When Carmen died 60 years Times obituary wrote of “an
outstanding scholar of Japanese
“The Japanese Enlightenment: A
Yukichi.”
culture” who “throughout her life
Carmen’s Cambridge career
understanding between Britain and
the early 1980s she played the key
did all she could for closer
spanned the years 1955 - 1991. In
part in preserving Japanese studies in the University of Cambridge
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from being axed for economy. Not
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made OBE. She was a Founding
only did she actively recruit
Fellow of Clare Hall and an
proudly refused premature
Combination Room at Lucy
students, she decisively and retirement and secured the help of
the British Ambassador in Tokyo in
Honorary Member of the Cavendish College.
persuading Japanese benefactors to
Natasha Squire adds: Carmen more
Cambridge in 1984.
Membership of Lucy Cavendish
fund a chair of Japanese studies in
Appointments as Visiting Fellow or Professor took Carmen to
Columbia, Princeton and Toronto
Universities in North America and to Kyoto University in Japan. She continued until a very few years ago to teach folklore, one of her
main interests, almost annually at Ueno Gakuen University. Her
research included much travel in
Japan, observing and participating
in pilgrimages and rituals—even walking barefoot on hot coals.
Her other great interest was the
study of Japanese religion and she
than earned her Honorary
College. She and Michael Loewe share the demanding work of
directing, teaching and guiding our first students in Oriental Studies, especially Chinese and Japanese.
Their enlightened care was a labour
or love well beyond the demands of the job. Their house was always
open to those in need of guidance
and comfort. Carmen supported the College with admirable loyalty at
dinner, academic and other events radiating humour and generosity. She is greatly missed by all who
came into contact with her.
was much respected in Japan for
her contributions on both subjects, most notably The Catalpa Bow: A
Study in Shamanistic Practices in
Japan (1975, published in Japan in
1979). Numerous articles appeared
in learned journals and other books
included two edited jointly with
Michael Loewe, lecturer in Chinese
at Cambridge, her long term
partner and, since 2002, husband. Carmen was awarded the order of
the Precious Crown by the Japanese
Government in 1988 for her services to scholarship and to Anglo-
Japanese relations. In 2004 she was
Page 26 | Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge
Witch Hazel planted by friends in memory of Hazel Sopp, 1966-2008
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Art in College The new Curator
Sarah Gull, fellow in clinical
medicine and joint College director for the Graduate Medical Course,
and someone who has long been
involved in encouraging creative activity within the College, has
taken on the role of curator, a post
held by Dr Jane Renfrew for more 18 years.
This year, Michelle Baikie, MPhil student, put on an exhibiton of
photographs from Canada and local
artist Rebecca Ivatts holped to stage
an “Art Day” to explore the theme
of Life. Sarah also organized an
event on ‘Why I Paint The Human
Body’ featuring the artists Tom de
Freston, Rebecca Ivatts and Ulyana
The Lucy Cavendish Singers: A new choir for the College
Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength ... The Lucy Cavendish Singers is a
John Wesley Instructions for Singing, 1761
group of around twelve auditioned singers - all women: Fellows,
students, alumnae and friends of
Lucy Cavendish College who are
committed to delivery memorised and polished performances of
music in many styles and from different periods.
Founder and Director, Katharine Megli, is convinced that singing without sheet music removes a
retaining the College title – hence
Gumeniuk. The annual College
barrier between performers and
Arts and Crafts. Meanwhile, Sarah
throw themselves whole-heartedly
“In establishing the choir, I was
programmes which will appeal to a
in the new President, Prof Janet
exhibition this year extended to
has introduced a system of art on loan to the College and we
audience and allows the singers to
into their song. She loves to present
currently have works on loan from
broad range of tastes by combining
wants to consider lending art-works
known and by juxtaposing comedy
fellows and alumnae. If anyone
to the college please let her know on seg30@cam.ac.uk
familiar pieces with others less well and tragedy, satire and religious fervour.
The College Choir still provides the
the Lucy Cavendish Singers.
very fortunate to find a warm ally
Todd, who immediately gave us the
opportunity to sing at the Winter
Reception for Benefactors in
January 2009. Our audience was
delightfully appreciative and as a result of that performance we
received a terrific boost in the form
opportunity for all at Lucy who
of a generous donation to cover our
to establish a second choir for small
Megli.
want to sing. However, she wanted group of singers who were willing
costs for the year.” says Katharina
make a strong commitment to
Since then they have sung at two
the College. The group took shape
of Women’s Word in June and have
that would reflect their eclectic
concert at Emmanuel Reformed
performing both within and outside and found that it needed a name
programmes we present whilst still
formal halls, the opening reception
presented a full-scale lunchtime Church in the city centre.
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