Mansfield January 2011
Contents
College News College Life Alumni and Development Events Fellows’ Articles and Publications Celebrating 125 Years of Mansfield Volunteering and Charity Work Alumni News Exam results Events Calendar
3 7 12 17 21 27 32 36 41 43
Edited by Philip Kennedy, Andy Gosler, The Principal, Susannah Forkun, Tanya Rasmussen, Kathryn Davies. We welcome suggestions and contributions from our Alumni and Friends. Printed on recycled stock
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College News Principal’s Welcome If I were to start this article with ‘My husband and I…” you might think that nearly nine years of being Principal at Mansfield had gone to my head right royally. Well, of course, it has! Who could fail to have been proud to be associated with this wonderful College for all these years? This is exactly what my husband, Arthur, thinks too - and it is why he has toggled to-and-fro between London and Oxford, often several times per week, to be at my side for all the high days and holy days that make up the Mansfield termly calendar. Unfortunately, one event he had to miss was to see me installed, for my remaining year at Mansfield, as one of the University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellors.
I can’t quite take in the fact that this is, indeed, my last year at the College. The time has absolutely flown by. But what a year this is going to be! 2011 is our 125th Anniversary year and we shall be marking it in style, both here and in the US, with a series of events for staff, students and alumni alike, which I hope as many of you as possible will attend. At the same time, we shall be devoting much energy to preparing a fabulous Presentation Book about the College, for publication in 2012. Inside this Magazine you’ll find a brochure offering you the opportunity to pre-order a subscription
copy of the book (at a discounted rate): I have already ordered mine! Equally important is the invitation to contribute some of your memories and anecdotes about Mansfield for inclusion in the book, at the discretion of the Editors, Professors Michael Freeden and Stephen Blundell. Plans are also well-underway for a major capital fund-raising campaign to build new student accommodation, new kitchens, extra dining facilities and a host of other improvements on site. The Mansfield Capital Campaign Committee, chaired with great brio by alumnus Giles Harrison, together with two other members of our Development Board, James Hopkins and Sarah Harkness, is working with huge energy on the so-called ‘silent phase’ of our campaign. Please watch this space for news of progress on which, I feel sure, my successor, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, will be reporting this time next year. But, although instinct impels me to look forward to exciting times ahead, I cannot let this opportunity pass without a warm word about two long-standing and muchrespected Fellows who retired at the end of last term. Tony Lemon and John Sykes were quite ‘partied-out’ by the time they left, with numerous dinners held in their honour. Read more about the dinners, as well as reflections from John and Tony on their years at Mansfield. We also bade a fond farewell to Linda Given, for many years, the mainstay of the College Office. As we go to press, however, we have all been greatly saddened to learn of the death of John Muddiman’s wife, Gillian Nicholls, after a short but devastating illness, less than three months after their marriage was joyfully celebrated in the College.
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This year we are welcoming quite a number of new Fellows: Professor James Marrow (Materials Science); Dr Richard Powell (Geography); Dr Marina Galano (Materials Science); Dr Michéle Mendelssohn (English); and College Lecturers: Dr Theodore Karavasilis (Engineering); Dr Richard Coggins (Politics) and Dr Angela Chew (Philosophy). We also welcome three Junior Research Fellows, Dr Mads Frandsen (Physics); Dr Rebecca Hamer (Statistics); Dr Matthew Kunz (Astrophysics). In October, coinciding with the announcement of Government cuts to Higher Education spending and increases in tuition fees, the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Sir Alan Langlands, delivered our Annuala Hands Lecture on “Higher Education: striving for excellence in changing times”. And the times they are, indeed, changing. But I am absolutely convinced that the College has a rock-solid future ahead of it and I know I shall always feel myself to be a chip off the old rock.
Dr Diana Walford CBE
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College News Senior Tutor’s report
looks as though it can offer less to students than some other colleges.
For the University Prospectus this year we were asked to list three things about Mansfield that make it unique. We were told we could not choose characteristics that all colleges would claim to have, like a friendly atmosphere, ‘but something that is special to your college; e.g. bell tower, lake, squash courts, real tennis, theatre’. Not having a lake or a theatre our entry reads: ‘We are a small College, most on site undergraduate accommodation is en suite, and we have a very sociable College cat called Erasmus’. There has recently been an increasing demand for information that might help prospective candidates to rank colleges on the range and quality of their facilities, on whether students have three years’ college accommodation, on rent and meal costs. Being modest in size and wealth, in these rankings Mansfield
Some things we offer that are different from other colleges may seem quite small. For instance, this year we introduced a Freshers’ Friends and Family day, three weeks before the start of term. We thought this would give first year students a chance to see their new home in a relaxed atmosphere, separate from the frenetic moving-in period of Freshers’ week. We gave everyone lunch, current students acted as hosts, we gave tours of the College, and showed freshers the rooms they would be living in. About a hundred visitors came, and it was a really good day. The JCR tell us that they have noticed the freshers have settled in much more quickly this year as a result.
Lucinda Rumsey, Senior Tutor
Examination success is traditionally used to distinguish between Oxford colleges. In 2009-10 twenty-three of Mansfield’s first years got distinctions
in their examinations, and fifteen finalists got firsts in Schools. Six of our undergraduates won University prizes: Daniel Clarke (History & English) won the Cecil Routh Memorial Prize; Bridget Gill (Oriental Studies) won the James Mew Junior Prize; Peter Harrison-Evans (Geography) won the A J Herbertson Prize (and was also proxime accessit for a Gibbs Prize, and nominated for the Urban Geography Research Group undergraduate dissertation prize, details on page 9); Victoria Pearce (English) won a Gibbs Prize; Anna Ploszajski (Materials) won the Rolls Royce Prize, and Elizabeth Rae (Maths & Stats) won the Defence Science & Technology Prize in Statistics. In all more than a third of Mansfield second, third and fourth year students are scholars or exhibitioners. But we still did poorly in the Norrington Table. I wish that this was not the best known league table for Oxford colleges, and we might make some legitimate objections to the way it reaches its rankings, but it does not look well for Mansfield to complain about the table until we are nearer the top of it. Mansfield is one of the highest scoring colleges on the less well-publicised University student satisfaction survey, particularly for the academic support our tutors provide for students. We have been asked to share with other colleges what we do that makes students respond so positively to their experience at the College. There are many things that make Mansfield a good place for students to thrive academically. It is a pity that some of these are not as easily itemized as a lake or a theatre.
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Bursar’s Report
wants to begin to pencil in the details of a budget forecast for 2011-12 and beyond.
The Editors this year have gently reminded me that the Bursar’s report over the last few years has seldom, if ever, included any figures, so to keep them happy I have included a very generalised summary of what I think the Mansfield College budget for this academic year, 2010-11, will be.
We have, in any event, always been seen as a financially challenged college but I feel that sometimes too much can be made of Mansfield’s relative lack of wealth compared to some of our close neighbours. In fact, ironically, our endowment income as a fairly small proportion of total income (less than 10% compared with the Oxford college average of around 30%) has meant that we have been protected somewhat from the effects of stock market volatility over the last few years – and we have tended to find our financial salvation by the honest virtues of trading rather than via the dark arts of speculation on financial markets.
Steve Waterman, Bursar
However as with any set of figures they are less interesting than the stories of what lies behind them and in what direction they might be travelling. The Mansfield financial projections are always something of a challenge, but at the time of writing these few notes the crystal ball is having to be re-tuned to high definition in order to try and make any sense of what will be happening to all of us in higher education over the next few years. As a piece of serendipity, this year’s Annual Hands Lecture was given by Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE, on ‘Higher Education: Striving for Excellence in Changing Times.’ But even Sir Alan’s crystal ball can’t offer too many insights to anyone who at this stage
The combination of our new building, opened some five years ago now, conference growth (topping the £500k mark for the first time this last year), a modest increase in student numbers, and crucial financial support from alumni have all combined to put the College in as strong a financial position as it has been for many years. It is what comes next which is just as fascinating and which we hope will include additional new incomegenerating buildings, and a consequent much larger student body on our main site. The trick will be to grow and increase the provision we can offer to our future students without losing the very tangible spirit of Mansfield with its open, democratic and small scale community values. Of necessity these figures are highly summarised, but if any of our readers have an interest in learning more of the detail and trends behind this summary I would be very happy to oblige.
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MCR President Sarah Wride, English 2009
Although still green as MCR President, and therefore able to offer only a limited report, I am pleased not only to welcome again our large group of new graduate students, but to confirm the success of Freshers’ Week and the value of both our new website and the MCR Parenting Scheme to incoming students. Our social events have so far ranged from sampling High Tea at the Randolph Hotel and the culinary offerings of both Brasenose and St. Hilda’s College by way of our regular Exchange Dinners, to themed weekly film afternoons and a group trip to the fireworks display on Bonfire Night. New additions to our schedule will include tri-termly Welfare Teas – following the success of the Welcome Tea-party at the beginning of Freshers’ Week and significant in our drive to advance MCR welfare support – and more Women’s events such as the (Young) Women’s Institute Evening. We look forward to further collaboration with the JCR this year and, turning to the SCR, building upon current adviser-advisee relations within the college. Indeed, the Bench have thus far worked with Helen Lacey, Tutor for Graduates, towards restructuring the MCR/SCR Dinner and Seminar, the latter now to precede dinner and include more graduate speakers, in the hope of encouraging greater attendance from both Common Rooms. To conclude, the academic year has begun – and I hope continues – well!
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College News JCR President Andrew Campbell, Geography, 2008
“A first, a blue, or a partner” is a phrase often heard at Oxford. As I come to the end of my term of office, I think JCR President should be added to that list. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea; in fact if you asked me now if I have enjoyed the experience, I would have to reply: “Ask me again when it is over!” The trials and tribulations of non-stop emails and attending meetings, with the occasional stress of cleaning up after JCR events, often overshadow many of the unique opportunities and achievements I have encountered. Meeting and befriending members of college staff and fellows beyond my subject, being a voice for the JCR in and beyond the college, getting to know, both officially and personally, some truly great students. These and so much more are the memories with both their good and bad experiences, which will have
an enormous impact upon my future life and career. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Mansfield College and its outstanding
Access Initiative, without which I would not be writing this. I hope, in the future, to repay the college in any way I can.
Mansfield College
An exclusive venue for conferences, events and fine dining Nestled in a glorious location in the heart of Oxford, with stunning Victorian buildings surrounding a large, open quadrangle, Mansfield can provide a beautiful backdrop for any event. The College offers a full range of conference and dining facilities, with an excellent standard of cuisine, wide range of menus, and fantastic wine cellar. Mansfield can also offer the unique surroundings of our college Chapel for the most memorable of events. For further details, please contact: Lynne Quiggin, Conferences and Events Manager E: lynne.quiggin@mansfield.ox.ac.uk T: 01865 282888
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College Life Law Society
Chris du Boulay, Law, 2008 Mansfield Law Society President Mansfield Law Society aims to support its members, the law undergraduates, graduates and fellows of Mansfield College, in external mooting competitions, career development and in their academic work. This year we plan to continue with these traditions, organising social events and talks from representatives of both solicitors’ firms and the bar, including hopefully Baroness Kennedy QC, who was recently appointed as Mansfield’s next Principal. We also plan on introducing for the first time an internal mooting competition.
Film Society
Anna Turskaya, Material Science, 2008 Mansfield film society is dedicated to underrated and overlooked films, dead set against the clichés of film societies. We informally meet every other week in the Garden Building for screenings and occasional theme nights. Recently, a special focus has been put on continental European films with the aim of releasing work tensions with light-hearted yet thought-provoking films: highlights include the French ‘Paris, Je t’aime’, the Spanish-American
‘Vicky-Christina-Barcelona,’ and the hidden jewel of Emir Kusturica’s ‘Life is a miracle’ set against the background of the Balcan wars.
A year in the life of a Visiting Student Amanda Stellato, VSP, 2007-2008
The first word that comes to mind when thinking back on my year as a visiting student at Mansfield College from 2007-8 is ‘whirlwind.’ From that first trip to the Turf with the freshers to the last formal dinner held for the VSPs at the end of Trinity, I always felt at home within the Mansfield community. Swept up in this whirlwind from the very first moment, I quickly adapted to life at the college that in my mind is Oxford’s best kept secret. Key lessons included when to book for the highly anticipated bi-termly formal-formal; how to survive the deadly essay crisis and tutorial combination; what exactly pennying is and how to avoid it; not stepping on the quad unless armed with a croquet mallet; and how to flawlessly use the inevitable rowing vernacular employed by all Mansfielders during Summer Eights. Amidst said whirlwind, I instantly found my place within college, which served as an anchor in the altogether confusing and alien environment that Oxford is for most visiting students. Why are those students wearing those Harry Potter outfits? What is the ATS? What on earth do “knackered”, “rinsed” and “quid” mean? All of these questions and more were gamely answered by my friends
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at Mansfield over numerous Saturday brunches in hall, Champagne and Chocolates in the Chapel, and late night breaks from the library down in the bar. JCR events such as bops were always “a laugh” and both playing and cheering for the mighty Mansfield-Merton sports teams further underscored the strong sense of community and camaraderie that characterized my experience as a member of college. It did not take long for Mansfield to feel like home and to forget that I was simply “visiting” for the year. My whirlwind of a year, during which I had the opportunity to play a university sport, travel around Europe, make friends from all over the world, and write a LOT of essays, was unforgettable and would not have been possible had I been anywhere but Mansfield. I had such a great time that I couldn’t help but come back for more as a Masters student a year later. The fact that I am hardly the only visiting student to do so says a lot about the visiting student program at Mansfield College and I am truly grateful for the experience.
Music
John Oxlade, Director of Music It has been a busy year for the musicians in Mansfield. Building on the success of the Bach St John Passion with the College Choir and Isis Baroque Orchestra we have performed a wide variety of choral works including Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest,’ Sir John Stainer’s ‘The Crucifixion,’ and, in lighter vein, Lloyd Webber’s pop cantata ‘Joseph’ in addition to music for the regular Wednesday evening services. The Carol Service was a memorable occasion with solos from the Choir and beautifully delivered readings from Junior and Senior members of the College. It
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College Life has been a great pleasure to welcome back alumni who have performed at friends’ weddings – including Wendy MacDonald and Richard Davies, and the Wednesday lunchtime concerts have been enhanced by guest appearances by many distinguished young musicians from the professional world, including Nick Pritchard, Hugo Janacek and David Lee, Lucy Matheson, Jake Rea, Richard Pinel, Richard Moore and Gina Kruger. From Mansfield, sterling contributions have been made by our multi-talented leading alto in the choir and brilliant clarinettist Bethany Whalley, by soprano Emily Feltham, tenor Rory Morrison (each of whom held College Choral Awards) and from Pembroke, Bruce Forman.
Cricket
saw Mansfield, for the first time in their history, in the Premier Division of the JCR first team league on the back of two successive promotions from the darkest depths of league 2. Now slugging it out with the ‘big boys’ of college sport we began nervously and were on the wrong end of a few heavy defeats. However, rejuvenated after the Christmas vac the team soon began pulling in some great results and put together a fine run of form which saw some very impressive performances. A dramatic finish on the last day of the season saw us leapfrog up into third place. We now find ourselves as one of the top seven football sides in the JCR league and have been tipped by the student press to be title contenders for next year! P16 W 8 D2 L 6
Pts 26
Daniel Rey, Theology, 2009
Golden Boot: James Cooper & Tom Young – 8 goals
A hugely successful and memorable season saw us regain the Division 1 title in style. Key to the achievement wa s the calibre of the players, but also a team-spirit that was second to none, bouncing back from an early season disappointment (which your writer may have been deemed responsible for!). Many players deserve a mention, but Kartikeya Saran stood out for his fiendish spin bowling, ever-changing facial hair and drawing in multiple female spectators. We look forward to next season in earnest!
The second team also continued with their fine form in the top reserves league, and took the title contest right to the wire unfortunately losing out on the final day of the season.
Footbal
Daniel Camp, Material Science, 2008 Football at Mansfield has continued to go from strength to strength, with yet another hugely exciting season. 2009-10
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Cycling
Michael Bagshaw, Physics 2008 Most people in Oxford own a bike, and so on some level can call themselves a
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“cyclist” - using two wheels to get them about town from A to B. However, there are some people, who do things a little differently. Armed with a disrespectfully small amount of lycra, and a bike that looks like it was crafted by NASA, we ride from A, via B, and back to A again, for no better reason than the fun of it. I race offroad for Oxford, and even my particular brand of SingleSpeed racing is tolerated (though I do get funny looks). After training together through the winter last year we entered a number of races, most importantly the Varsity Match (here the comparisons with rowing end, because clearly that thing in the Thames pales in comparison with our internationally reported muddy day in a forest in Aldershot). Sadly, we didn’t win the men’s event, though an excellent show was put up: with more Oxford men crossing the line in the top ten, and Oxford comfortably retained the Women’s trophy. Some people ask “Mike, what’s so good about cycling?” And I can’t give a complete answer. Somewhere between swearing at the alarm for a silly o’clock training session, pulling on yesterday’s smelly shorts, and spending the next two hours shouting at pedestrians, potholes and cars, it’s fun. And racing for the
University adds to that. It’s often said that wearing the Yellow Jersey in the Tour De France makes you cycle with the power of two men: I can’t say having a big blue latin emblazoned book on your back does that (at races it often just gets you jeered at), but it does give you a kick up the backside when you need it.
members at the same time, thanks to some willing substitutes. We also managed to train up a fantastic new women’s first eight cox who can now help us train the new talent in the coming year. I look forward to continuing the trend and seeing more triumphs for the MCBC girls next year.
Rowing
Adam Von Trott Scholar
Camilla Gardner, Mathematics, 2008
It has been another successful year for women’s rowing at Mansfield, with the first eight achieving yet another set of blades in Torpids; it was a fitting finale for the third years who we lost to finals. Summer Eights presented us with a bigger challenge with only one returning rower from the previous year and two complete novices. However, we rose to the challenge and even managed a spectacular bump on Brasenose. The women’s second eight managed to have several outings throughout the course of the year, despite never having eight
The first ever Adam Von Trott Scholar is Diana Koestler. Diana is a German post graduate student doing a two year masters in politics.
Academic Prizes A.J Herbertson Prize Mansfield Geography student Peter Harrison-Evans has been awarded the A. J. Herbertson prize for the best Human Geography Dissertation in the Final Honours School Examinations, 2010. Titled “Regeneration and Recession: Networks, visions, and opportunities in New Islington and Spinningfields”, Peter’s dissertation examines how the current recession has shaped visions of urban regeneration in contemporary Manchester. His dissertation has also been nominated by the School of Geography and Environment for an external award, the Urban Geography Research Group Undergraduate Dissertation Prize. In addition, Peter was awarded the Gibbs Prize Proxime Accessit for overall performance in final exams.
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Robert Cooter Microsoft Prize Pablo Márquez, a 2nd year D.Phil student at Mansfield College, was awarded the “Robert Cooter Microsoft Prize for Scholarship on Law and Economics” at the Conference of the Ibero-American Law and Economics Association (ALACDE) held in San Salvador.
Young Person’s Lecture Competition 2010 Mansfield student Katie Moore has won third prize in the world final of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining’s Young Person’s Lecture Competition 2010.
James S Walker Award Mansfield alumnus Jennifer Brown (Materials Science, 2005) was nominated for the James S Walker Award from the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining in December 2009 and has been successful. The award will be presented to her on October 14th 2010.
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College Life New Staff Both the College and Development Offices have new members of staff – Helen Etty has moved from her previous role as Access Officer to that of Academic Administrator, and is joined by Lotty Spurrell, (English, 2006-2009) in the position of Admissions and Tutorial Administrator. Meanwhile, Kathryn Davies (English, 2007-2010) has joined the Development team as the new Alumni Relations Officer, whilst Helen Popescu (St Hugh’s, English,) as the Alumni and Development Assistant, brings the office back up to full complement.
Lee’s Marriage Congratulations to Lee Wotton, who got married to Claire Louise Wootton (nee Moore) during an intimate wedding at the guild hall Abingdon, 18th September 2010, followed by a reception at Kellogg College.
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Alma Jenner
Everyone at Mansfield will be bidding a sad goodbye to Alma Jenner, our Librarian, who will be retiring in 2011 after 35 years of service to the College. Alma has been the Librarian since 1982, and has seen many changes to the library over the years, including the establishment of the second and third libraries in 1983 and 2001 respectively and the computerization of the library stock in 1997. Alma also established the college archive, which is now the repository for official College records, minutes, photographs and much more besides. Her ready smile and warm disposition will be missed by all.
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Linda Given Linda Given, Academic Administrator at Mansfield for ten years, retired this summer. All of us had daily reasons to be grateful to Linda: for her ability to do things before we knew they need doing, for her amazing memory and for her care for students. It is a great testimony to Linda that whilst the job of the College Office became ever more fiendishly complex, like an iceberg (but much warmer) Linda calmly sailed over the sea of College administration, revealing to us the things we needed to know about and protecting us from the other ninety percent. One of the most overused phrases in Mansfield was ‘Don’t worry, Linda will know’. Before she left, Linda put together a manual for her successor in the College Office, Helen Etty. She gave me a copy of the bits I needed to know about as Senior Tutor. It ran to 120 pages. I think Helen has the other ninety percent. Doctorates have been given for less. I know those of us who have held the posts of Senior Tutor, Tutor for Admissions and Tutor for Graduates could not have done our jobs without Linda’s support and wisdom. We all wish Linda a very happy retirement.
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Alumni and Development Kathryn Davies, Alumni Relations Officer For those of you to whom I have not yet introduced myself, my name is Kathryn Davies. I completed an English degree at Mansfield last June, and joined the Development Office in September as the new Alumni Relations Officer. Having spent the last three years as a student at Mansfield, I was worried that I would find the transition to being a staff member a bit difficult. It has not been, largely due to the welcoming and patient attitude of the other staff here. However, I think that I will always feel like a sort of hybrid, a student and a member of staff rolled into one. Yet this, I feel, is exactly what qualifies me to do this job well – I am both an alumna and the Alumni Relations Officer, and as such understand both sides of the relationship. Mansfield gave me the best three years of my life; it introduced me to a fantastic
group of friends, gave me too many happy memories to count, and provided me with an environment in which I could grow, both personally and academically, into who I am today. I could not be more proud of this college, or more grateful for what it has given me, and I know that so many of our alumni feel the same way. I hope, in part, to repay Mansfield by ensuring that our alumni relations are the best they can be; by keeping in touch with you, I would like to make sure that your relationship with Mansfield does not end once your time here has. Looking through the report of my predecessor in last year’s magazine for inspiration, I realise how much work the next 12 months will require in order to produce “20 events, 4 quarterly e-updates, and one magazine.” These would not be possible without the constant support of Lynne Quiggin and Amanda
Ward, or the fantastic catering department run by Lynn Partridge – I would like to thank them in advance for all their help over the coming year. I look forward to meeting many of you at our events next year, and would like to thank those of you I have already met for being so friendly and supportive – although, of course, I would expect nothing less from Mansfield’s alumni. Please do keep sending us your news, and let us know if your contact details change. If we don’t already have your e-mail address, either return the contact form that came with the magazine, or email me at kathryn.davies@mansfield.ox.ac.uk. We are lining up some fantastic events for next year’s 125th anniversary celebrations, so keep a look out for ‘hold the date’ emails, and check the website for updates.
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Development News
Susannah Forkun, Development Director I can’t quite believe that my 2nd anniversary at Mansfield is fast approaching in early 2011. It’s been a testing year for fundraising but with a renewed focus on relationship building with our alumni and friends we have made real progress. Thank you to all of those who have taken time in busy schedules to meet with me – here in the UK but also further afield in Guernsey, Switzerland and the USA. Spending time meeting such a variety of alumni, hearing memories of Mansfield, how much alumni value their Mansfield years and what it has given them in life makes for a very enjoyable role! So what has been achieved over the past two years? Well the overriding focus has been on ensuring that we have strong foundations to build on – having up to date contact details for our alumni and proactively keeping in touch- and focussing on relationship building. We have been running a number of initiatives to try and get back in touch with lost alumni whilst also ensuring we have email addresses for as many alumni as possible and the results are tangible. We now have email addresses for 78% of our alumni compared to 64% in late 2008. This means that more alumni than ever before are being kept in touch with Mansfield through our quarterly email updates. The telethon has enabled us to personally contact a much wider percentage of our alumni base than I would ever be able to do alone and, with students playing a key part in this, has enabled both students and alumni to get a much better understanding of the challenges the College faces and the importance of philanthropic giving. The improved quality of the alumni data
moved us up to a 41% “contact rate” in the 2010 telethon compared to 29% the previous year. The pledge rate has also increased from 28% to 33%. All good news!
a year we would reach half of our total. So the overriding point here is that every little bit helps – even a monthly donation of £5 makes a difference to Mansfield (and this is before gift aid takes effect!).
Thank you all for making this happen.
As the festive season approaches and you have an opportunity to reflect on your philanthropic giving this year please take time to think about Mansfield and whether you feel able to give back to the College that clearly has such a place in so many hearts?
So the foundations are continuing to improve but we now are faced with a more significant challenge – encouraging our alumni and friends to give. Whilst there has been a slight rise in percentage terms of those alumni giving to Mansfield – 8% now compared to 7% a year earlier – we still have much to do to ensure everyone realises the significance of supporting the college to ensure the students of tomorrow benefit in the same way our alumni did. (As an aside it would be 9% but I keep improving the contact details on the data-base!) So what do we need? We need more people to be involved and donate regularly to Mansfield. Mansfield is a wonderful college and it is incredibly fortunate to have a committed Governing Body and Development Board, both of which I have had the pleasure of working with during the past year. The Board members give their time, effort and financial support to ensure Mansfield continues to offer an Oxford education to the best students irrespective of background and that the College continues to play a part in society at large. But it isn’t just the Development Board who are key here – we have an increasing number of individuals supporting our 125th anniversary annual fund – with more and more individuals realising that every donation makes a difference to Mansfield. The College needs at least £200,000 from its annual fund activity. If we could encourage 1000 individuals to pledge £100
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On a lighter note I thought it would be useful to highlight some of fundraising successes over the past year. The 125th anniversary campaign has continued to attract support – with increasing numbers of “Patrons”, “Mansfield 500” and “Supporters” and one off gifts. Thank you! In addition to this other highlights include: •
£40,000 raised as part of Tony Lemon’s retirement dinner.
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A successful application for support from the A & S Burton Trust resulting in a donation of £50,000 in early 2010
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10 new legacy pledges during the period August 2009 to end of July 2010 totalling over £260k
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An increasing proportion of our funds now coming from abroad – 10% of funds from outside the UK in 2009 but now 30%. The telethon has been crucial here.
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67 new donations from the 2010 telethon so far with follow-up scheduled for January 2011
So we have much to celebrate – which leads me nicely to my last comments this year. A welcome to the two newest members of the alumni relations and
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Alumni and Development development team – Kathryn Davies, our new alumni relations officer, and of course an alumna of Mansfield and Helen Popescu, our part-time assistant, who also studied at Oxford! As you might imagine they keep me on my toes in regard to our alumni and development activity. I thought a picture might be useful so you can put faces to names! Lastly may I take this opportunity to thank you for your support and I look forward to meeting many more of you during our anniversary year. From left to right: KD SF and HP
card which arrived this morning. I hope to meet him in the bar after the dinner on Saturday evening. Much better experience all round compared to the call a few years ago, so well done all round”. “A very nice call from one of your team today- very professional and very warm. A great job!” “Had a very pleasant call from one of your students – professionally handled and real warmth. Good job.”
A rather telling Telethon Andrew McCormack, English, 2009
Telethon 2010 A big thank you to everyone whom our students contacted as part of this year’s Telethon. It was a hugely rewarding experience for our student callers, who thoroughly enjoyed talking to alumni. Yet again, the Telethon has proved to be highly successful, not only as a fundraising exercise, but also as a fantastic way to keep alumni in touch with the current generation of students. It was very heartening to receive a number of emails/calls from alumni to say what a professional job the students had done so I thought I would share some of these with you. “He was very pleasant to talk to, and followed up with a very nice hand written
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Having spent my pre-Oxford weekends working in Glasgow Taxis’ call centre, I was preparing myself for a similar barrage of short, snappy and disinterested conversations as a telephonist for the Oxford Thinking Campaign’s fundraising telethon. You can imagine my relief, and delight, then, at how much fun I actually had in speaking with Mansfield’s eclectic and thoroughly interesting alumni. Sharing the University Development Offices with student callers from St. Catherine’s, Hertford and Corpus Christi Colleges, nine of us undergraduates from Mansfield contacted as many previous students as possible over a fortnight of evenings. Raising the best part of
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£50,000 for the College gave us all a real sense of the part we can play in the future of Mansfield. I was struck by the eagerness with which alumni responded to our contact, and even those unable at present to make a financial contribution were more than happy to share their stories of undergraduate shenanigans. Everyone though, as diverse their interests, and globally scattered as they are, spoke warmly about their experiences here at College. ‘Transformative’ was the most recurrent term used by alumni in their attempt to sum up their education at Mansfield, as the time in which they learned an incredible amount, not only in an academic sense, but in terms of who they are and their place in the world. Speaking with so many fascinating people has encouraged and inspired me to make the most of my time here, and, as I was instructed by an alumnus, ‘enjoy it, enjoy it, enjoy it. It’s an incredible experience – work hard, appreciate how lucky you are, and know that you’ll look back fondly in the future.’
Alumni Benefits Mansfield is currently just about breaking even, and a recent financial review of the college showed that we need to start saving money now, as things starts to look worrying from 2012 onwards. As such, the college has started to make some cuts; the per capita lunch allowance has been halved, and photocopiers changed to save £2000. As a result of this, we have reviewed the free nights system for alumni. Having canvassed every Oxford college, we are now the only one who still offers this benefit. No-one enjoys being the bearer of bad news but unfortunately I have to announce that, as of January 2011,
we will no longer offer one free night’s accommodation a year to our alumni. This may be disappointing news, but Mansfield simply cannot afford to continue to give away free accommodation in the current climate. This decision has not been taken lightly, with Governing Body consulted as well as the Mansfield Association However, from January 2011 all alumni will be charged the Development room rate of £35 a night all year round. This is a 50% saving on our commercial room rate and hopefully will still be viewed as a benefit of value. Furthermore, we are continuing to develop other benefits, for example the introduction of two “hosted” London alumni functions per year. If any of you wish to talk to Kathryn or I about this then please do feel free to contact us – we are more than happy to talk through your concerns. If you have ideas for other benefits then let us know too.
Five weeks in the Development and Alumni Relations Office Daniel Rey, Theology, 2009
Firstly, as titles go, ‘Dev Temp’ will always be a personal favourite. From contacting alumni regarding upcoming events, to a long-standing battle with the local engravers, my time working with Susannah and the team was diverse and rewarding. Coming into an office environment with the description ‘organised-chaos’ seemed like a daunting prospect at the start of my placement, but I soon found that although idiosyncratically arranged, the office really did have a meticulous, ordered structure. In any case, everyone made me very welcome and were always willing to lend a hand. In addition to Susannah, IT officer Lee Wooton was a godsend when the scanner decided that enough was enough, as was
Lynne Quiggin with alumni wishing to book rooms overnight. And if as a student I had thought porters Barry and Terry were helpful, as a member of staff they were worth their weight in gold. The work itself was an eclectic mixture of database work, research, email answering and hopefully being a pleasant person over the phone! I also enjoyed the excellent Mansfield lunches and the feeling of lending a hand towards the day to day running of the college. It gave me a useful understanding of how things function at Mansfield, which like any Oxford college, has its peculiar and interesting whimsicalities. Being a current student, my work in the office meant something to me and seeing the fruits of your labour is always gratifying. I am very grateful to Susannah and the college for helping me earn some holiday money in such a friendly and professional environment.
Mansfield Association Gill Kirk, English, 1991-1994, Mansfield Association President
Following on from last year’s article (yes, you remember it: the one seared into your mind, that left you scratching at mansfieldassociation. org.uk’s virtual door for more news), I can report an awful lot of work - but sadly, a slow amount of progress - in trying to launch a scheme to widen University access, using your ideas and Association funding. I hope you spotted in several e-newsletters that we were offering up to £2,500 in grant funding for the best proposal for such a
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scheme. Sadly, we didn’t receive any eligible entries, in spite of great support from Senior Tutor Lucinda Rumsay in College, as well as using the regular e-newsletters, special mailings and Mansfield’s Linked-In pages (due to utterly reasonable concerns about the scheme’s relationship to University access plans, unfortunately, we could not use the wider press). So, sadly, this potential-packed scheme is on ice until the College’s 125th anniversary events are past, but I very much hope that the Committee and next President (this is the last of my three years) are able to build on this in future. If you are interested, do get in touch (don’t worry - it won’t commit you to anything!). This year’s get-together was a very fine, sociable and jolly event. Bob Porrer (Modern Languages, ’63) gave a great speech about the various futures facing graduates young and less so, while earlier, we’d had the sincere pleasure of giving the annual Student of the Year award to two outstanding students: Sara Bainbridge and Christopher Fort, both of whom left many of us breathless at their generous and thoughtful contributions to College life. And just as there is a new face in the College alumni team, so there’s a new face on the Association Committee: our new Secretary Paul Fleming (PPE ‘06) joined at the AGM in June and will become a familiar name, if not face, for the future. We’ve not lost Brian Seaton, who joins our ‘backbenches’ (Chemistry with Biochemistry, ’63), and happily, we keep Ken Sears as Treasurer (History, ’45), Michael Hopkins (Theology, ‘’98), and Donald Norwood (Theology, History, ’59). Thanks to all for their hard work this year. As always, I hope to hear your ideas for your Alumni Association - keep ‘em coming!
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Alumni and Development Reaching Out With over a third of our alumni now based abroad, we are endeavouring to take advantage of Oxford University events in locations outside the UK as well as running our own initiatives with the help of alumni abroad. If you are living abroad and want to touch base with other Mansfield alumni in your country of residence, please do get in touch as we can help arrange this. 2010 saw Oxford University events in the US and Greece, with a European Reunion planned for the weekend of 6/7/8 May 2011.
The theme for the event is ‘What Europe for our Grandchildren?’, and Timothy Garton Ash has been confirmed as the key note speaker. The programme for the weekend is below. The programme will be finalised by Christmas with bookings then open in January 2011. If you are based in Europe and are interested in joining the activities over the weekend, please do let us know – there is room within the weekend to hold a Mansfield specific event if we have sufficient interest.
Activities in the US European Reunion Weekend Programme Friday 6 May 2011 6 – 8pm Drinks Reception at the Sorbonne with the University Chancellor, Lord Patten Saturday 7 May 2011 10am Talk and tour 2.30pm Academic Sessions - Panel discussion chaired by the Chancellor (TBC) - Keynote lecture by Timothy Garton-Ash 5.30 – 7pm Drinks Reception 8pm University-organised Dinner Sunday 8 May 2011 11 – 1pm Brunch at the British Embassy (TBC)
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As many of you will know, our activity to date has centred in New York with regular events being run and hosted by our alumni there. Thank you to John Zolidis and Diane Dunne for their continuing support and enthusiasm for Mansfield and for taking their personal time to make them happen. As this magazine goes to print we are in the final planning stages for a 125th anniversary lecture and drinks reception in New York for Spring 2011 – which will be attended by the Principal and the Development Director. The lecture, to be delivered by Professor Michael Freeden, will be a key part of the trip and is in response to a number of discussions Susannah had with alumni on her visit in April about keeping in touch with the academic world of Oxford and Mansfield, as well as the opportunity to meet alumni. If you haven’t yet been able to make it to one of these events, please do come along!
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Facebook and Linkedin Mansfield is increasingly using both Facebook and Linkedin as a way of communicating events and news to our alumni base, and we now have 490 friends on Facebook and 155 contacts on Linkedin. Feel free to add us - we are ‘Mansfield Oxford’ on Facebook, and ‘Mansfield College Alumni, University of Oxford’ is our group on Linkedin.
Merchandise With Christmas fast approaching, just a quick reminder that we have a wide range of Mansfield products which would make fantastic presents, including teddy bears, shot glasses, hooded jumpers, postcards and Mansfield port. Please contact the Lodge for more information on 01865 270999.
Events Guardians’ dinner 23rd January The Guardian’s dinner is our annual opportunity to thank the Guardians of the College for their continued support. This year it took the form of a dinner in the SCR, hosted by Diana Walford. We were delighted that so many of our Guardians could join us for what proved to be a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Finalists’ Families Dinner 19th March An opportunity for Finalists to welcome their families back to Mansfield before the stress of finals hit. For many family members, this was the first time they had attended a Formal Hall, and so a good way to mark the final year of their child, sibling or grandchild as a student at Mansfield. Pre-dinner drinks were followed by a wonderful meal in Hall. Diana Walford rounded off the evening with a speech.
New York 16th-17th April Diana Walford and our Development Director, Susannah Forkun, visited the US in April of this year to coincide with the Oxford University Reunion thet were delighted to be joined by the Chairman of the Development Board, Guy Hands. Mansfield alumni attended the Universityorganised drinks on the Friday night, and we were so glad that they could come to support such an important event. On the Saturday, we held a small dinner at the Yale Club for alumni who have supported Mansfield in the past, as a ‘thank you’ to our alumni on the other side of the pond.
The dinner produced a lively discussion which highlighted the differences between fundraising in British and American Universities. Diana and Susannah would both like to thank the alumni they met for the warm welcome they received.
London Drinks 29th April In April our London alumni drinks were very kindly hosted by Matthew Keats (Geography, 1989-1992) at Linklaters’ offices in London. We would like to thank Matt for the ready supply of canapés and drinks. The event had a very good turn-out, and it was good to see new faces as well as alumni who have attended in the past. We hope that this continues to be an attractive event for our alumni, and will continue to alert everyone to the dates, in case those who are not based here are passing through or visiting on holiday.
1887 Dinner 8th May This year’s 1887 dinner was especially poignant, as it was Tony Lemon’s last dinner in the role of organiser. The guest speaker was Professor David Simon, who talked about Geography and Development, as well as reminiscing about some of his fondest memories of Tony in light of his forthcoming retirement. Yannick Young, co-organiser of the society with James Cooper, then made a toast on behalf of the 1887 society thanking Tony for 40 years of service. The dinner was very well attended and enjoyed by all.
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Events Summer Reunion and Mansfield Association Dinner 26th June
And so, time brought to a close the opportunity to meet other Mansfielders, whether they are running bus companies in New Zealand, dispensing careers advice, or enjoying a day with their family at the college.
I have to admit – it did feel a little strange returning to Mansfield for a ‘reunion’ only a week after leaving. But then, one has to start one’s career as an alumna somewhere!
As I left College with the warmth of evening sunshine filling the quad, I realised that for all of those who had been at Mansfield, no matter how long it’s been, the return will always be a welcome one.
Sara Bainbridge, Human Sciences 2007-2010
The day began with a Commemoration Service lead by the Chaplain Tanya Rasmussen, which reflected on the importance of looking to the past to inspire the future. This was followed by lunch, and then the Principal gave her annual report; Mansfield’s many achievements ranged from excellence in taekwondo to publishing a very short introduction to superconductivity. After the Principal’s report, Mansfield Association presented the Student of the Year Award, and then Tony Lemon spoke about his reflections upon his 40 years at College. The Association Dinner gave us a final opportunity to sample Mansfield’s excellent food and benefit from Bob Porrer’s wisdom on the cycles of graduate recruitment, working at Kodak, and more recently trips in helicopters and chairing the RSA in Scotland.
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John Sykes Retirement Dinner 2nd July Toby Gosnall, Engineering Science, 1989-1993
The weather was kind to the event and allowed the quad to be used for a pre-meal glass of Champagne. The event was well attended by current students, fellow tutors and alumni all wishing to give John a good send-off. Mansfield’s catering staff put on an excellent spread and looked after us well. Chris Martin, the current Engineering tutor, started proceedings and talked of John’s help as Chris settled into his role, not only as College tutor, but also as Dean (John having previously performed both of these roles). We also learnt that John was the unsung hero of the college access program.
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Jason Smith, the current Materials tutor, followed Chris and spoke of the tremendous academic record enjoyed by John’s students. It’s clear that the history of metallurgy at Mansfield is the history of John at Mansfield, and the number of prizes gives weight to the sentiment expressed that this a reflection of a great leader. Jason also let us know how many metallurgists it takes to change a light bulb. John made a modest reply, speaking of his down-to-earth roots and welcoming Marina, his replacement, to her role. A temporary bar was set up at the foot of the stairs to the library which allowed further conversation and a close to the evening.
Patrons’ Event 11th September Steven Thomas, Mathematics, 1978-81
JCR, where many reminiscences of past times at Mansfield were exchanged. Our thanks go to the Principal and Fellows for their hospitality and particularly to Kathryn Davies for organising a great evening.
the beautiful Chapel for our Graduation Lunch. Soon we were ensconced in the SCR for our “final tutorial”, with even a bit of Latin thrown in. Running late, we raced to the Exam Schools, pausing only for photos under the Bridge of Sighs, to the delight of what seemed like hundreds of beaming tourists.
Degree Day 26th September 2010
The Graduation ceremony then began, and I think we all felt quite proud as the Vice-Chancellor impressed upon us the achievements that were being celebrated, and how, in graduating from this university, we were joining the ranks of thousands of similarly-robed graduands that had gone before us over the centuries. Soon it was Mansfield’s turn to rise and bow on cue, and I’m happy to report that none of us fell over as we were finally declared graduates, and left the stage to applause and no doubt some tears from our proud parents.
Lucy May, (pictured below) English, 2006-2009
The annual Mansfield Patrons’ Event was held at the college on Saturday, September 11th 2010. This year we were lucky enough to be provided with a private guided tour of the newly-restored and extended Ashmolean Museum. Oxford is very fortunate to be home to so many wonderful museums and collections, including of course the Bodleian Library and the Pitt-Rivers Museum. The new extensions to the Ashmolean allow more of its fantastic collection to be on show to the public in a very interesting and novel way while retaining much of the old charm of the building, and everyone regarded the changes as a great success story. After the tour, the Principal hosted a buffet dinner for the 20 Patrons and their guests in the
It was well over a year since we’d last stood on the quad feeling slightly awkward in our sub fusc, preparing ourselves for the trip to the Exam Schools. Back then, faces were pale and tired, conversation minimal, our minds more focussed on holding quotations and dates in our heads. Now, there were smiles and laughter all round, as we were reunited to finally celebrate making it through university.
All in all, it was a wonderfully memorable day, and definitely worth the wait.
The Hall staff made the most of the weather, providing a champagne reception on the quad, before we were ushered into
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Events Tony Lemon’s Retirement Dinner 2nd October Pam Berry, SCR
September 30th saw Tony Lemon retire after 41 years of teaching Geography in Oxford and at Mansfield. This notable achievement was marked on October 1st by a Symposium held in his honour in the School of Geography, when former students and a long-time fellow researcher spoke about their work in southern Africa and Tony’s influence upon them. A dinner held at St. Cross, Tony’s post-graduate College, enabled geography staff to pay tribute to Tony and his contribution to southern African studies. The highlight of the retirement fest was a dinner the next day for Tony’s former college students, of whom over 130 returned – nearly half of those he had taught. People had flown from around the world to be there and many
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absentees sent their own messages of appreciation. One of the original 1969 contingent, Michael Burton, a Rhodesian now teaching in South Africa, brought messages from South African academics who had benefited enormously from Tony’s academic influence, friendship and hospitality. The Principal also spoke, outlining Tony’s significant contribution to the College. The highlight of the evening was Tony’s own speech reflecting on four decades years as an academic and tutor, stressing the intellectual richness of his teaching experience and the lasting friendships it had generated. This was received with a long standing ovation and reflected the great affection by which he is held by Mansfield Geographers. This was a richly fitting send-off for someone who has served Mansfield, its students and Geography so faithfully.
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Annual Hands Lecture 25th October This year’s guest speaker at our Annual Hands Lecture, held in honour of Guy and Julia Hands in recognition of their great generosity to the College, was Sir Alan Langlands FRSE. Sir Alan is the chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. He gave an interesting and stimulating talk entitled, ‘Higher Education: Striving for Excellence in Changing Times.’ The Chapel was packed with heads of Colleges, as well as the Vice-Chancellor and Guy Hands’ mother, father and sister. The talk was very well-received, and followed by a question and answer session in which the audience sought further insight into this topical and worrying subject. After the final question had been asked, the evening was rounded off with drinks in the Council Room.
Fellows’ Articles and Publications Some recent publications reflecting academic work of Mansfield Fellows Ros Ballaster, Professorial Fellow in English Ed. Ros Ballaster The History of British Women’s Writing, 1690 - 1750: Volume Four (History of British Women’s Writing), 312 pages, Palgrave Macmillan (17 Sep 2010 ).
Steven Blundell, Professorial Fellow in Physics The second edition of “Concepts in Thermal Physics”, the undergraduate textbook by Stephen Blundell and Katherine Blundell, published in 2010.
Andrew G. Gosler, Supernumerary Fellow in Human Sciences Ethno-ornithology Birds, Indigenous Peoples, Culture and Society. Edited By Sonia Tidemann and Andrew Gosler. Published by Earthscan February 2010. This is a pioneering volume showing the breadth of this rapidly developing field. In July 2010, Andy ran the Sixth
International Hole-nesting Birds Conference in Oxford. This followed on from a series of meetings hosted previously in the Netherlands, Corsica, Switzerland and Poland.
Wars in provincial England’ in L. Ralley and J. Rappoport eds. Women and economics (Ohio State University Press, forthcoming).
Katherine Morris, Supernumerary Fellow in Philosophy
Wytham Woods: Oxford’s Ecological Laboratory. Oxford University Press. Perrins, C.M. & Gosler, A.G. April 2010. Chapter 9 – Birds. Pp. 145—171. In Savill, P., Perrins, C., Kirby, K. and Fisher, N. (Eds)
Philip Kennedy, Senior Research Fellow Twentieth-Century Theologians: A New Introduction to Modern Christian Thought, published in London and New York by I.B. Tauris in 2010. This book examines theologians’ varied responses to the events, sufferings, and challenges of the twentieth century.
Depth series).
Sartre on the Body. (Edited book of previouslypublished and newly commissioned articles, including a substantial introductory essay.) Palgrave MacMillan (Philosophers in
‘Sartre on consciousness of consciousness: remembering the Gestalt psychology background’ (2010). In A. Mirvish and A. van den Hoven, eds., New Perspectives on Sartre. Cambridge Scholars Press. “The graceful, the ungraceful and the disgraceful” in Jonathan Webber, ed., Reading Sartre. Routledge.
Kathryn Gleadle, Tutorial Fellow in Modern History Ed. (with K. Beebe and A. Davis), Gender history and the spatial turn special edition of Women’s History Review, forthcoming. ‘Gentry, gender and the moral economy during the revolutionary and Napoleonic
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Fellows’ Articles and Publications Tony Lemon, Tutorial Fellow in Human Geography In 2010, Tony published papers on ‘The 2009 general election in South Africa’ in Electoral Studies, and (with Jane Battersby-Lennard, ex-Mansfield) on ‘Studying together, living apart: emerging geographies of school attendance in postapartheid Cape Town’ in African Affairs. In April, Tony was invited to Rutgers University, New Jersey, by the South Africa Initiative of their Graduate School of Education, lecturing on ‘Twenty years after Mandela’s release: critical reflections on educational reform and restructuring in South Africa’. In August, he gave the guest lecture at South Africa’s national geography students’ conference, entitled, ‘Unravelling the geography of apartheid: South Africa’s schools’.
Michael Freeman, Senior Research fellow in Human Geography ‘Crime and Custom in forest communities: Whichwood Forest, Oxfordshire, c. 1760-1850’, in E. Baigent and R.J. Mayhew (eds.), English Geographies, 1600-1950 - Essays in honour of Jack Langton (St. John’s College Research Centre, 2009) pp. 86-103. ‘Urban transport in the Nineteenth Century’, in K. Veitch (ed.), Scottish Life and Society: transport and communications - A Compendium of Scottish Ethnology, Volume 8 (John Donald, 2009), pp. 407-435 Ventnor, Isle of Wight: the English Mediterranean
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Ventnor & District Local History Society, 2010, 60pp, £9.50
The town of Ventnor lies on the southeast coast of the Island. It occupies a spectacular physical site, the town’s buildings spread over a sequence of rock terraces that rise to almost the 400 feet contour. The site is in turn backed by high downs that extend close to 800 feet. Viewed from out at sea, the town appears like a theatre, the diminutive bay the stage-set, the lines of buildings the seating galleries. Such is the steepness of the site that most front doors look out over chimney pots and roads zig-zag constantly beneath high retaining walls. Victorians often likened it to Positano, the famous cliff-side resort on Italy’s Amalfi coast. Before 1830, this area of Wight was an untamed wilderness, a fascinating blend of the picturesque and the sublime. But over the short space of some 50 or 60 years, it was transformed to support one of the most prosperous of the Island’s towns. Above all, it became a winter sanatorium, a health resort prized for its mild, Mediterranean-like winters and for the benefits that these afforded to those afflicted with diseases of the chest. Wealthy invalids from Britain and Europe began descending on Ventnor
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in droves. And their residency was made possible by the capitalist speculators who poured into the town, buying up land and putting up lodging houses at breakneck speed. Contemporary observers described it as a new kind of ‘El Dorado’. At one stage, land and property rentals were reputed to be almost as high as they were in Mayfair. There was much ‘jerry-building’, bankruptcy was commonplace, and many roads became swamps in wet weather. In time, though, all the familiar traits of Victorian municipalism won through, giving the intriguing nineteenth-century resort that survives today. That most powerful of critics of capitalist economy, Karl Marx, twice wintered in Ventnor not long before his death.
Jon Chapman, Professorial Fellow in Mathematics and its Application Jones, G.W. & Chapman, S.J., `Modelling apical constriction in epithelia using elastic shell theory,’ Biomech. Model. Mechano-biol., 9, 247--261 (2010). doi: 10.1007/ s10237-009-0174-1\ This paper applies mathematical models to problems in biology and medicine. Aguareles, M., Chapman, S.J. & Witelski, T., “Motion of spiral waves in the Complex Ginzburg-Landau equation,’’ Physica D 239, 348--365 (2010). doi: 10.1016/j.physd.2009. 12.003\ This is a mathematical analysis of the patterns in the solution of an equation which describes a great number of phenomena, from nonlinear waves to second-order phase transitions.
Jason Smith, Hewlett Packard Tutorial Fellow in Materials Science In my research group we study nanometer scale electronic materials and their interactions with light. Recent work has included the discovery of a new ‘single photon source’ in diamond [Smith et al, New Journal of Physics, submitted], the construction of a new design of optical microscope for low temperature studies [Grazioso et al, Review of Scientific Instruments vol.81, 093705 (2010)], and the use of semiconductor nanocrystals to build a novel kind of solar cell [Stavrinadis et al, Nanotechnology, vol.21, 185202 (2010)]. (Image - A colourscale image showing the intensity of light emitted from a single nitrogen atom trapped in synthetic diamond.)
(Stephen Gourley, matriculated 1985, was an undergraduate at Mansfield). In June, Janet gave a talk at the Conference on Computational and Mathematical Population Dynamics in Bordeaux, France, and in September, she visited Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenessee, USA, to give a colloquium talk and continue collaboration with Glenn Webb.
Richard Powell, Tutorial Fellow in Geography Richard Powell holds an ESRC Seminar Series Grant, ‘Knowledges, Resources and Legal Regimes: The New Geopolitics of the Polar Regions’, 1 Jan. 2010 - 31 Oct. 2011). This involves a series of four workshops to consolidate an international network of social scientists working on the Polar Regions. More details can be found at http://polar geopolitics.co.uk Powell, R.C. (2010) ‘Lines of possession? The anxious constitution of a polar geopolitics’. Political Geography, 29(2): 74-77. Powell, R.C. and Dodds, K. (2010) ‘Knowledges, resources and legal regimes: the new geopolitics of the Polar Regions’. Polar Record, 46(4): 375-376.
Janet Dyson, Tutorial Fellow in Mathematics Existence and asymptotic properties of solutions of a nonlocal evolution equation modelling cell-cell adhesion, SIAM J. Math. Analysis, 42, (2010) 1784--1804. (With Stephen Gourley, Rosanna Villella-Bressan, Glenn Webb).
Pam Berry, Supernumerary Fellow in Geography Berry, P.M. (Ed.) (2009). Biodiversity in the Balance Mitigation and Adaptation, Conflicts and Synergies. Pensoft Publishing, Sofia, Bulgaria. This book
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explores the interactions between climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in sectors such as agriculture, forestry and energy, and biodiversity. Onishi, Y., Berry, P.M. and Tanaka, N. (2010). ‘Assessing the potential impacts of climate change and their conservation implications in Japan: a case study of conifers’. Biological Conservation. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.04 .021. This is the first study modelling climate change impacts on a range of species in Japan and considering the conservation implications. Haslett, J.R., Berry, P.M., Bela, G., et al. (2010) ‘Changing conservation strategies in Europe: a framework integrating ecosystem services and dynamics’. Biodiversity and Conservation, 2963-2977. This paper brings together the traditional conservation paradigm, focused on species and habitats, with the newer concept of ecosystem services (what nature does for us) and explores how they are mutually dependent and thus can re-enforce one another.
Joel Rasmussen, Tutorial Fellow in History of Modern Christian Thought In the past year, Joel has co-organized and hosted the international centenary conference “William James and the Transatlantic Conversation: Pragmatism, Pluralism, and Philosophy of Religion”; has published “Kierkegaard’s Biblical Hermeneutics” in a volume on Kierkegaard published by Ashgate Press; and has continued as one of the translators and editors for Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals and Notebooks, published by Princeton University Press.
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Fellows’ Articles and Publications Paul Flather, Supernumerary Fellow, Secretary General of the Europaeum Facets of Migration in Contemporary Europe was published in May (Ibidem, 2010), includes his own essay, ‘People on the Move in Europe: Questions to the Political Class’. Paul coordinated a summer school on Media, Democracy and Europe (Bologna University), a major international conference (with David Marquand) on Federalisms - East and West (Oxford University Press), as well as five other graduate workshops around European universities. He continued work on a longitudinal study on politics and democracy in India, including detailed interviews with Indian politicians, and was active on the editorial board of Round Table, the Commonwealth journal, which marked its 100th anniversary year.
Helen Margetts, Professorial Fellow in Society and the Internet Paradoxes of Modernization: Unintended Consequences of Public Policy Reform. Edited by Helen Margetts, Perri 6 and Christopher Hood, Published by Oxford University Press July 2010. Helen also gave a lecture at the Royal Society and launched a new journal, Policy and Internet, which held a big conference. Most excitingly, she was
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awarded an ESRC Professorial Fellowship on The Internet, Public Policy and Political Science.
John Sykes The time has come for me to retire after over thirty years in Oxford. I didn’t intend to stay that long; in 1978, I’d spent five years in a Polytechnic mostly teaching, and thought some research would look good on my CV. There were some interesting problems around – stress-corrosion cracks were breaking out in gas pipelines and steam turbines at power stations, large chunks of concrete falling off motorway bridges – plenty to get on with! And I’m still at it. I’ve had graduate students from all around the world, Japan, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Mexico, Europe; they’ve been great to work with. Mansfield has gone through great changes since I became a fellow in 1987, yet much is still the same – and I don’t just mean the painted shields on the ceilings or the windows in the chapel- there’s still a special spirit that larger, older colleges lack. Where to start? Well, some of you will know very well what Mansfield was like in 1987, perhaps you were just starting at Mansfield too, but may have lost touch and have very little idea what the college is like today, apart from what you read in the Magazine (so why not pay us a visit? Show the kids!). Yet some readers will have only just arrived in college - so let me begin by looking at the college of 1987 from my perspective. Norman Booth (Physics) and I were the first science Fellows – we had one Fellow in Engineering (well OK, that’s Engineering Science at Oxford, but even here we recognise the distinction between Engineering and Science), and Janet Dyson was (and still is) a Fellow in Mathematics. I was appointed to a supernumerary fellowship to teach Electronic and Structural
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Materials Engineering (ESME) - a new course – but we had no undergraduate students in Metallurgy. In those days Mansfield was a Permanent Private Hall, with undergraduate admission numbers controlled by the University, so starting new subjects was not straightforward , but year by year we accidentally took too many students and apologised politely afterwards. In the end both Physics and Metallurgy made their faltering starts and began to grow; the plan was to admit two metallurgists each year, but sometimes it was only one. Even with our tiny numbers, we made a contribution to college life: rowing, rugby league, college balls – but with good results as well. A whole group went on to complete doctorates, both here and elsewhere. The picture now is very different there are two tutorial fellows in Materials: Jason Smith and Marina Galano, my new replacement, plus James Marrow (the new James Martin Professor of Energy Materials) and a whole crowd of students, both undergraduate and postgraduate. Sadly ESME failed to attract students in large numbers and was discontinued a few years ago. I think we can all see that things have improved here over the years – we progressed gradually but inexorably to full college status, our MCR grew, we have been able to steadily improve our student housing and plans are going forward now to house more students on the college site. We have fabulous plans for the kitchen area of the main building by Rick Mather – widely acknowledged for the brilliance of his new work at the Ashmolean Museum (get down there if you haven’t seen it yet!). It’s a wrench no longer to be an active part of all this – I shall miss my colleagues and students – though the constant turnover of students is something you grow accustomed to. But on the other hand, the changes that the newly-published Browne Report will bring seem likely to pull the rug from
beneath our feet again and present new challenges. It seems sure to have serious financial implications for the colleges and a boost in fees is likely to deter talented youngsters from the education they deserve. I was at the Hands Lecture given by Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE – the chapel was packed with many of Oxford’s leaders eager to hear what it is all going to mean for us all. I reckon colleges will need to run really fast to keep moving forward at all – but I know my colleagues are up for it (as they say). Still, now could be a really good time for me to call it a day. Besides there are other things I want to do. Now I’ve retired, I hope Metallurgists, Materials Scientists and Materials Engineers will keep in touch and let me know how their careers are developing. I’ve had a fascinating time and it’s been great to know you all. An interesting story has just appeared on the University webpage; new studies of Jane Austen’s manuscripts suggest that what she wrote was not the elegant, stylish prose we are familiar with. That was possibly the work of her editor. So perhaps the Magazine editor will be able to make a literary silk purse from this sow’s ear? We’ll see!
Tony Lemon My first year at Mansfield was the final year of John Marsh’s principalship, and it was at the JCR’s retirement dinner for ‘JM’ that I experienced my ‘Pauline conversion’ Revd. Dr. John Marsh, and felt truly a Principal 1953-1970 Mansfield man as I witnessed the JCR’s enormous affection for JM and afterwards, on the lawn, watched a remarkable film of life in the college made by a theology undergraduate, Peter Armstrong, who later went on to become BBC Director for Religious Broadcasting. There were only about 80 students then, and the college felt very much like an extended family – I still number some of the 1970s students, including non-geographers, as friends. The SCR was small and theology best represented, with English, law and geography the newcomers. I inherited five geographers, who between them laid claim to a remarkable list of sporting distinctions. My brief was to expand geography to a full subject, taking five students a year, but this soon rose to six and then eight as the College sought to raise its numbers and income. Happily, two college lecturers were appointed to help as numbers grew – Pam Berry in 1978 and Michael Freeman in 1985. PPE and maths were added as undergraduate numbers steadily increased. It soon became clear that the only logical aim for Mansfield to pursue was that of full college status in the University. Mansfield was no ivory tower. Its Fellows had to teach more than their colleagues elsewhere to help balance the books, and although we lacked University appointments, we gave lectures voluntarily in order to establish Mansfield in our
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respective faculties. Expanding numbers was a constant struggle in the face of University constraints and the Permanent Private Hall statute. When the colleges abolished entrance awards, Mansfield made a significant academic breakthrough, winning inclusion in the undergraduate admissions system on the same terms as other colleges – but only after circulating every member of every college governing body to make our case, causing our only photocopier to break down. Owing to our small size we were still excluded from the Norrington Table, but we always calculated our position and in 1978 we achieved what remains to this day Mansfield’s best performance by far: 5th overall, and 2nd in terms of the proportion of Firsts. We savoured such moments. The two most significant advances came in 1982 and 1995. In 1982, in response to representations from all five Permanent Private Halls, led by Mansfield, the University accepted the case for granting us some funding in return for the fee income it received from our students. It created three new Special (non-C.U.F.) Lecturerships, open to all PPH tutors, and Mansfield won two of these, our first joint appointments with the University which significantly reduced the College’s salary burden. In 1995, significantly earlier than expected given the vested interests involved, Mansfield became a full Oxford college. We could finally put away that well-rehearsed explanation about the nature of a PPH. Financially, this came at a critical time, bringing university posts to the remaining tutorial Fellows and a muchneeded contribution to the college’s salary bill as the Fellows moved together up the salary scale! Equally important, Mansfield was now able to bid for new Lecturerships and Professorships on the same terms as other colleges, enabling us to increase the fellowship far more easily than hitherto.
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Fellows’ Articles and Publications In the 1970s and 1980s the SCR, and the Governing Body as it became under a new constitution in 1988, remained small and relatively united – helped perhaps by its struggles against successive bursars! Thankfully, first Duncan Forbes and then Steve Waterman transformed the management of Mansfield and its finances. Meanwhile the growth of the Fellowship and the academic achievements of the Fellows brought much cause for celebration, increasing our academic profile in the University and beyond, a process that is still very much under way. At the same time there were and are stresses and strains, inevitable in a small group of people faced with the formidable responsibility of governing a college striving to grow its academic reputation and serve its students well in the face of ongoing shortages of human and financial resources. Throughout my time at Mansfield I have been grateful for two things in particular. First the friendly and helpful college staff, from the exceptional Wally Buckingham who was Steward when I came – 28 years at Mansfield, coaching the college rowers in his spare time – to the many people today, too numerous to mention, who are a real pleasure to work with. Secondly, our students – now over 300 of them, including some 90 graduates from many countries – whose lively minds, enthusiasm, energy and varied talents make Mansfield what it is. It has been a great privilege to be part of Mansfield for four decades – to be involved in building a new Oxford college and a new subject within the college. We have survived many challenges and overcome many obstacles. We still have a long way to go academically, financially and in terms of our window on the world. Plan as we may, there will always be unexpected hurdles, but the general direction of travel is now firmly established.
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Michael Freeden When I retire at the end of September 2011, I will have concluded just under a third of a century at Mansfield. The College has undergone faster and more impressive change than any other Oxford college during that period; watching it grow and mature has been exhilarating and immensely gratifying. In 1978 its Nonconformist ethos was one of its great strengths, but it was also a bashful place, unsure of its standing among the venerable institutions of Oxford University and constantly looking over its shoulder with trepidation. People were friendly and welcoming, but the photocopying equipment was ludicrous; the College was severely constrained in ruling its own affairs; and its elusive centre of gravity meandered at an indeterminate point between SCR, JCR, Chapel, and a bumbling Bursar’s Office. PPE was in its infancy. I was its first permanent fellow and tutor to be appointed, terrifyingly charged with organizing philosophy and economics, as well as politics, and I spent the first few admissions periods in an unheated Merton script depository wrapped in coat and gloves, poring over unwanted candidates of other colleges, only to discover that whenever I expressed interest, candidates were snatched back by their first-choice college. I hung on by the skin of my teeth, incentivized mainly by Mansfield’s free parking. What a revolution since then! Do I express a bias when I say that Mansfield is the most congenial college in Oxford? I think not. I am particularly proud of its liberal culture, its abhorrence of hierarchy, the egalitarian rapport and respect between students and tutors, the camaraderie of the SCR, the College’s dedicated administration, and its tolerance (though it is high time that we got rid of a discriminatory grace that favours one religion—that is not the
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Mansfield way). We have made vast strides in attracting and benefitting from serious, committed, super-intelligent, and (almost always) delightful undergraduates; we have a creative and challenging group of graduates; and the SCR can pride itself on a wide range of impressive scholars and teachers— an intellectual force both in Oxford and far beyond its confines. Mansfield PPE has been transformed into a well-established and very reputable school. The College is now confident, flourishing, inventive and forward-looking and I consider myself very fortunate indeed to have spent most of my working life in its midst. I can offer no higher praise to what has become an emotional as well as an academic home to me than saying that had I been offered, over the years, the membership of any other Oxford college I would have emphatically remained a Mansfield man.
Celebrating 125 years of Mansfield In celebration of our 125th year, we have asked some of our alumni to look back, both on their time here, and even further, to the very beginning of Mansfield, as we prepare to move into a new era as a College.
A reminiscence of a 1960s Mansfield girlfriend Carol Greatorex
I first became acquainted with Mansfield when my boyfriend Mike Mahony became an undergraduate reading Modern History. I was a drama student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Mike arrived at the tail end of an era when antiquated rules instigated to keep the sexes apart were still in place but by the time he sat finals they had, in practice, largely disappeared. My introduction to Mansfield was offputting to say the least! “I’m Michael’s tutor and I expected him to be here, and I didn’t expect a shock like this so early in the morning!” The date was December 1963, the time 12 noon, and I had just been deposited by Mike in his sitting room (New Building C5), while he went off in search of milk. It was a bitterly cold day and he had flouted the women visitors’ rule by an hour. As luck would have it, his tutor, Dr. Francis-Brown, not known for empathetic inter-personal skills, chose that moment to drop by. Mike’s fellow student, Rob Porrer, in earshot in C7, came to my aid. The outcome at least was positive. Mike found Dr. Brown, placated him and, best of all, Rob and his girlfriend Sheila, subsequently
his wife, became our dearest friends, and remain mine to this day. Another clear recollection of mine is the huge respect in which the then Principal, Dr. John Marsh, was held by the student body, not only for his academic reputation but also for his humanity. An example of this, which I am afraid again does not cast either of us in a golden glow of moral rectitude, was the occasion when Mike, his friend John Plant, John’s girlfriend and I played tennis one Saturday morning on the court, then located on the lawn behind the New Building. The compromising factor was that we girls wore bikinis. Ten minutes into the game we were interrupted by the President of the J.C.R., on a mission from Dr. Marsh. “Mr. Mahony and Mr. Plant are to present themselves at the Lodgings at 8 p.m. in full academic dress.” Even Mike was rattled this time, and I was again envisaging being ostracised by the senior Mahonys forever! Waiting for Mike and John to emerge was worse than hanging around for the A-level results envelope to drop onto the mat. Unbelievably, they bounded back, all grins. J.M. had said to them “I don’t mind brassieres, but the Senior Tutor’s wife is rather sensitive about these matters and the court is visible from her windows. Your punishment is that your Saturday evening is ruined. Go away and don’t do it again”. To end on the note on which I started, and to prove that I’m a fully paid up 21stcentury libertarian, I should tell you that by 1965 the New Building was full of girls on Saturday nights. The trick was to have every scrap of female possession in the big cupboard on Saturday night and to have the alarm set for 7.30. Then when you heard the scout enter the staircase at 8.00, draw the curtains in the bedrooms and say “Good Morning Sir”, possessions would be joined by owner in the cupboard! So if you occupy D7........think of us!
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P S Mike and I married in 1966 and were soul-mates until his untimely death in 1994. He bequeathed me 4 wonderful sons, all reminiscent of their father. He became Fellow and Tutor in Modern History in 1970. Mike was acting Principal for almost two years in the 1980’s, and played an instrumental role in securing full Collegiate status for Mansfield. In 1995, I took huge pride in signing the College Charter on Mike’s behalf. I retired as a primary school headteacher in 2010. I am now very happily remarried to Bob Greatorex, a surgeon in Norfolk. My email address is carol.mahony @yahoo.com and I would love to hear from any old friends.
John Hampden portrait Cllr Ed Mayne, Modern History, 2003-2006
My Oxford history interviews took place at the same time as the BBC were conducting a public poll of the top 10 British historical figures of all time. My first interview was at Magdalen College. The school essay I sent them was about Queen Elizabeth I. For one of those introductory icebreaker questions one of the interviewers asked me with a smile, “I assume you voted for Elizabeth in the top 10 Great Britons poll?” I replied, “No, I voted for Oliver Cromwell”. I cannot forget how their smiles turned to expressions of shock and horror. I will never know if their decision to send me to Mansfield had something to do with the Oliver Cromwell portrait that hangs in the Senior Common Room. It wasn’t until later that I learnt the significance of the Mansfield artwork. All who have studied at the College will remember the portraits of the Nonconformist heroes that hang on the
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Celebrating 125 years of Mansfield walls. These men were religious radicals who rejected the authority of the established Church of England. After the Restoration, so-called “dissenters” forfeited the chance to seek places at Oxford and Cambridge for two centuries. I always found it ironic that these figures looked down on us while we had bops in the JCR, drinks receptions in the lobby or late nights in the college bar. During my year as JCR President, the Junior Common Room caught fire, putting it out of action for most of the year. The Chaplain, Walter Houston, very kindly allowed us to have bops in the chapel! I don’t know if others saw the irony of partying under the watchful stained glass eyes of Cromwell, Milton and co. And yet these figures, while not having a direct link to the College had a huge
influence on it. By 1871, all laws barring dissenters from studying at universities had been removed. Prime Minister William Gladstone suggested a Nonconformist college be founded at Oxford. Spring Hill College in Birmingham accepted the challenge. On moving to Oxford, it was renamed Mansfield College after its patrons, George and Elizabeth Mansfield. In so many ways, this represented everything those 17th century champions of religious toleration had fought for. With this in mind, when a friend of mine was in search of an Oxford venue for a meeting of his John Hampden Society, I suggested Mansfield. Hampden, the English Civil War hero who is depicted in both the chapel’s stained glass and in a portrait in the College Library, had studied at Magdalen. But on this occasion, their premises were unavailable,
as they had been to me back in 2002! So discussing Hampden in Mansfield, at an event where some of his descendants would be present, seemed rather fitting. During that meeting it struck me that the principles of fairness and inclusivity that lie at the heart of what Hampden and Cromwell fought for are still alive in the College today: from the pioneering work that has been done on access initiatives, to the friendly and tolerant atmosphere that surrounds all who have studied here. All of it took root in the hearts and minds of the men who stare down from the paintings.
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The Origins of the M and M’s
Nick Pattinson, PPE, 1966-69 I discovered the M & M’s abbreviation which hadn’t been invented in the early days - in recent issues of the Mansfield Magazine. I notice that the association of Mansfield & Merton on the sports field has prospered to a degree which none of us, who participated in the original idea for a rugby team in those “pioneer days” over 40 years ago, would ever have suspected. Like many things, the beginnings were due to hazard and friendship, in particular – if memory serves me rightly – between Hugh Dorell and John Cooper, the Mansfield medics in 1966 - 1969, and their Merton medical contemporaries, several of whom were rugby players. The exact date is immaterial and probably
difficult to pin down today (perhaps Hugh could remember?), but was very probably in the winter term of 1967, when the idea was first mooted for several of us to join up with Merton players to form a rugby team and play in Cuppers matches. Folklore would probably have it that the idea arose over a few beers in the “White Horse”!
Our HQ in those days was the “White Horse”, under Blackwells, where many of us had our mugs hanging over the bar, which were filled up by George the friendly publican, who spotted us with unerring accuracy through the low window at street level in the front bar, and filled them up with our favourite brew by the time we had arrived at the counter.
The exploit took place the following year, in 1968, when the Mansfield & Merton combined team managed to reach the Cuppers rugby final, played at Iffley Road against Teddy Hall. Merton had been reinforced by Chris Laidlaw, the former All Blacks scrum-half, and Peter Johnson from Mansfield joined the team as prop. Even with these reinforcements, the result was, however, almost inevitable! We went down with colours flying in the final, against Teddy Hall fielding a team comprising two thirds of the Blues squad.
I also include a photo of the M & M’s rugby team, taken during the 1968 season in front of gates at Merton. Hugh Dorrell is sitting on the right with the bushy beard, and I am standing at the back, holding on to the gates, in a sweater and jeans but no rugby shirt.
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From these informal beginnings I must confess that today it gives me a great deal of satisfaction to see that the M & M’s have not only continued, but gone forth and multiplied.
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Celebrating 125 years of Mansfield 125 years of Mansfield Elaine Kaye, History, 1951-1953 When Mansfield College’s new building opened in 1889, over a thousand visitors from Europe and America and beyond, as well as from all over Britain, gathered to celebrate the occasion. Hopes were high that a new era had dawned. After two centuries of exclusion from Oxford and Cambridge, Nonconformists, Roman Catholics, Jews and freethinkers, whose conscience did not allow them to subscribe to the doctrines of the Church of England, were finally able to study and teach in the two ancient universities, thus enabling them to enter and contribute to the mainstream of English intellectual and cultural life. Their presence in Oxford was now welcomed by liberal Anglicans. The abolition of religious tests, the culmination of a long campaign, led to debates within both the Roman Catholic and Nonconformist communities about the wisdom or otherwise of educating their sons (and in some cases daughters) at the two ancient universities – especially those being prepared for the ordained ministry. Would the lure of Anglicanism be too strong? The debate was particularly vigorous among Congregationalists, the heirs of those Independents who had fought for liberty of conscience in the seventeenth century. The Congregationalists had tried to preserve the tradition of a learned ministry through their Dissenting Academies, and it was at one of the successors to the Dissenting Academies, Spring Hill College in Birmingham, that
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the idea of establishing a college for training ministers in Oxford began to take shape. The chairman of the Board of Education at Spring Hill College was R.W.Dale, a famous citizen of Birmingham and a leading theologian within the Congregational tradition. After much debate, he persuaded his fellow committee members that a move to Oxford would bring many benefits, including a more rigorous study of theology. It was fortuitous that Merton College had decided to sell some of the land of Holywell Manor; Dale recognised it as the ideal site. Once the land was purchased, the building committee invited two architects, Alfred Waterhouse and Basil Champneys, to submit plans. Basil Champneys had already designed several Oxford buildings, and it was his Gothic-style plan which was chosen. The money required was raised with remarkable speed within three years, much of it from wealthy Nonconformist businessmen in the north of England. As important as an appropriate site and building was the choice of principal; Dale knew that it was essential that the new principal should set high academic standards if the College was to gain respect in Oxford. One name stood out: Andrew Martin Fairbairn, then principal of Airedale Independent College in Bradford. Fairbairn had been brought up in Scotland and had no formal education between the ages of nine and seventeen. Nevertheless Lord Acton was later to say that no man in Oxford was more learned than Fairbairn. Before coming to Oxford he had already made his mark with several books
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on the philosophy of religion, and as a pioneer of what was then called comparative religion. He made a notable contribution to Oxford’s theology faculty. The new College opened in Oxford in 1886, now re-named Mansfield College, in honour of the Birmingham family who had given the original endowment to Spring Hill in 1838. George Mansfield, Elizabeth Mansfield and Sarah Glover, a brother and two sisters, had no heirs, and wished to promote a learned ministry. Until the new building was ready, Fairbairn and his colleague John Massie and the first five students worked in 96 High Street. The College was to be non-residential, in order to avoid what was perceived as ‘the seminary spirit’. All new students were to be graduates in an arts subject before studying theology. Though the College was not officially part of the University, all its staff and students had to be matriculated members of an Oxford college. Those who had not studied at Oxford were matriculated through the Delegacy for Noncollegiate Students (now St Catherine’s). From the beginning, the College has been a friendly community of academics, administrative and domestic staff and students. The Chapel was welcoming to Nonconformist undergraduates throughout the University. Fairbairn’s successor as principal was one of his earliest students, William Boothby Selbie. Selbie was a great preacher, and for many years drew the largest congregation in Oxford. One of his pioneering decisions was to accept a woman for theological training at Mansfield.
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Constance Todd (later Constance Coltman), was the first woman to be ordained to Christian ministry in Britain, after three years of theological study at Mansfield. Meanwhile the College’s reputation for biblical studies was growing. In the 1930s there was serious concern that Congregational churches had allowed their theology to become shallow and self-satisfied. The main focus of this concern was among staff and former students of Mansfield, most notably by Nathaniel Micklem, who became principal in 1932. He and others, often called the ‘new Genevans’, warned the Congregational churches of their need to return to their roots. Later they played a leading part in the debates which led to the formation of the United Reformed Church. Micklem’s concern ranged more widely when he was one of the few British church leaders to warn of the dangers of the rise of Nazism. During two visits to Germany he made links with the German Confessing Church, and gave a home to in the College to several German refugee scholars of the time. During the Second World War most of the College was requisitioned by the Government, and became the home of the Codes and Cyphers Department of the Foreign Office and of secret work of the Admiralty. The College retained the use of the Chapel and the Principal’s lodgings, but otherwise shared its work with the Baptist Regent’s Park College. After the war the College began to experience financial difficulties, as the number of subscribers and the number of ordinands
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began to decline. When John Marsh became principal in 1953 he and the College Council decided to seek the status of Permanent Private Hall within the University. When this was granted in 1955 it provided more financial stability by enabling the College to accept undergraduates to read subjects other than theology. It was the admission of these students which assisted – for a while – the financial stability of the College. After seventy years in which theology was the only subject studied, undergraduates reading a wide range of Honour Schools were now admitted, largely taught by tutors in other colleges. After the University’s Franks Report in 1966, which discouraged the practice of taking students in subjects for which colleges did not have their own tutors, Mansfield decided in 1969 to focus on a smaller number of subjects in which it began to elect its own Fellows. Further subjects were added as the College managed to persuade the University to allow numbers to expand. The College was now residential, and in 1962 a new building, eventually known as the John Marsh Building, was opened by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Over the succeeding years four more buildings were added – the Hands Building on site and the Ablethorpe Building near St Clements (both named in recognition of a generous benefaction to the College), and more recently the Rhodes-Wolfson Building for graduates and the Garden Building. Mansfield admitted women undergraduates as soon as the University allowed this, in 1979, and today women usually number almost half
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the student intake. Great efforts were made to attract students from a wider range of social backgrounds, and the College established particular links with Colleges of Further Education through its access programme. Postgraduate numbers grew slowly at first but now the Middle Common Room comprises a highly international body of over 90 students. For some years the College community has also included about 30 American visiting students who are admitted for a one-year course as part of their own degree studies. After the Principalships of the biblical scholar George Caird, the lay theologian Donald Sykes and the Lutheran Jan Womer in the 1970s and 1980s, the position was no longer confined to adherents of the Reformed tradition. A succession of Principals who had made their mark in public life followed: Dennis Trevelyan, former high-ranking civil servant; David Marquand, political scientist and former MP; and Diana Walford, eminent in public health. It was in 1995 while Dennis Trevelyan was Principal that the College finally achieved its current status as a full self-governing College of the University of Oxford. In 2009 the ordination course finally came to an end, in the wake of changing patterns of training and smaller numbers of ordinands. The link with the Reformed tradition is still maintained through the College chaplaincy. As the College prepares to welcome a new principal, Baroness Helena Kennedy, in 2011, it continues to interpret its tradition of radical dissent in a contemporary way, and can go forward with pride in what it has achieved in the past.
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Volunteering and Charity Work In celebration of Mansfield’s traditions of charity, and in recognition of the constant efforts of current students and alumni alike who continue to give their time and effort in aid of good causes, it seems fitting that this year’s magazine has a charities and volunteering section.
Uganda Trip
Laura Charles, Human Sciences, 2008 While many of my friends from Mansfield were beavering away as interns in the city this summer, I was fortunate enough to be sent to Mount Elgon National Park with ODA (Oxford Development Abroad), and a Ugandan charity, Little Big Africa. There were four main aspects to the project: teaching; building smoke-free stoves; building a 10,000-liter water tank at the school (pictured below); and protecting a water source in the neighbouring village.
To be immersed in a Ugandan community for two months allowed us to experience a vastly different culture and approach to life. I can safely say it was a very rewarding trip, and one I will not forget for all the right reasons.
Mondo Challenge Foundation Anthony Lunch, Geography, 1964-67
I set up this charity in 2004, in response to the requests of volunteers on my MondoChallenge volunteer programme who wanted to donate funds to programmes in Africa and Asia where they had been based. The charity focuses on education and livelihoods in Tanzania, Nepal, N. India and Sri Lanka. Recent education projects include new school buildings in Nepal’s Helambu region and in northern Tanzania, as well as subsidising teachers’ salaries in rural village schools in the Darjeeling region of West Bengal so that children have access to good quality education.
Picture shows Anthony visiting one of the Darjeeling schools sponsored by the foundation.
Edinburgh Marathon Jamie Illingworth, Law, 2008
I turned 21 at the start of the year. To mark the occasion, I wanted to undertake a significant challenge, and to really achieve something. In a combination of over-ambition and a total failure to realise quite how unfit I was, I set upon running the Edinburgh marathon for Macmillan Cancer Support. Running for charity certainly gave me much needed inspiration, both in my training and in the race itself.
The livelihoods prog-rammes are based in northern Tanzania, an area with a high HIV-affected population. The Foundation works with local partners to identify widows with children who need support. It then provides grants and training to help them to set up small businesses such as tailoring, selling vegetables, keeping poultry, etc. Already, 300 such businesses have been started and now the charity is providing top-up loans to help the most successful ones grow. The Foundation has annual income of
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around £200,000. I would welcome alumni to become Ambassadors and report back on the charity’s work when travelling abroad. Contact MondoChallenge Foundation on 01604 859333, www.mondofoundation.org or email anthony@mondofoundation.org
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Macmillan is a brilliant and hugely important charity, working to promote the treatment of cancer, funding nurses and other specialist healthcare professionals, and building care centres for cancer patients. The distinctive feature of Macmillan, however, is their non-medical cancer support. Whether it is practical support, such as a lift to the hospital, financial support to help patients meet the cost of living with cancer, or emotional support through listening to and advising cancer patients and their families, Macmillan are there to help. So I began my training with winter runs along the Isis, racing eights both for motivation and distraction from the cold!
Gradually I extended my circuits, taking in more of Oxford until the time came, on the 23rd of May, to put it all to the test in Edinburgh. It was without a doubt the hardest physical (and, possibly, mental) challenge of my life, but correspondingly the most rewarding. I finished the race in a little over three and a half hours and raised just under £1,000 for Macmillan. I am incredibly proud of both achievements. Sometimes the training was tough, and inspiration was hard to find. At those points I might have given up had I not had five very important sources of motivation - my friends; my impossibly patient girlfriend; my iPod (and its extensive bank of Meat Loaf songs); Macmillan; and the Mansfield JCR. I owe each of them enormous thanks!
Cycle to Paris
Martha Swales, Human Sciences, 2007-2010 This summer I spent four days cycling to Paris to raise money for the Environmental Justice Foundation. I’d first come across the charity whilst researching for my dissertation and was immediately taken by the way EJF highlighted the impact of environmental degradation on the daily lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. With just two weeks to go until my big cycle and with finals having taken precedence over training I set off on a
undertook a trip to Nepal to work for local charity PSD on a sustainable development project. Five of us were living in the truly stunning village of Sima in the Baglung District.
practice ride from London to Brighton, an experience that made me realise just what I was letting myself in for! 110 people took part in the London to Paris cycle representing a range of charities. 300 miles of beautiful countryside, ibuprofen, punctures, knee supports, wind, rain, sunshine, hills, pain, laughter and padded cycling shorts later we arrived at the Eiffel tower in Paris. It was a lot more painful than I had anticipated, but I’m really proud to say I’ve done it. The team spirit was what got everyone to the end. I met some wonderful people who I have stayed in touch with and raised £1500 along the way.
Our community initiated project was to build a two-storey community building (pictured below), which was to have several uses that had been identified by the local community. These were providing the women’s education group with a space for them to learn; an extra classroom for the school as one class previously had to be taught outside; a room for selling dairy products; a place to hold a health clinic once a month, particularly useful for pregnant women; and a space for community events (e.g. festivals and weddings). Secondary projects were a flood defence scheme and painting the inside of the school.
The picture shows the EJF crew at the Eiffel tower in superhero themed outfits. Martha is front row, second from the left in Mansfield rowing lycra!
Nepal Trip
Helene Jones, Material Science, 2008 In August 2010, with the charity Oxford Development Aboard, I with fifteen other volunteers from Oxford University
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Living within the community meant that we got to experience traditional Nepalese life and could gain an understanding of the full benefit that the development in the village would have on the villagers’ daily life. It was an amazing and unforgettable way to spend the summer.
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Volunteering and Charity Work Nepal Trip
Isobel Plant, History and English, 2008 Volunteering at an orphanage in Yaroslavl, Russia was a highly emotional but incredibly rewarding experience. These children desperately need individual attention and I will never forget helping baby twins walk for the very first time. I look forward to returning to Russia in the future.
built a nursery school from scratch, ran children’s clubs and Sunday school, and played sports with the children.
Oxford Town and Gown run Daniel Rey (Theology, 2009), Emily Feltham and Beth Whalley (both English, 2009), pictured below, all ran 10km around central Oxford, raising £270 for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. They are planning to do the same again next year.
Isobel pictured right.
Building Schools in Bolivia Anna Watkins (Geography 2009), joined a team of ten Oxford students in travelling to Bolivia in July this year with the charity Latin Link. They stayed in a town called Apollo, where they
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It is not just work on an ideational level however; we organise events and tangible fund raising activities to support the victims of ethnic violence in Sudan. Our speaker events attract people on an intellectual and personal level. We liaise with people of many different ethnic and religious backgrounds, particularly the Armenian Society, JSOC and recently we have developed links with the Ukrainian society. Aegis provides an opportunity to discuss prejudice with victims of genocide, academics, students and members of the local community and how to eliminate it in a meaningful way. It demands constant self-assessment of your own attitudes and a realisation of how affected we all are by the pernicious influences of media, art and politicians in stoking up tensions.
Rowing Marathon Oliver Petragallo (Material Science, 2009), Freddie Overton , and Chris Fairweather (both Geography, 2009) completed a rowing marathon of 42,195m each in around 3 hours, raising £200 for Link Community Development, who support sustainable education projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. They would like to thank Will Rigg for providing them with food and drink they needed to complete the challenge.
well as working on models of this scale, work with Aegis has shown me how individualised this issue is – ultimately the crime of genocide is one person killing another, albeit within a terrifying schema of ‘group think’. With the knowledge that all people are potential perpetrators and potential victims, the work of Aegis has a particular urgency for me – it is not simply a question of complacency but an absolute obliviousness to how we dehumanise.
Aegis
Lorna Forrester Jewish Studies, 2009 My involvement with Aegis is centred on personal relationships and the realisation of how precarious our ability to see others as human is. As an anti-genocide charity, so much of our work is based on education and trying to identify the steps a society takes towards denying a particular group’s right to exist. As
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Despite the seriousness of the work we do, we are still good-humoured, relaxed and enjoying the work we do. An acknowledgement of how small you are in relation to the bigger picture does not always induce despondency; it can also induce the need to do the most you can – after all, the picture is only the sum of its parts.
A wealth of experience with charities.
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020 7399 0088 investing@rathbones.com www.rathbones.com/investing London • Aberdeen • Birmingham • Bristol • Cambridge • Chichester Edinburgh • Exeter • Kendal • Liverpool • Winchester
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Rathbone Investment Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered office: Port of Liverpool Building, Pier Head, Liverpool L3 1NW. Registered in England number 14489189.
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Alumni News Michael Burton, Geography, 1968-1972
In June 2010 Michael Burton (19681971), one of Dr. Tony Lemon’s first Mansfield College geography students led a party with an age span from 15 years to his own 66 into the world’s second largest and most spectacular of canyons. Wild Africa is a land of harsh contrasts and relentless ordeals, and none more so than the ninety kilometre hiking trail which follows the Fish River deep into the arid erosion surfaces of southern Namibia.
S.W. Wooldridge the renowned outdoor geographer of the 1950’s, said that “… geography is best learned through the soles of your boots” and, although the hike undertaken was not specifically a geological or geographic one, questions flowed as the landscape unfolded. The total hiking distance, not including the descent to the canyon floor, is ninety kilometres and it takes five full walking/ clambering days and four outdoor nights to complete. The reward at the exit of the hike is a hot spring resort at Ai-Ais where boots can be taken off, a cold Windhoek lager enjoyed together with ‘proper’ food, fresh drinking water, and most appreciably an opportunity to soak one’s tired and strained muscles in a mineral spa. Michael Burton’s final score is 6 for 66. He has taken each of his sons through the canyon when they turned 12 and he has accompanied school ventures through the years. Why such a pilgrimage? There is
Refugee charities
program aimed at helping skilled, workauthorized immigrants and refugees find employment in the U.S.A.
While a student at Mansfield, reading English and Philosophy, I became active with JACARI (Joint Action Committee Against Racial Intolerance). As an ESL Tutor to a Pakistani immigrant child through JACARI, I found my life calling. Since leaving Mansfield, I have been working in the field of immigrant integration and refugee protection in the U.S.A. After graduating college, I served as the Program Coordinator for Upwardly Global – a national non-profit
Most recently, I worked as a Research
Christina Fialo (pictured left), Visiting Student Programme 2004-2005
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the physical challenge of ‘deep’ physical geography, the natural beauty is amazing and always there is camaraderie difficult to capture in words. In the canyon one is enclosed in unspoilt natural majesty, walls of ochres and shades of brown and a clear precision border with a deep and tall blue sky.
Mike Burman, third from right No photographs or words can fully describe the Fish River Canyon Hiking Trail. The experience is just too huge… one must walk the walk and not talk the talk to do it justice.
Fellow in Geneva for the Global Detention Project. While analyzing the laws and policies that affect immigration detention, I began to develop Detention Dialogues – an immigration detention visitation program that provides companionship for immigrants in U.S. detention. I am forever thankful to Mansfield and Oxford University for providing me with the opportunity and the support to find my passion in life.
Land Speed Attempt
Elected MP – John Glen
This August, Rick Pearson (Engineering Science and Management, 1988-1992) and the rest of team Speed Scotland travelled to Bonneville, Utah, to compete in Bonneville speed week, with the aim of becoming the seventh Briton
to join the hallowed 300mph club. Unfortunately, things do not go to plan, with an engine explosion meaning that Rick did not get a chance to show what the Flower of Scotland (picture above) could do. The team is planning to return next year to try again.
MBE - services to the British Community in Ecuador Many congratulations to Paul McEvoy (Geography, 1983-1986), who has been awarded an MBE in the recent honours list for services to the British Community in Ecuador. Paul heads Lloyds Bank in Ecuador, chairs the Governors of the British School in Quito, is President of the British Group there, and helps with a school for the handicapped.
Congratulations to John Glen (Modern History, 1993-1996), who joins Mansfield’s other MP Chris Bryant in the House of Commons, as he was elected as MP of Salisbury in May this year. John was the first person from his family to go to University, and displayed an early interest in politics, holding the position of JCR President during his time here. After leaving Mansfield, John worked for a management consultancy firm, before joining the Rt Hon William Hague MP’s team during his time as leader of the Conservative party. After the election in 2001, John took an MBA at Cambridge, and went to work in the oil and gas industries, returning to the Conservative Party in 2004 as Deputy Director of the Conservative Research Department. He then became Director of the Department, and was appointed to the Board of the Centre for Policy Studies by Lord Saatchi in 2009. He lives at home in Salisbury with his wife Emma and two children.
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Soul Tree wine company Alok Mathur (MBA, 2007-2008) co-founded the Indian wine company SoulTree wines in 2009: “The first few months have been fantastic, and both the brand and the wine have done remarkably well so far. The idea of having an Indian wine to drink with an Indian meal is intuitively grasped by most curry lovers, and we are looking forward to a great future for Soul Tree. In June 2010 we were featured in the Zee Magazine in an article about the founders of five companies who are helping to shape the new business decade. We have also been active in the alumni network – most recently we sponsored the Oxbridge Jazz Night at the Oxford & Cambridge Club in London last week.”
3rd book published Peter Hessler (English, 1992-1994) published “Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip” (Canongate is the UK publisher) this year, which is the final instalment in a trilogy of nonfiction books about China; the previous two are “River Town” and “Oracle Bones,” both published by John Murray in the UK. Peter is also a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine.
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Alumni News Obituaries Stephen Wall,1931-2010
Professor John Creaser, SCR
Stephen de Rocfort Wall, who died on 6th August 2010, aged 79, made a major contribution to the College’s development in the 1960s, before moving to a notable career elsewhere. In 1960 he became a parttime tutor in English Literature, together with his medievalist colleague Malcolm Parkes, and these were the College’s first non-theological appointments. Stephen stayed at Mansfield for four years, before accepting a Fellowship at Keble College (as Parkes was to do later), and generously continued to look after and arrange tuition for Mansfield’s English undergraduates until I was ready to take over in 1966. The College was then in swift transition from a theological hall with a few nontheologians into a multi-disciplinary body. The input of the English tutors was exemplary. The highlight of the week was the discussion group they ran primarily for non-theologians, The Levellers, where everything was open to analysis, from jazz to the ultimate questions. Stephen was a friendly, informal and yet demanding tutor, for whom one felt only the best would do. Of the eight undergraduates who began to read English in his first three years here — haphazardly gathered in those early days — as many as four were to become professors. In those days, appointments were made by the Principal, John Marsh, without consultation, but his choices for English could not have been bettered. He sensed Stephen’s quality when in 1957 he met him as a patient in the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre — Stephen had contracted polio, and was to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
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One aspect of that quality was the courage and determination with which Stephen coped with his disability, making it seem almost insignificant, at least until his later years. He went on from Mansfield to a distinguished and versatile career, as a successful teacher for Keble and the University; as a uniquely scrupulous chief editor from 1973 until his death of the leading Oxford journal, Essays in Criticism; as the author of distinguished critical and editorial work on especially Shakespeare, Dickens and Trollope; as a prolific reviewer of fiction in The Observer and elsewhere; as a novelist and writer of short stories; as a theatre director and administrator and reviewer; and as a talented and passionate amateur musician. Lovingly supported by his wife Yvonne, a physiotherapist, a man who might have died in his thirties lived a life rich in creativity and friendship until just on his 79th birthday.
Bill Thompson, 1915-2010 Tony Lemon, SCR
Bill Thompson, who will be remembered with great affection by generations of Mansfield college rowers, died at his home in Bruerne, near Kingham, on 9th February at the age of 94. He grew up in Lancashire, and attended Merchant Taylors School in Crosby, Liverpool, leaving early after the death of his father to work for a firm of shipping agents in Liverpool. After a wartime career in the Royal Navy Bill joined Proctor and Gamble for ten years as a buyer, then moved to Metal Box as a purchasing manager. It was with Metal Box that he went out to Calcutta where he became an enthusiastic member of the Calcutta Rowing Club. After returning to England he became a stalwart of the London Rowing Club, giving up much of his time to coach young rowers using his own meticulously prepared training programme. He also continued to organise
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an annual dinner of the Calcutta Rowing Club on the closing Saturday of the Henley Regatta every year. He maintained an exhausting training regime even in his seventies and continued to row in a senior Eight for Worcester Rowing Club well into his eighties! Bill’s involvement with the Mansfield College Boat Club brought him great satisfaction and was invaluable for our Eights. He also made generous donations to the Club more than once, and also provided many members of the College Boat Club with tickets for the Henley Regatta. Every summer term until relatively recently, Bill invited the two First Eights – men and ladies – to a splendid lunch at his home, Crossing Cottage (so called because of its proximity to a level crossing on the Cotswold line – Bill acquired a signal box which guarded the entry to his garden!). His two-acre garden, meticulously maintained by Bill himself, provided a beautiful setting, and sometimes lunch was followed by a walk through the grounds of Bruern Abbey. Bill also found time for involvement with local sports clubs, especially the Playing Fields Association in Oxfordshire, receiving a certificate from Prince Philip honouring his contribution. In July 2007 Bill’s cottage fell victim to the floods which affected many parts of the country, and he was forced to move out of his home for extensive renovation. Happily he was able to return eventually, helped by a live-in carer. He continued throughout to celebrate his birthday by inviting about thirty friends and relations to lunch at the Shaven Crown in Shipton-underWychwood, maintaining this tradition up to and including his 94th birthday in December 2009. Soon afterwards he was hospitalised with pneumonia, but happily he was able to return home and passed away, as he would have wished, in Crossing
Cottage. Mansfield was represented at a packed funeral in the parish church at Milton-under-Wychwood by Dennis Trevelyan (who kindly helped with this obituary), his wife Carol, Andrew Walker (Geography 2001-4) and myself.
Merlyn Satrom, 1930-2009 Tony Lemon, SCR
Merlyn Satrom, who spent six years at Mansfield as Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Lecturer and Fellow in Theology between 1976 and 1982, died in August 2009. Merlyn spent his childhood in rural North Dakota and on a farm near Princeton, Minnesota, before his family moved to Minneapolis, where he was able to reconnect with his family’s NorwegianAmerican roots. After graduating from Luther Seminary, Merlyn studied for a doctorate in theology at the University of Marburg in Germany where Arline, his future wife, was also living at the time, in Hamburg. Merlyn worked in campus ministry at Portland State College and it was here in Oregon that their children, Brian and Ellen, were born. Subsequently he moved to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles before moving to the LWF post at Mansfield. Previous Lutheran fellows had often stayed only one or two years, but Merlyn’s longer tenure of his Fellowship enabled him to play a far greater role in the life of the College. This included a perhaps unexpected attribute in an ordained theologian – considerable financial acumen! In this he was assisted by early experiences serving in the US Army Finance Corps and then working briefly as an auditor. The College benefited greatly from his counsel on financial and other issues, always proffered in a mild-mannered way, often laced with humour, but with an underlying firmness of purpose. Merlyn’s
dedication to ecumenical relations fitted well with Mansfield’s theological traditions, while his love for music enabled him to lead the Lutheran liturgy movingly in Chapel every term. His return to the USA was a source of real sadness for those of us who had known him as both a colleague and, with Arline, as friends. Merlyn returned to pastoral posts in the USA, for several years returning to the Twin Cities to serve as senior pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in St. Paul for ten years. In his retirement Merlyn was afflicted with Parkinson’s disease and latterly other conditions too. He faced these with courage and determination, as he had coped with challenges throughout his life. We send our warm good wishes to Arline, Brian and Ellen and their families as we remember Merlyn’s contribution to Mansfield and our fellowship with him.
Geoffrey Marsden, 1930-2010
Geoffrey Beck, Theology 1942-46 Geoffrey served the Church of South India from 1957-1995. When that pioneering church was born in 1947, he was in his final school year. A few months later Geoffrey first visited us at home to discuss training to be a Christian minister and possible reading theology in Oxford at Mansfield College. So began a 62-rich-year’s friendship embracing both our families. Before the testing time of national service, Geoffrey had a warm and constructive interview with Dr Nathanial Micklem, Mansfield’s Principal. The necessary churchly and academic processes would lead via classics at Durham University and theology at Mansfield to ordination in the Church of South India. “On his first furlough he met a young teacher, Ann, over the washing up in the
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old Congregational manse in Witney.” (We met her within two weeks, and I quote her!) In 1963, they were married in Mansfield Chapel the day before leaving for India together. At the time of his ordination he had written; “I can only say that in some way this was the moment to which all my life so far had been leading, however varied and distinguished each stage may have been.” His family speak of “many wonderful memories”; “as children at home in India, his office was next to the living room, and we saw more of him. We would traipse in and out whilst he relieved his visitors.” Dad “spent his career unassumingly in the service of a rural diocese, a maverick of a gentle kind, never managing upwards, not doing things for the sake of appearances.” I join with his family in saying that Geoffrey “joined the CSI because he believed that the uniting of denominations in one church was the right way for churches everywhere. He saw in the young men he trained to lead in the villages a hope for the future of the church because they were beginning to think for themselves.” CSI ministers retiring to their home country have to opt for one of the still divided denominations, and Geoffrey chose the C of E, joining the St Mary’s parish team in Witney. At the ‘Celebration of Geoffrey’s Life,’ the vicar of St Mary’s quoted his beloved poet (and priest) John Donne; “On a huge hill, Cragged and steep, Truth stands And he that would reach her Above must, and above must go.” She commented “We remember the zest and the will and the vision that sent Geoffrey climbing that hill.”
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Alumni News
Weddings Jess Barker and Tom Hance
“Our wedding took place at All Souls’ Church, East Dean near Goodwood on the 20th of August. It was themed as a country wedding and people camped the night after. Ex JCR President James Naish gave a surprise speech! For our honeymoon we went to Amalfi in Italy, which is where we first met (on a school Latin trip to the town).”
Samantha Hamilton and Nathan Kirk
Jess Barker and Tom Hance
were married on Saturday 22 May 2010, with a Church service at St. Michael & All Angels in Blackheath, London, and reception at The Queen’s House in Greenwich, London. They were joined by 10 of Samantha’s old Mansfield friends!
Jessica Hyde (Law 1997) married Stephen Boxford (Geography 1995)
on 19 December 2009 in the chapel, followed by a reception in college. Jessica works at SNR Denton LLP as a Restructuring and Insolvency lawyer and Steve works for Cordis Bright Limited as a public sector management consultant. Congratulations also to Chris Bryant (English, 1980-83), and Jared Cranney who were the first couple to have a civil ceremony in the House of Commons in March this year.
Samantha Hamilton and Nathan Kirk
Silver Wedding Anniversary Teresa and Sean Moriarty – 25th wedding anniversary
Sean Moriarty met Teresa Collins the day he arrived at Mansfield College in 1982 to study Law. She was in her second year reading History. They got married on 17th August 1985. Now they have three boys, Morgan, Gareth and Owen and on the weekend of 13th August 2010 they came back to College as part of their Silver Wedding anniversary celebrations. “It was a bit like going back in time and although some things are very different, many have not changed at all. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend.”
Births Congratulations to: Elizabeth Neame (née Hodgetts English 1993), and her husband Patrick, who welcomed Madeleine Cicely Neame into the world on the 4th of May this year. Toby and Lucy Gosnall, whose daughter Alice was born on the 23rd of October. Jessica Hyde and Stephen Boxford
Teresa and Sean Moriarty
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Exam Results DOCTORATE (DPhil) Engineering
Jens Schupp Geography & the Environment Alex Guerra Noriega James Paterson International Relations Par Engstrom Politics Liat Ross Computer Science Yue Zhang MSc Economic & Social History Dist Aled Davies BMBCH Dist
Emmert Roberts
MSc African Studies Pass Daniel Hodgkinson Duncan Scott MSc Clinical Embryology Pass Xue Fang Goh MSc Computer Science Dist Cheng Wang Pass Ozcan Tercan Jenny Tsai MSc Financial Economics Pass John Hankey MSc Forced Migration Pass Ayla Bonfiglio MSc Integrated Immunology Pass Dmytriw, Adam Puleston, Daniel MSc Maths Modelling & Scientific Computing Pass Anthony Synott MSc Nature Society & the Environment Pass Joel Krupa
MSt in English Dist
Jeremy Elprin
Class 2.i
MSt Study of Religion Dist Anna Rawlings Mst Theology Pass
Gratian Vandici
MSt in Women’s Studies Pass Rafaelle Nicholson BCL Dist Pass
Engineering Science Class 2.i Paul Silcock Class 3 Shuo Liu Pass Yiyang Zhong Engineering, Economics & Management Class 2.i Anuvrat Kottamasu Rao Materials Science Class 2.i Simon Bowcock Nicholas Ingram Class 2.ii Shaolong Cheng Robert McGhee
MASTER OF MATHEMATICS
MASTER OF PHYSICS (MPhys) Class 2.i Class 2.ii
History Class 2.i
Vassilis Pandis Thomas Swinburne Timothy Clarke Rory Morrison
MSt in Jewish Studies Pass Angela Costley
BACHELOR OF ARTS (BA)
MSt in Modern British & European History Pass Elisabetta Tollardo
English Language & Literature Class I Laurence Dodds Joanna Williams
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Richard Bater Peter Harrison-Evans Rachel Bowles Catherine Connor Christopher Fort Benjamin Lazarus Robert Lee Andrew Taylor Ben Williams David Bruce Tim Glebocki Nicholas Gomes Alasdair O’Hare Vishal Patel Luke Webster
History & English Class 2.i Daniel Clarke Human Sciences Class 2.i
Jurisprudence Class 2.i
Sara Bainbridge Sonia Chandaria Martha Swales Jack Baumgardt Ian Montagu Ove Kenneth Nodland Giles Rabbitts Martin Wood
Reuben Holt
MMaths & Statistics Class 1 Clayton D’Souza Elizabeth Rae Quang T Tran Class 2.i Helbert Tsang Class I
Class 2.i
Prasan Dhar Jerald Foo Celiwe Kawa Kartikeya Saran
MASTER OF ENGINEERING (MEng)
MMaths Class 2.i
Geography Class I
Luke Bullock Sam Caird Kathryn Davies Hannah Plant Marianne Turner
Jurisprudence (English Law with Law Studies in Europe) Class 2.i George Mackenzie Mathematics Class 1 Class 3
Paul Carter Perry Asbury
Maths & Statistics Class 1 Tristan Gray-Davies Class 2.i Bobby Sun Class 3 Jiaojiao Zhang Oriental Studies Class 2.i
Angelina Lonnqvist
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Exam Results PPE Class 1 Class 2.i
Physics Class 2.ii Class 3 Theology Class 1 Class 2.i
Robbie Coleman Emma Baddeley Sarah Rose Collier Khadija Gulamhusein Duncan Lugton Beatrice Male Hira Virdee Louise Kwok Georgia Bullen Henry Fox Andrew Green Orlando Lewis
UNCLASSIFIED HONOURS
Engineering, Economics & Management Part I Pass Christian Dube John Kerr Christopher Mertlitz Engineering Science Part I Pass Radoslaw Nowak Materials Science/ MEM Part I Pass Melvin Chen Robert Clough Helen Dugdale Chirag Goyate Jack Spawton Jian Jun Wang Mathematics Part A Pass Camilla Gardner Charlotte Hindley Matthew Hitchings Matthew Williams
Jonasz Slomka Raquel Velasco
HONOUR MODERATIONS Mathematics Class I
Class II Class III
Mathematics & Statistics Class II Ho-Joon Kim
MODERATIONS English Dist
Physics Part A Pass
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Tom Goodman Robert Legg David Wilkinson Michael Bagshaw Mia Blundell Henry Carter Benjamin Hickman
Joshua Gaskell Victoria Pearce Bethany Whalley Laura Butterfield Emily Feltham Sarah Hourahane
Pass
Andrew McCormack Jurisprudence Dist Pass
Sarah Baker Alexandros Pantelakis Daniel Hunter Steven Robinson Amy Wilson
History & Politics Dist Rachel Freeman William Tullett Pass Andrew Rhodes Human Sciences Pass
Engineering Dist Pass
Geography Pass
History Dist Pass
James Smith Christian Proctor David Roughton Terry Claire Ward Christopher Fairweather Chris Goodman Matthew Jones Christopher Major John Morrison Frederick Overton William Rigg Anna Watkins
Oliver Petragallo Oriental Studies Dist Pass PPE Dist Pass
Physics Pass
Theology Dist Pass
Urmilla Nakkeeran Ashish Ravinran Andrew Seaton Benjamin Ball Alec Selwyn
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Maia Muir Wood Andrew Campbell Black
Materials Science Dist Anna Ploszajski Pass Alexander Ford Mark Holdstock
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS
Mathematics & Statistics Part A Pass Amy Oakley Shu Zhou Physics Part B Pass
Shaan Dalwadi Mark Ellis Sean Moorhead Andrew Parker Nathan Webster Kate Thompson
History & English Dist Emily Russell
Bridget Gill Lorna Forrester Isabella Watson Alara Bitlis Peter Connell Wallace Martin-Kerr Emma Milner Matthew Mitchell Alisha Patel Ian Pethick Vivek Sharma Gareth Cornish Lucy Hutchinson Jonathan Lipscombe Hao Wu Andrew Grey Daniel Rey Jonathan Gemmell Ewan Miller Lucy Muluzi
Philosophy & Theology Dist Jennifer Goodchild
Events Calendar 2011 Below you will find our events calendar for 2011 - this is a moving feast so we will be in touch to confirm dates and any other activities. We do hope you will be able to come back to Mansfield during our 125th anniversary year. All events are at Mansfield College unless otherwise indicated
March 5th 15th TBA
Mega-bop Finalists Family Dinner London Drinks
April TBA
125th Anniversary Drinks Reception – New York
May 6-8th 14th 15th 15th
Oxford University European Reunion – Paris 1887 Dinner Commemoration Service 125th Anniversary Family Day
June 25th
125th Anniversary Fundraising Gala Dinner
September 17th 16-18th TBA
Fresher’s Family Event Oxford Alumni Weekend London drinks
November TBA
Adam Von Trott Dinner
December TBA TBA
New York drinks London drinks
Please contact the Alumni Office for further information on an item in Mansfield or if you would be interested in taking advertising space in our next magazine. With many thanks to Rathbones, HSBC and Beards for supporting this special edition. Designed and printed by FE Burman www.feburman.co.uk
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Mansfield College Oxford OX1 3TF www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk