Access Report 2020

Daniel Tarry (Geography, 2011), President of the Mansfield College Alumni Association, reflects on the Association’s activities during 2019/20.

It goes without saying that 2020 is not a period in time we shall soon be forgetting. After a fantastic start to the Association’s year, with drinks receptions at the Counting House, London, and at the Banyan Bar & Kitchen, Manchester, the country moved into lockdown. All of a sudden, we found ourselves working from home, refining bakery skills, and taking up new hobbies.

Throughout this period, the Alumni Association continued to work to ensure that alumni were well supported by Mansfield, while College was also doing a superb job of helping students remotely. The Committee and I express our thanks to all College staff who have supported the student body through this extraordinary time. The Development Office has provided us with a fantastic programme of virtual events, and I have particularly enjoyed being able to attend the Mansfield Public Talks series, and meeting many of you I would not normally encounter at in-person events.

In past years, the Association has made decisions on financial grants for students. This is money that has come from College funds rather than from the Association or alumni. The Committee was asked to consider foregoing this privilege in order to allow College to distribute funds directly to students most in need. With data protection legislation, and College staff’s greater knowledge of the student body, this seemed a sensible request, and was supported by the Committee. We have continued to receive regular updates at our meetings on activities being undertaken by students, and it was great to hear – through the annual Student of the Year nominations – of the help students have been giving each other throughout what has been the strangest of times.

I was delighted to be able to play my part in the Giving Day and Community Week activities by cycling 134 miles from my home to College and back to celebrate the 134th anniversary of the founding of Mansfield in 1886.

This year the Committee spent considerable time working with College to define the Association’s purpose, and to this end we updated our Constitution, with changes ratified at an EGM just before our AGM on 30 September. Particular thanks go to our Secretary Mike Walton (English, 1956) for preparing the drafts of the revised constitution ahead of our various meetings throughout the year. Prior to 2020 the Committee met three times a year. This year, and in years to come, the Committee will meet more frequently to ensure it is able to provide relevant input to the Development Office team and become more active and productive. I hope in the coming months you will start to see the benefit of the changes made to the way the Committee operates.

As I said last year, the Mansfield College Alumni Association is your association, so if you would like to be involved in the Committee or its activities, helping to maintain and widen the alumni community and the Mansfield family, please get in touch via our new email address: MansfieldCollegeAlumniAssociation@ outlook.com.

President Daniel Tarry (Geography, 2011)

Secretary Mike Walton (English, 1956)

College representative Lucinda Rumsey (Senior Tutor and Tutor for Admissions)

Committee members Serena Arthur (English, 2016), Peter Bergamin (Oriental Studies, 2012), Shahenda Darwich (PPE, 2011), Adrian David (Mathematics, 2010), Lydia Felty (VSP, 2015), Adam Kelly (English, 2016), Miriam Kennet (MSc Environmental Change and Management, 1997), Rebecca Loxton (English, 2011), Lucy Mahoney (DPhil Geography and the Environment, 2009), Gerald Moule (MTh Applied Theology, 2004), Donald Norwood (Theology, 1959), Daniel Seiderer (MBA, 2007), Damola Shobowale (Jurisprudence, 2013), Bob Skelly (English, 1965)

We are always delighted to hear from members of our alumni community – whether it be career news, personal milestones or professional achievements. Here are just a few highlights from 2019/20.

We welcome news from our alumni. If you would like to share it with us, please contact alumni.officer@mansfield.ox.ac.uk

Andrew has been accepted by the University of Roehampton to study for a PhD. He will be drawing on the work he did at Mansfield for the certificate in Theology way back in 1990.

Andrew’s PhD will explore the so-called Anthropic Principle (a new version of the traditional design argument for the existence of God). In particular he will be looking at how far the Principle supports Panentheism.

Colton won this year’s Leon Edel Prize with his dissertation: ‘Not noticing, infallibly: the critical liaisons of Henry James, French decadence, and Honoré de Balzac’. His essay was subsequently published in the spring 2020 issue of the Henry James Review.

‘The essay reads diachronically across Henry James’s critical writings to link his gradual sidelining of French decadence with his concurrent volteface on Honoré de Balzac. It argues that James’s later criticism creatively misreads Balzac as a pseudodecadent writer – a process I call “gilding”. I am so grateful for Professor Mendelssohn’s supervision, the support of the Ertegun Scholarship, and the Mansfield community for making the research possible, and so pleasurable, last year on the MSt.’

Dhruti has published her debut work, Bear Markets and Beyond: A bestiary of business terms (Portico, 2020).

In this new book Dhruti, and her fellow BBC journalist and co-author Dominic Bailey, guide readers through the confusing world of business jargon – from loan sharks to alligator

Hank has signed a publication contract for a new book, War on Hate: How to Stop Genocide, Fight Terrorism, and Defend Freedom.

The book argues that monitoring, targeting, and disrupting outbreaks of mass, ideological hate incitement are a critical component of confronting and preventing both genocides and global terrorism.

Hank works as a criminal prosecutor with the US Justice Department in Connecticut, where he and his family live.

Isabel’s picture book, Moth: An Evolution Story (Bloomsbury, 2018), which explores natural selection, recently won the biggest prize for science writing for young people in the US, the AAAS Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books 2020.

Her follow-up, Fox: A Circle of Life Story (Bloomsbury, 2020), was published in October and answers another huge question children ask about life: What happens when we die? It aims to show that a scientific answer to this question is no less beautiful and awe-inspiring than traditional stories.

Isabel has spoken about Fox on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. This programme is still available to listen to, here: www.bbc.co.uk/ programmes/p08t3hbd

Josh attended Mansfield as a JYA in 2005. He was studying abroad from Cornell and focusing on English/Modern History as well as writing lots of movie reviews for various Oxford publications.

‘Mansfield had a big impact on my life. I went on to get a PhD at Yale and for the past couple of years have served as an Assistant Professor of English, Film, and Media at Hendrix College. This past year I was a Fellow in MIT’s Open Documentary Lab, working on some new projects related to documentary, the media industries, and the dangers of misinformation.’

Lizzie’s latest play, Heavy Weather, has been published by Nick Hern Books. It’s a play for young performers, exploring themes of climate change and disorientation in the digital age. This is her eighth published play text.