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DOWNING COLLEGE ASSOCIATIONthe Fellowship in June to pursue a career in politics; Penelope Nevill (law) andFranco Basso (classics) will leave the Fellowship in September. Our ProfessorialFellow in history and geography (!), Richard Smith FBA, who is a distinguishedhistorical demographer and has been Vice-Master for the past 6 years, hasdecided to take retirement on December 31st. We will surely miss his wisdomand great commitment to undergraduate teaching in the College. As you willread elsewhere in this volume, our most distinguished Honorary Fellow,Professor Richard Gregory CBE FRSE FRS, the most distinguished psychologistof his generation and an alumnus of the College, very sadly died just a few weeksago. Professor Trevor Robbins FRS, our Fellow in Psychology, has writtenelegantly about Richard’s many achievements.But we are also fortunate to have a number of Fellows joining the Collegebefore the new academic year begins. First, our Chaplain – now the ReverendDr Keith Eyeons – will join the Fellowship in July, having just been awardedhis PhD; he also directs studies in theology. Dr Rob Harle (computer science),Dr Tim Burton (pharmacology), Dr Jamie Alcock (economics), Dr Jimena Berni(Henslow Research Fellow in biomedical sciences), Dr Marta Correia (biologicalnatural sciences) and Dr Alicia Hinerajos (law) will all join the Fellowship onOctober 1st. Serita Rana, our new acting Development Director has beenelected Fellow Commoner. We congratulate three Fellows on their promotionsthis year: Dr Zoe Barber (Director of Studies in physical natural sciences) wasappointed as Reader, while Drs Jay Stock (biological anthropology) and KenMcNamara (geology) were appointed Senior Lecturers. Dr John Quale visitedus in the Lent term as the Thomas Jefferson Fellow from the University ofVirginia; Dr Mary Paster was the Pomona Fellow in the Easter term. We lookforward to welcoming Dr Marcia Inhorn as the first Diane Middlebrook andCarl Djerassi Visiting Professor on October 1st. Professor Aiko Kurasawa(economics) will be the next Keio Fellow, arriving in October and Dr ElizabethMcGill (law) will be the next Thomas Jefferson Fellow. We are very fortunateto be able to enrich the Fellowship with these distinguished visitors each year.I have been able to meet alumni on occasions here and abroad again thisyear – at the Association Dinner, Reunion Dinner and the Donors garden partyhere in Downing; at the London Event at the RAF club in November andduring a wonderful visit to Hong Kong in the spring. I also attended theUniversity’s 800th event in New York City in December having hosted a dinnerfor Downing alumni in the Harvard Club the evening before. It always givesme the greatest pleasure to meet our alumni and I hope that many of you willattend an event during the next year. Those of you who have not been back toDowning for some time would, I am sure, enjoy dining in the Hall and visitingthe new Theatre as well as reconnecting with old friends.14