211075 Downing Record 07 - Downing College - University of ...

The consequence was that when Jefferson finally got his chance to design aninstitution of higher learning it was located several miles away from the small townof Charlottesville, so the students would not be distracted, and it was a village typeof arrangement with individual pavilions for the professors and students, room inbetweenand the whole connected by a covered walkway. His initial proposal in 1814for what was called Albemarle Academy became in 1816 Central College and in 1819,the University of Virginia. As noted above his plans changed somewhat over the yearswith the rows of buildings moved closer together and the large Rotunda for the libraryplaced at the upper end. Other individuals helped him on the revised plans but thescheme as largely completed in 1825 harkens back to his initial description of 1805.Downing College and the University of Virginia are related in the sense that bothare results of a classical sensibility. They are also related in that their purpose was toreform higher education and also that the architecture was seen as an importantelement.News of the FellowshipBarry Everitt, Master, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 2007. Hehas given several special lectures during the year, including at Johns HopkinsUniversity and the University of Lausanne, as well as at the International BasalGanglia Society and the European Brain and Behaviour Society. His portrait wascompleted and was shown at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual exhibitionat the Mall Galleries.Peter Mathias, Honorary Fellow and former Master continues his distinguishedacademic career twelve years after his formal retirement. In the past two years hehas become President (formerly Chairman) of Great Britain-Sasakawa Foundation,been appointed International adviser to the President of Keio University, becomeChairman of the Advisory Board of Central European University Press, Budapest,gave an invited lecture course at the Institute of Philosophical Studies, Naples andwas awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Kamsai University, Japan.David King, Honorary Fellow and former Master has been appointed President ofthe British Association for the Advancement of Science.Quentin Blake, Honorary Fellow and President Elect of the Association was theguest on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on October 1st 2006 and also on Youand Yours in May 2007.76