College Record 2022/23

Letter from the Development Director
HUW DAVID
Looking back on the 2022–23 academic year, it’s satisfying to reflect on what the President
in his Foundation Dinner speech called ‘a normal, extraordinary year’. ‘Normal’ in the
full resumption, for the first time in three years, of the regular patterns of lectures,
seminars, lunches and dinners that are the hallmark of Wolfson life; ‘extraordinary’ for the
accomplishments of our students and Fellows, the generosity of our alumni and friends, and
the progress of our decarbonisation and other building projects around College.
Once again, Wolfson benefitted from remarkable philanthropic support. For the zero
carbon project, the Wolfson Foundation’s grant of £500,000 enabled us to complete
the replacement of the remaining single-glazed windows in our original Powell and Moya
buildings. A hugely generous and anonymous gift of $500,000 enabled us to embark upon
the final stages of decarbonising our built estate, funding the installation of air-source heat
pumps, removal of gas boilers and comprehensive insulation of our Linton Road properties
during the summer vacation. And starting this autumn, Wolfson will have Oxford’s first
electric minibus thanks to a donation of £86,000 from an alumnus, eliminating many
tonnes of diesel emissions as it shuttles back and forth to Broad Street. With Wolfson’s
crest emblazoned on the side, it will also be a powerful embodiment of the College’s
commitment to clean energy and, we hope, a catalyst for other colleges and institutions to
electrify their fleet.
INTRODUCTION
While the zero carbon project has specialized in transforming Wolfson’s hidden
infrastructure – the heating, plumbing and electrics that make the College run – other
building projects have had a much more visible impact. Over the winter, the Private
Dining Room and Coffee Room were amalgamated by removing a partition wall and
comprehensively redecorated to create a bright modern space overlooking Harbour
Quad. The Levett Room, as it is now named in gratitude for the generosity of Honorary
Fellow Chris Levett, has become an outstanding space for events, art exhibitions and
entertaining. Two other projects in the coming months will similarly transform much-used
but tired spaces, both thanks to exceptional gifts: the Music Practice Rooms underneath the
Marble Hall and the Lower Common Room. Across the Cherwell, in Wolfson’s floodplain
meadows, the generosity of the Aspen Foundation in memory of the late Sir Martin Wood
is restoring and enhancing the biodiversity of these SSSI grasslands.
WOLFSON.OX.AC.UK
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