MAN-10265 MAGAZINE.indd - Mansfield College - University of Oxford

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Principal’s Welcome At last! I have fi nally discovered why, with my otherwise irrelevant background in the control of infectious diseases, I was elected Principal of the College. No, happily there have been no epidemics whilst I have been here, but a student exam howler, reported in the Times Higher Education, explains that “Control of infectious diseases is very important in case an academic breaks out.” Actually, three of our academics have broken out recently and have scaled the dizzy heights of academia, to be awarded the title of Professor, by the University, in recognition of their outstanding research and teaching. Ros Ballaster, Fellow and Tutor in English, becomes Professor of Eighteenth Century Studies; Steve Biller, Fellow and Tutor in Physics, becomes Professor of Particle Physics; and John Sykes, Professorial Fellow and Tutor in Materials Engineering, becomes Professor of Materials. Indeed, Mansfi eld’s small Fellowship can now boast a grand total of twelve Professors and we expect shortly to welcome one more, when an appointment is made to the newly-established Chair of Energy Materials, which will be associated with the College. Come to think of it, such a cluster of ‘cases’ could reasonably be called an ‘epidemic’ of excellence. Talking of which, our students excelled themselves academically, this year. Over 93% of our fi nalists achieved either a First Class Honours degree (14) or an upper second (50). No one achieved less than a 2.2. Nine of our fi nalists won University prizes for outstanding performances in the fi nal examinations. These were in English, Law, Materials Science, Physics and Oriental Studies. And 12 of our students received Distinctions in their fi rst Public Examinations. As far as our graduate students are concerned, their numbers are slowly expanding – we now have 53 – and we can truthfully say that Mansfi eld plays a full part in support of postgraduate study in the University. In recent years our graduate students have become more and more involved in College life, with the MCR/SCR dinners now a very popular feature of each term. As we build up the cultural activities within the College, we aim for even greater involvement of our graduate students, to the benefi t of the whole Mansfi eld community. In this Edition… 1 Principal’s Welcome, Contents 2-3 Senior Tutor, JCR & MCR Presidents, Bursar: Reports 4 Access at Mansfi eld 6 Personnel changes: SCR/staff 7 Law Society and PPE Society 8 Women at Mansfi eld 9-12 Fellows’ articles The three new Non- Stipendiary Junior Research Fellows who have joined us this year are adding further lustre to that community. They are: Drs Carl Anderson, Jörn Dunkel and Nilu Goonetilleke, each with a brilliant research record already established. 13 Feature: Mansfi eld Sports Past and Present 16 From the archives: the changing landscape of Mansfi eld College 17 Alumni Relations and Development Report 19-28 Alumni articles and news Diana Walford presents Paul Ruddock with his Bancroft Fellowship on 16th June 2008 Records of a different kind are being made by our Development Offi ce, thanks to the huge generosity of our alumni. During the all-toobrief time that Paul McCarthy was with us as Development Director, some £1.2m was raised for our 125th Anniversary Appeal, with a target of £2.8m by 2011, the year of our Anniversary. Paul has now, regrettably, left the College, but the Appeal goes on! Please help if you can. As far as gifts are concerned, all gifts are delightful, but very large gifts are absolutely delightful (with apologies to Lord Acton)! So it was with great pleasure that the Governing Body acknowledged Paul Ruddock’s recent magnifi cent donation, and his many years of support for the College, by electing him to a Bancroft Fellowship (see photograph). Paul read Jurisprudence at Mansfi eld and graduated with First Class Honours, the fi rst Mansfi eld Law student to do so. Since then, his career has taken him into the realms of high fi nance, but his love of art, particularly medieval sculpture, has led him to the Chairmanship of the Board of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Paul’s philanthropy, towards the V&A, towards his old school and to Mansfi eld, is inspirational; and his wife, Jill, too, is a tireless fund raiser for good causes; we were delighted that she was here, with Paul, at the Bancroft Fellowship award ceremony and dinner. Times are undoubtedly hard for everyone at the moment, but the College’s affairs are, happily, going against the trend, and we are making very good progress on all fronts. I hope you will enjoy reading about some of our successes in this edition of the Magazine. ● 29 Obituaries 31 College events 32 Mansfi eld Association 33 Exam results Back cover: events calendar 2009 Designed by: Holywell Press Ltd., Oxford Edited by: Emily Henderson, Stephen Blundell, Katherine Morris We welcome suggestions and contributions from our readers. Please contact the Development Offi ce (see back cover) for further information on any item in Mansfi eld. Cover image: Keiko Ikeuchi 1 MANSFIELD COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Student Academic Successes 2007-2008 Lucinda Rumsey, Senior Tutor We are delighted with the academic success of our students this year. Twelve of our fi rst years were awarded distinctions and fourteen fi nalists achieved fi rsts, one of Mansfi eld’s best performances in recent years. Nine University prizes were awarded to our students. Amongst our scientists four prizes were awarded in Materials Science: third-year Michael Dowling was awarded the Ironmongers Prize for the best Presentation in the Part II examination; third-year Manuel Schnabel was awarded the QinetiQ prize for best third-year team design project, and also the Gibbs Annual prize for best overall performance in Part I, and fi rst-year Robert Clough was awarded the Armourers’ Rolls Royce Prize for outstanding marks and distinction in fi rst-year examinations. Harry Kennard (Physics fi nalist) was awarded an essay prize for the best third-year essay. Amongst our students in the Humanities two prizes were awarded to our English fi nalists, with Fay Skevington being awarded the Gibbs Prize for best Course II extended essay, and Kirsty Stanfi eld the Gibbs Prize for best Course I extended essay. In Law, third-year David Johnson was awarded the Simms Prize in Criminal Justice & Penology, and in Oriental Studies fi rst-year Angelina Lonnqvist was awarded the Pusey & Ellerton Junior Prize. We also award a number of College prizes each year for excellent academic performance, or to provide students with the opportunity to travel, in order to study or pursue cultural interests abroad. Of our academic awards, Mansfi eld’s College Essay Prize was awarded to second-year lawyer Nicholas Broomfi eld. The Principal’s Prize for academic progress was awarded to English second-year Paul Maiden, who was also awarded the Mason Lowance Prize for the best second-year essay in English, an award held jointly with Lotty Spurrell. As well as winning a Gibbs prize in English, Kirsty Stanfi eld was awarded the Mason Lowance Prize for the best performance in English Schools. Of our other subject specifi c prizes the Mahony Prize in History was awarded to second-year Alex Brayson; the Horton Davies Prize in Theology was awarded to second-year Tom Carpenter; the Worsley Prize in Law was awarded to third-year Rebekah Finch, and Fred Price was awarded the Henty Prize for best second-year performance in Geography. We awarded Nathan Whitley travel scholarships to Paul Silcock (second-year Engineering), Simon Bowcock (second- year Materials Science), Melvin Chen (second-year Materials Engineering and Management), Shaolong Cheng (second-year Materials Science). Proctor Travel scholarships were awarded to Richard Phelps (third-year Oriental Studies), Ben Williams (fi rst-year Geography), and to Luke Jessop (third-year Geography), who was also awarded the Henty Prize Travel Bursary. Robert Wellburn (secondyear Geography), Richard Pope (second-year Geography) and Daniel Butchart-Kuhlman (second-year Geography) benefi ted from the Geography Dissertation Fund. Many of these College prizes and awards were established many years ago by generous donations from past members or friends of Mansfi eld College, to encourage the academic endeavour of our students. We are fortunate this year to be able to offer two new awards, the Sarah & Peter Harkness Prize for best performance in fi rst-year examinations and the Sarah & Peter Harkness Bursary, both to be awarded to a Mansfi eld student living and having completed sixth-form studies in Yorkshire or the North East of England. The fi rst recipient of the Harkness Prize is Robert Clough (fi rst-year in Materials Science) and the Bursary will be awarded later this year. Sarah and Peter Harkness made these awards so that students from the North of England, a group currently under-represented at Oxford University, will see that Mansfi eld actively encourages their application to the College. Mansfi eld is very active in its outreach and access activities; as a result we have the highest proportion of state-sector students in the University, and our students come here to study from all parts of the country and JCR President James Naish Robert Clough, winner of the new Harkness Prize across the world. It is a great pleasure for us as tutors to see them thrive at Mansfi eld and achieve academic success in their studies. ● At the end of Michaelmas, my time as JCR President will come to an end. All in all, it has been an eventful and productive year. In Hilary, we redesigned the JCR website and worked closely with the Bursar and Catering Manager to ensure that the college bar stays afl oat. There was also a demonstration over proposals to change the college shield. This was a highly emotive issue that saw alumni, tutors and students all voicing opinion over the proposals. The JCR held a meeting attended by more than seventy students, who overwhelmingly opposed change. The decision taken by Governing Body not to change the shield was very well received. At Governing Body in the last week of term, a JCR paper proposing the introduction of a Senior Tutor for Welfare was well received. In Trinity, more than £3000 was spent on refurbishing the JCR. As I write, we await delivery of three sofas and a screen that will divide the room into more comfortable quarters. A new 47-inch LCD screen has been installed on the wall and three huge beanbags occupy the space around ➥ ➥ COLLEGE REPORTS AND NEWS 2
Page 1: Mansfield The Mansfi eld College Ma
Page 5 and 6: Access at Mansfi eld: Oxford Furthe
Page 7 and 8: SCR Newcomers Dr Carl Anderson Juni
Page 9 and 10: Women at Mansfi eld Tutor For Women
Page 11 and 12: An Interview with Dr Mary King Fell
Page 13 and 14: instance, is ‘the morning star of
Page 15 and 16: Donald MacDonald English 1984-88, P
Page 17 and 18: From the Archives: the Changing Lan
Page 19 and 20: We aim to do much more than stand s
Page 21 and 22: countries: examining one’s own cu
Page 23 and 24: A Year in the “Chain Gang” Bob
Page 25 and 26: company, trawling through the City
Page 27 and 28: Dana Dunne PPE 1983-84 (VSP) Patron
Page 29 and 30: Alumni News Dhruti Shah English 200
Page 31 and 32: issues.” Dorothy was still busy i
Page 33 and 34: Eighth Annual Hands Lecture “AFTE
Page 35 and 36: Roy Cooper Alexander Dacre Amy Icke

MAN-10265 MAGAZINE.indd - Mansfield College - University of Oxford

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