Cambridge in America Newsletter, Issue 23, Autumn 2012

1Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012

CAMBRIDGE IN AMERICA NEWSLETTERREPRESENTING THE COLLEGIATE UNIVERSITY

ISSUE 23 AUTUMN 2012

Emily Burns (Corpus Christi 2011), aproducer and tour manager of the Footlights2012 tour show, “Perfect Strangers,” reports:

After sell-out shows in London, at theEdinburgh Fringe and at venues across theUSA, the Footlights are rounded up theirinternational tour show for 2012, “PerfectStrangers,” with a final home-run where it allbegan – at the ADC Theatre Cambridge.When the final bow was taken on the 6th ofOctober, the show was seen by over 15,000people at twenty different venues.

Their time in America was the highlight ofa tour six months in the making. After flying

in to Logan Airport, “Perfect Strangers”opened to a sold-out house at ImprovBoston.With some last-minute rewrites to keep allcultural references continent-specific the showwent down fantastically, and the Footlights

INSIDECantabs tour the US…............................1College News…………....................……4Americans at Kings........................…..17Janeway honored……......................…17V-Cs speech………...................………18Gurdons Nobel….….......................…..19Artists and Archives….......................…20

“Perfect Strangers” cast, Second City, Chicago, l-r: Pierre Novellie (Corpus Christi), Phil Wang (Kings),Emma Powell (Homerton), George Potts (Homerton), Jason Forbes (Jesus)

Cambridge Footlights Showcase ComicTalents to U.S. Audiences

Cambridge Choristers, Comics, Actors, DebatersCrisscross North America

2012 has seen an unprecedented multitude oftalented young Cantabrigians touring theU.S., from Florida to Oregon and fromBoston to the Bay Area, and across theCanadian border. At each appearance theyhave dazzled audiences with their wit,artistry, and charm. Cambridge alumni haverelished these opportunities to re-connectwith their Colleges and the University, andlocal audiences have been introduced toCambridge’s heritage of performing artistry.

Tallying up all of their nearly 60performances, the Choirs from Christ’s,Selwyn, Sidney Sussex, and Trinity Colleges;actors from the Cambridge America StageTour (CAST), performing Shakespeare’sAntony and Cleopatra; and the quick-firingcomedic Footlights appeared in a total of 18states and two provinces. At each venue localCambridge alumni proudly joined their localneighbors in applauding the manifold talentsof these current Cambridge students. Severalof these tours are recapped below, in thewords of participants. For others, see theirrespective mentions in the “College News”section of the Newsletter.

If you can help book a local venue for afuture visit by a Cambridge choir or theatertroupe, please go to the performers’ websitesfor contact details, or be in touch withCambridge in America at [email protected]

Check the “Upcoming Events” section ofCambridge in America’s website, www.cantab.org for news about Cambridgeperforming artists visiting the United States.Soon to arrive will be the Endellion Quartet,the chamber ensemble in residence atCambridge, performing Beethoven at NewYork City’s Metropolitan Museum inFebruary, and the King’s College Choirvisiting East Coast cities in April (see page 9).

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2 Cambridge in America Newsletter Issue 23 Autumn 2012

Joel Fenster (Selwyn 2011), DebatingOfficer of the Cambridge Union Society,reports:

The Cambridge Union, the world’soldest debating society (founded in 1815),pays an annual visit to the United States.For nearly a century we have sent a team ofdebaters to schools and colleges across thecountry, teaching the art of debate tothousands of students. Maria English(Corpus Christi 2010), a leadinginternational debater who took part in ourmost recent tour, this past April, describedher experience:

Cambridge StudentsBring DebatingProwess to USCampuses

Maria English and Tom Powell in a workshop withManchester Community College students

The Cambridge Union and Worcester PolytechnicInstitute teams after a formal show debate

were honored to be the opening show of the

Boston Comedy Arts Festival. The company

were then hosted at Yale and then Harvard,

performing to staff and students at both

colleges before visiting their American

counterparts at the Harvard Lampoon.

The two New York City shows at UCB

Chelsea and UCBeast were next on the

itinerary and both played to sold-out houses

and wonderfully enthusiastic audiences. The

group then drove to Philadelphia to perform

as part of the Philly Fringe at the Adrienne

Theater and enjoyed a three-day run in

downtown Philadelphia. Next on the tour was

a double bill at Carnegie Mellon, in

Pittsburgh, and with a standing ovation from

the full house of over 400 students at the

second performance of the evening, their

penultimate show in the USA, was a real high-

point of the trip. Following an overnight drive

to Chicago the Footlights went on to round up

the tour by performing at arguably the most

prestigious comedy venue on the tour – The

Second City Chicago – before flying back to

the UK the following evening.

With over 2,500 miles driven across the

three weeks in September, the whole company

had an incredible time in the USA and were

thrilled to meet alumni and ex-Footlights

every step of the way. Their thanks go out to

their wonderful hosts and producers in each

state and at each venue, without whom none

of this would have been possible.

For more about the Footlights, go to

www.footlightstour.co.uk/2012/(Program note: Fifty years ago, in 1962,

the Footlights made their first Edinburgh

Fringe appearance, including John Cleese and

Graham Chapman in a show produced by

Trevor Nunn).

“Having been lucky enough to attend the2012 Cambridge Union America Tour, it’sclear to me that the Tour demonstrates thebest of what debating can do. America hasproduced some of the world’s most famouspublic speakers and most lively public policydebates, but there is huge variation in theextent to which opportunities are availableto college students to participate in formaldebating. Through touring, our Cambridgecontingent had the chance to introduceBritish parliamentary debating to Americanstudents, share our own skills and motivatestudents to see the wonderful possibilitiesdebating can offer to think critically.

“At each college we visited, we ranspeaking workshops and teamed up withlocal students for a formal show debateattended by the wider school community.Each school offered a very different, butequally rewarding experience. At our firststop, Manchester Community College inHartford, Connecticut, the students hadnever debated before. One very motivatedteacher was in the process of establishing adebate society and used our visit as a meansof sparking student interest. Other collegeswe visited have a longstanding relationshipwith the Cambridge Union, where wedebated for auditoriums packed out withlively audiences.

“The topics we debated were wonder-fully diverse, ranging from whether

pornography is a public service, to themerits of Obama’s healthcare plan. AtWorcester Polytechnic Institute we enjoyedsharing a ‘comedy debate,’ a much-lovedtradition at the Cambridge Union, with thecollege improvisation group. One collegeused the show debate as a contribution to areal policy debate occurring at schoolregarding the publishing of teacher feedbackreports. As part of our preparation for thedebate we interviewed students and teachersso we could understand their variousperspectives and best present them in thedebate.

“The America tour was one of thehighlights of my time at university. I felt it was an overwhelmingly positiveexperience for both our Cambridgecontingent and the schools that hosted us,and brought home for me the real value ofdebating.”

The 2012 tour also included BryantUniversity in Smithfield, Rhode Island andCentral Connecticut State University in NewBritain. The Cambridge Union is currentlyin the process of organizing the 2013 tour.

If you, or an organization with whichyou are associated, may be interested intaking part, please contact Joel Fenster [email protected].

For more about the Cambridge UnionSociety, visit www.cus.org

“This house believes porn is a public service,” at Central Connecticut State University



Selwyn College Chapel Choir Toursthe US, September 2012

From Sarah MacDonald, Director of Music:30 members of Selwyn College Chapel Choir (26 undergraduate

and post-graduate singers, two Organ Scholars, one Director ofMusic, and one Dean of Chapel) set out last July for an Americanadventure with great anticipation. The weather here in the UK wascool though passable, and had been for most of the spring. We flewin to Boston, arriving in the midst of last summer’s infamous heatwave, and found ourselves in temperatures about 18 degrees Celsiusabove anything most of us had ever experienced. All complainingabout the UK’s cold wet spring ceased rather quickly!

After a day of sight-seeing in Boston, including, of course, a tripto the Other Cambridge, we began the musical side of the tour witha rehearsal in the mysterious Anglo-Catholic gloom of the Churchof the Advent, and a lunch-time concert in the mosaic splendor ofTrinity Copley Square. Our next stop was New Haven, where wesang a concert in the red-brick gothic Christ Church, and ate ourlunches en masse in the grounds of Yale. No trip to that part ofAmerica would be complete without a few days in New York City.We were fortunate indeed to be able to stay in St. Thomas ChoirSchool, on West 58th Street, in the heart of Manhattan. We wentup the Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building, rode theStaten Island Ferry and visited the Statue of Liberty, walked throughTimes Square, shopped on Fifth Avenue, picnicked in Central Park,and marvelled in the excitement of this greatest of cities. Of course,we did do some singing as well while we were there. We sang Massat Our Lady of Refuge in Brooklyn (followed a most wonderfulCaribbean curry provided by the parish), Eucharist at St. ThomasFifth Avenue (with Bishop Selwyn’s statue overlooking us from thereredos), and Evensong and a recital in the Cathedral Church of St.John the Divine (or, as it is fondly known, “St. John theUnfinished”), the largest cathedral in the world. We had a lovelymeal in V&T Pizzeria opposite the cathedral with local Selwynalumni.

After New York we headed inland to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,where the Cathedral of the Nativity (of course) hosted us for aconcert (see page 15). We then travelled south to Wilmington,Delaware, where we sang a concert in Immanuel HighlandsEpiscopal Church. In both places, the welcome was warm (quiteliterally) and the choir had a wonderful time. We then carried onto Philadelphia to sing a concert in the Episcopal Cathedral, andattended an organ recital on the legendary Wanamaker organ inMacy’s department store. Our final destination was WashingtonDC, where we sang two Masses in the imposingly Anglo-CatholicSt. Paul’s Church, K Street (where the choir learned to genuflect),and ended the tour with Evensong in Washington’s magnificentNational Cathedral. It was a busy but rewarding and enjoyabletour; the welcome we received everywhere was overwhelming, thechoir got on famously and had an excellent time together, and, theirsinging was outstanding (if I do say so myself).

I would like to express my thanks to those of you who helpedwith the tour, especially to those in the States who provided food,host family accommodation, audiences, financial support, etc. I amextremely grateful to Cambridge in America, who providedinvaluable assistance and publicity, and I am thrilled to report thatthere was at least a handful of alumni at every single performancewe gave!

Trinity College Choir tour toUSA/Canada – July 2012

Hannah Partridge,Trinity 2010, ChoirMember 2010-2013,reports:

The beginning ofJuly is an excitingtime to visit thesouthern UnitedStates. Everything isbig: the roads, thecars, the churches,the organs, theportion sizes, thewelcome and, mostof all, theIndependence Dayfirework displays.This summer, TrinityCollege Choir touredNorth America,spending a week inGeorgia andTennessee beforeheading to Ontario,Canada.

Our program was a mix of old of new,ranging from Tallis Salvator Mundi to a piece by Trinityscomposer in residence, riks Eenvalds, A drop in theocean. The a capella repertoire was contrasted with worksaccompanied by our organ scholars, including Bachs Lobetden Herrn and Elgars Great is the Lord.

The diversity of our repertoire and the decision tomemorize the entire program proved to be a winningcombination. Memorization frees us from our copies, allowingus to really engage with the audience and the music in a waythat seems to be becoming a hallmark of the Choir.

You might think that after seven concerts, seven standingovations and countless enthusiastic conversations at post-concert receptions, members of the current Choir mightbecome immune to praise. You would be wrong. As over2,000 organists and choir directors (probably the mostinformed and critical audience well ever face!) rose to theirfeet in the cavernous First Baptist Church, Nashville, theatmosphere was electric. This invitation to sing as part of theNational Convention of the American Guild of Organists(AGO) was a personal highlight of an unforgettable tour.4 July Eucharist, Christ Church Cathedral, Nashville5 July Concert for AGO National Convention,

First Baptist Church, Nashville6 July St. Marys Cathedral, Memphis8 July Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta13 & 15 July Elora Festival, Ontario, Canada14 July Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario18 July Festival of the Sound, Parry Sound, Ontario

Trinity College Choir performing in theCathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta



CHRISTS COLLEGEwww.christs.cam.ac.uk

Rosie Applin, Alumni Officer, writes:

As always at this time of year, there is a feeling of anticipation and excitement in the air, as the College prepares to welcome new and

returning students. One of our new arrivals this term is a new College Teaching Fellow in English, Dr. James Wade. James (originally from Alaska;

from 2008 to 2009 he was a lecturer in English at Penn State). As I write, Professor Frank Kelly, the Master of Christ’s, is in Washington DC to be

inducted into the National Academy of Engineering. The membership recognizes Dr. Kelly’s contributions to “the theory and optimization of

communication networks.”

On May 31 the new Men's 1st VIII boat, “The Todd of Trumpington,” was officially named by Dr. Yusuf Hamied (m. 1954) in the presence of

Lord Todd's son, Sandy Todd, and the Master, as well as alumni and current members of the Boat Club. Lord Todd was Master at Christ's between

1963 and 1978 and during his time as Master he also served as President of the Boat Club. Dr. Hamied and the Boat Club thought it was fitting

therefore to name the latest Men's boat after him in honor of his achievements and contributions to the College and Boat Club. The Boat was used by

the M1 crew for the annual May Bumps in June, where we had a record 160 attendees (alumni, Fellows, staff and guests) in the Christ’s area cheering

on our boats!

On September 15, Christ’s boaties from a variety of vintages came together to row down the Cam in a gala regatta and enjoy a dinner in Hall

together with current Boat Club members. Christ’s alumnus Dr. Kieran West (m.1995) gave a speech and a toast to the Club, reflecting on his time at

Christ’s and the importance of his rowing experiences there in terms of his path to Olympic gold. It was a very special occasion and marked the

beginning of our campaign to raise funds for the College boat house redevelopment project.

We hope those of you on the West Coast of America had the opportunity to enjoy one of the performances by the Christ’s Choir tour this summer!

Don’t forget to keep up with all forthcoming alumni events here: www.christs.cam.ac.uk/alumni/events/forthcoming_alumni_events/Keep up with all the latest College news on our social media:

• @christs_college

• “Christ’s College” on Facebook

• “Christ’s College, University of Cambridge” official alumni Linked In group

CHURCHILL COLLEGEwww.churchillians.net

Professor Raymond Goldstein, Fellow of the College, was part of the Anglo-American team who have been awarded the Ig Nobel

Prize in Physics this year for their work on the complex mathematics that control the shape and movement of a human ponytail. The

22nd Ig Nobel Awards were awarded at Harvard at the end of September and are a spoof of the Nobel prizes. To find out more, the article which

appeared in the Guardian on September 21 can be found at www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/sep/21/ig-nobel-awards-dead-salmon.

Jeffrey Evans, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA, has been awarded an

Overseas Fellowship at Churchill for the 2012 Michaelmas and 2013 Lent terms. “I feel fortunate,” said Evans. “It's a great academic environment

with a powerful intellectual atmosphere." He will be in residence for six months at Cambridge during his sabbatical from Bucknell beginning September

24.

The College is pleased to be taking part in two joint collaborative events: “1972 Cambridge: Churchill, Clare, King’s and Lucy Cavendish –

A Celebration of the Admission of Female Undergraduates.” These Colleges pioneered the admission of female undergraduates in 1972. Churchill,

Clare and King's Colleges were the first all-male Colleges to accept female students and Lucy Cavendish, a graduate college at that time, accepted

their first intake of female undergraduates over the age of 21. We will be celebrating this 40th Anniversary with two events: the “1972: Gala” on

November 17 at Clare and King’s Colleges and “1972: Conversation” on April 20, 2013 here at Churchill and at Lucy Cavendish College. Full details

of this exciting collaboration can be found at www.1972cambridge.co.uk.

The College is pleased to announce that it has published four new books to add to its collection. The books available include:

• Canon Noel Duckworth: An Extraordinary Life by Michael Smyth (U67)

• Flying Roast Ducks: Recollections of Sir Hermann Bondi 1983 – 2005 by Paula Halson

• Graffiti: Artworks and Poems from Churchill College by John Kinsella

• New revised edition of Corbusier comes to Cambridge: post-war architecture and the competition to build Churchill Collegeby Mark Goldie

The books and other 50th Anniversary merchandise can be ordered from www.chu.cam.ac.uk.

CLARE COLLEGEwww.clarealumni.com

During this academic year, the College celebrates the 40th anniversary of the admission of women. Along with King’s and Churchill,

Clare was the pioneer among Cambridge colleges of this landmark moment in the University’s history. There will be various events

during the year which alumni are welcome to attend – please see the website for details.

Dr. Gillian Tett (1986) will be speaking at the Cambridge in America Day in San Francisco on 3 November. Gillian is a highly distinguished

journalist and currently Managing Editor of the Financial Times in New York.

The tenth anniversary of a scheme set up for Clare students to research at Massachusetts General Hospital was celebrated at the College in the

College News



summer with a dinner in Hall. Mark Poznansky (1986), Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has sponsored and worked with

Clare medics at his laboratory in Boston for the last decade and he attended the dinner along with many of the alumni of the scheme.

Another long-standing opportunity in the US for Clare students is still going strong

in the form of the JD Watson Scholarship. Set up by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sir

James Watson, a Clare student is able to carry out research at the Cold Spring Harbor

Institute near New York City each summer. Alexandra Batchelor (2nd year Natural

Scientist) was this year’s Watson Scholar and spent several weeks researching how

cocaine affects optimal decision making.

The Master and the Paul Mellon Professor of American History, Tony Badger, has

announced to the Governing Body that he will retire as Master in September 2014. He

was recently elected a Fellow of the Society of American Historians (founded 1939),

recognizing his literary distinction in the writing and publishing of history and biography.

He has written extensively on FDR and the New Deal as well as JFK and Martin Luther

King.

CLARE HALLwww.clarehall.cam.ac.uk

Easter term was marked by the visit of the Tanner Trustees in Cambridge.

The Tanner Trustees are all members of institutions which present annual

Tanner Lectures on Human Values. Those include Harvard, the University of Michigan,

Princeton, the University of California, Stanford, Yale, the University of Utah, the

University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge (represented by Clare Hall). In

collaboration with the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, we organized a series of events to

welcome these very special guests. A private dinner took place at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

The new exhibition, “The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China,” was

opened for the occasion. Guests were welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir

Leszek Borysiewicz, the President of Clare Hall, Sir Martin Harris, and the President of

the Fitzwilliam Museum, Timothy Potts.

Our next Tanner Lecturer will be Professor Joseph Leo Koerner from the Department

of Art History of Harvard. His lecture entitled “The Viennese Interior: Architecture &

Inwardness” will take place on Tuesday 13 November. The next day, four respondents

will comment on his lecture: Dr. Steven Beller, Edmund de Waal (author of The HareWith Amber Eyes), Dr. Irena Murray and Professor Peter Pulzer (Oxford).

Our annual Alumni Weekend took place on 21, 22 and 23 September. Highlights

included a concert of music for voice, violin and harpsichord by French composer

Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729), and a lecture by Fellow Professor Malcolm

Longair and Life Member Deborah Howard on “Recreating Lost Soundscapes: Music,

Architecture and Acoustics in Renaissance Venice.” A video of the lecture should shortly

be available on our website. We were thrilled to have with us US Life Members Professor Norman Hammond and Professor Evan Zimroth who

travelled to Cambridge especially for these events.

Music and art continue to thrive at Clare hall. In September, we had the opening of a retrospective exhibition of picture by Anthony Nicholson.

The “Intimate Engagements” chamber music series is entering its sixth season and we are looking forward to a French Piano Series by pianist Patrick

Hemmerlé at the beginning of October.

All of the activities described above enable our students and Visiting Fellows to benefit from an academically, culturally and socially enriching

time which would not be possible without the ongoing support from our Life Members, particularly those living in America. Once again, we would

like to extend a “Thank You” to all of you who continue to make the Clare Hall experience come alive.

CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGEwww.corpus.cam.ac.uk

The Development Office has undergone a radical change of staff in the past few weeks, with Francesca Watson moving on to a new

job at Newnham College, and Lucy Sparke on maternity leave looking after Alana Grace (who arrived mid-September). We now

have Rowena Bermingham as our new Development Officer and Robin Morton who is with us for a year. Both are recent graduates of other Cambridge

colleges and they have displayed amazing qualities of enthusiasm, assimilation and integration, already helping to organize the opening of the new

accommodation building at Leckhampton with the Chancellor (see photo), the MacCurdy Dinner (’86-’89) and a raft of other events and duties, all

within days of starting.

We are pleased to say Old Member and multi-award-winning garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith will be giving a guest lecture at the New York

Botanic Gardens at the end of January and would be delighted to meet any Corpuscles who wish to go. Details are on the College and Botanic Gardens

websites.

New Fellow Commoner Tim Walker, chief executive of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, will also be in New York when the orchestra performs

at Lincoln Center on 8 and 11 March 2013. Details on the LPO website. Tim will be our Fellow Commoner for a year and hopes to be involved in

the musical and academic life of the College while still performing the highly demanding roles of CEO and Artistic Director of the LPO.

Boston research alumni at Clare; the Master and Dr. Poznansky in back row

Tanner Trustees at Clare Hall: back row l – r: JohnHennessy (Stanford), Nick Brown (Linacre College, Oxford),

Robert Birgeneau (UC- Berkeley), Sandi Pershing, DavidPershing (University of Utah), Martin Harris (Clare Hall,

Cambridge), Dave Peterson, Stephen Tanner Irish, BarbaraHarris, Jennifer Falk, Mark Matheson, Ken Coleman, Mary

Sue Coleman (University of Michigan). Front row l – r:Andrea Hennessy, Teri Peterson, Mary Catherine

Birgeneau, Fred Quinn, Carolyn Tanner Irish, The Vice-Chancellor, The Chancellor, Charles Rosenberg, DrewGilpin Faust (Harvard), Shirley Tilghman (Princeton)



Other Corpus musicians Tarik O’Regan and Nicholas McGegan are busy on the music front in the US. Tarik

will be conducting the world premiere of his work Now Fatal Change at Trinity Church, Wall Street, NYC on

28 December, and then on 2 February 2013 he conducts another world premiere, this time of his work NightCity, at Vassar College. After that he will be performing in Texas at several venues. For more details, see his

website. Nic McGegan will be conducting a program of Haydn and Mozart with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s on

November 1 in NYC, before moving to California for a series of concerts, and on to Kansas City to conduct

Carl Orff’s ever-popular Carmina Burana.

We were very touched by the very warm welcome the Master, Bursar and the Right Honourable Sir Terence

Etherton received on their recent visit to Hong Kong. The aim of the visit was to celebrate the 40th anniversary

of the Nicholas Bacon Law Society and to meet Old Members. We hope this is the first of many visits to the

region.

Finally, we are absolutely delighted to draw to your attention the election of Dame Jacqueline Wilson, much

loved children’s author and former children’s laureate, as an Honorary Fellow of the College at the end of last

academic year. Dame Jacqueline will be admitted on October 3. The next edition of the Pelican will carry an

interview with her.

DARWIN COLLEGEwww.dar.cam.ac.uk

Professor Willy Brown, the 5th Master of Darwin College, retired from the Office on the last day

of September 2012 and he leaves with a fond farewell and our very best wishes for the future.

As, of course, is the nature of continuity in Cambridge, we immediately welcome the new Master, Professor

Mary Fowler, who will soon be broadly involved in the life of the College, and intends especially to become

involved with alumni/ae events and happenings. We hope that many of you will meet her in person soon.

Life in College has been hectic over the summer, particularly in the lead up to the change of Master. Willy

Brown had painstakingly to clear out his office and, after 12 years in post, had around 70 boxes of papers, books

and journals to decant ... not taking into account all the recycling bags he filled!

September saw a further major change in College, as Matthew Edwards joined us as Fellow and Domestic

Bursar. The appointment should allow Peter Brindle, our Bursar, to devote more time to Alumni and Development

matters in the lead up to the College’s 50th Anniversary Year in 2014-15.

And, of course, we have just matriculated the largest intake cohort yet – over 250 happy, excited ... maybe,

a little apprehensive ... new students!

The College is also busy with preparations for the 28th Darwin College Lecture Series that will run through

the Lent Term 2013. The series theme is “Foresight,” inspired by a BBC series on the same topic. The Lectures

are co-organized by Darwin alumnus and Junior Research Fellow Dr. David Feller. David arrived to take a PhD

at Darwin College in 2005, after a “first career” as an attorney in Hawaii. After two years of commuting to the

Pacific on term breaks, he realized he preferred the weather in Cambridge (!) and has lived here since. Perhaps

surprisingly, his PhD had a Darwin slant, not a legal one, and arose from his sideline as a dog breeder, which

prompted him to apply Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory to the development of dogs.

The Alumni Office has just redesigned the Alumni/ae E-Bulletin, and we have had some great feedback. If

you would like to sign up for this, please go to http://eepurl.com/pLzBH. We also have an active Facebook page where you can find many beautiful

pictures of the College and news of students, alumni/ae and Fellows: www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/facebook. We have even ventured onto Twitter:

www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/twitter. However, we do like to keep in touch, and it is always a pleasure to talk to you and to read your emails and letters,

so do keep in touch any way that suits you – our contact point is [email protected].

DOWNING COLLEGEwww.downingcambridge.com

Downing College Master Professor Barry Everitt and President Richard Stibbs made a visit to the United States in June. In

Charlottesville, Virginia, 18 former Thomas Jefferson Visiting Fellows attended a reception kindly hosted by Ellie and Richard Wilson.

Richard, Commonwealth Professor and Chair of the Department of Architectural History at University of Virginia, was the Thomas Jefferson Visiting

Fellow in 2007. The Thomas Jefferson Visiting Fellowship program between Downing and the University of Virginia has been running successfully

since 1978. We look forward to welcoming our new Virginia Fellow to Downing soon.

The Master and Senior Bursar Susan Lintott also held a dinner in New York at the Harvard Club with alumni in June. They brought an update

from Downing and a progress report on the Catalysis Campaign. They were delighted to see Sam Baker (2005), George Cross (1961), Peter (1997)

and Erin Forester, Felicity Gore (2006), Flemming Heilmann (1954), Eugene McCarthy (1954), Andrew O’Neill (1991), Maggie Pack and David

Wallis (1979).

In November 2012 the Senior Bursar Susan Lintott and Development Director Gabrielle Bennett will be in California and look forward to seeing

as many Downing alumni as possible. On October 30th Downing alumnus Howard Jacobson (1961, English) will be in New York publicizing his

new book with an event hosted by Cambridge in America.

As 116 new undergraduate matriculands arrive and Downing embarks on another academic year, the Catalysis Campaign will reach its halfway

point. The overall goal is £20 million. At the time of writing the Campaign has reached £9.8 million and will reach the £10 million mark shortly. The

The Chancellor, Lord Sainsbury, andthe Master, Stuart Laing, opening

the new accommodation building atLeckhampton, September 14

Professor Willy Brown



College is extremely grateful to all alumni donors who have gotten us to this important milestone.

We are always keen to hear from our US based alumni so please do stay in touch with news and updates at [email protected] or

+44 1223 334850. Also, should your travels bring you to Cambridge, please do come for a visit.

EMMANUEL COLLEGEwww.emma.cam.ac.uk

Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE, MA, MPhil, currently Director-General of the National Trust, became Master on 1 October in succession

to Lord Wilson of Dinton. She is on leave for 2012-2013. The Vice-Master, Dr. Richard Barnes, is acting as Master during that time,

and Lord Wilson of Dinton is assisting him, especially regarding the College’s relations with its Members and supporters.

The then Master, Lady Wilson, and Development Director were delighted to meet many Members and guests in Cambridge (MA), Boston, San

Francisco and Los Angeles in September. There were excellent turnouts from all generations. The Emmanuel Society is planning meetings in Boston,

New York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. If you would like to attend, or can help, please contact the Emmanuel Society

Office ([email protected]). To receive early notice of these meetings, please ensure the Office has your e-mail address; this will

also enable you to receive the College’s email newsletter, which is also available at www.emma.cam.ac.uk/collegelife/newsletter.

See also the Emmanuel in America group on Facebook, and follow us on http://twitter.com/EmmaCambridge.

The College’s connections with Harvard were celebrated in the UK in June with the annual Harvard Dinner in College. Amongst those present

were former scholars from Emmanuel to Harvard and vice-versa, and some of the scholars who are going to Harvard in September. The Master, Lord

Wilson of Dinton, gave the after-dinner speech. We are looking forward to welcoming more scholars from Harvard, Williams College and elsewhere

in the US to Emmanuel this academic year, and four of our recent graduates are embarking on Herchel Smith Scholarships at Harvard.

By the time you read this Newsletter, you should have received your copy of the Emmanuel Review. It shows the very welcome and generous

support of Members and friends in the USA to the New World Fund, and how these donations are being used. The Fund has made a substantial

contribution to the costs of refurbishing and extending the Library, and is acknowledged in glass on the ground floor. The plaque to John Harvard has

been moved into the building and we are always pleased to show it to you so do get in touch when you plan to visit.

Please let us know when you are next in the Cambridge area as it would be good to see you in College; a little warning to the Development Office

(+44-1223-330476; fax +44-1223-762793; e-mail [email protected]) is always helpful.

FITZWILLIAM COLLEGEwww.fitz.cam.ac.uk

It’s been a notable six months for Fitzwilliam Fellows, students and alumni. Professor Kevin

Brindle became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Professor David Cardwell

has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He also becomes the first director of the new

collaborative research center set up by the University of Cambridge and the King Abdulaziz City for Science

and Technology (KACST), in Saudi Arabia. The center will form the platform for cooperation in scientific

research, the transfer of technology and the training of postgraduate students and post-docs within the two

institutions.

This year, Fitzwilliam students achieved their highest ever Tripos results, with at least one First in each of

22 different subjects and many outstanding individual achievements at all levels. Congratulations to all our

students, supervisors and Directors of Studies!

Congratulations are also in order to two notable legal alumni. Dean Spielmann (LLM 1989) has been elected

vice-president of the European Court of Human Rights and Sarah Asplin QC (Law 1979), the first female Fitzwilliam Law graduate to take silk, has

been appointed a justice of the High Court. In College, Fellow and Director of Studies Nicola Padfield becomes Reader in Law, and new Law Fellow

Ms. Niamh Dunne joins Fitzwilliam to strengthen our provision. The College is now planning the launch of a campaign to support teaching in Law.

One of our current students – and Siren – Alice Higgins organized a Choir tour for twenty-eight singers to Canada and America in July. Fellow

(and alumnus) Dr. James Aitken ([email protected]) will be in Chicago at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting, 16-20 November. James

is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity, and welcomes contact with alumni.

Alumni in the US may have heard that the Master will be retiring on 30 September 2013, after eight years in post – he first joined Fitzwilliam as

a Fellow in 1973. Professor Lethbridge said: “September 2013 still seems a long way off! I hope that, during my final year, I will have the opportunity

to say au revoir to many alumni. A handsome new book, Fitzwilliam: The First 150 Years of a Cambridge College, will be published in September

2013, and I urge you to subscribe.”

The Master will be in San Francisco, 1-6 November (Board of Directors of Cambridge in America); in Seattle, 30 November – 3 December

(Trustees of Gates Cambridge); in Washington DC, 30 January – 3 February 2013; and in New York City in June next year. He welcomes the opportunity

to arrange meetings with alumni, who should contact Dr. Helen Bettinson, Development Director, in the first instance.

GIRTON COLLEGEwww.girton.cam.ac.uk

In March this year, we launched our new fundraising campaign, A Great Campaign, with the aim of doing three things by the College’s

150th Anniversary in 2019: increase the funds available for teaching, rationalize the College’s estate, and secure a sustainable financial

future for the College. A key part of our strategy for the College’s estate is to build a new wing at Ash Court. Construction of this 50-room wing is

now in progress (see picture) – when completed, it will provide excellent rooms for students during the academic year, and, outside of term, will



enable us to attract a higher grade of residential conference business. The new wing will also incorporate

a gym, erg room, the rebuilt swimming pool, and the refurbished squash court. Support for this project,

and for the other areas of A Great Campaign, is greatly appreciated, and if you are interested in obtaining

more details, please do get in touch with the Development Office.

In August this year, Girton Fellow in Economics Dr. Kamiar Mohaddes visited Washington DC, and

enjoyed meeting Girtonians based there at a drinks reception at the Cosmos Club, which was kindly hosted

by Professor Angela Stent. At the time of writing, the Mistress is about to head to the USA, accompanied

by the College’s new Development Director, Elizabeth Wade. They are very much looking forward to

meeting alumni and friends of the College in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

Finally, thank you again to all our donors and supporters, and please do remember that if you happen

to visit the UK, you are most welcome to call into Girton. If you let the Development Office know in

advance we can usually provide tea/coffee, or lunch!

GONVILLE & CAIUS COLLEGEwww.cai.cam.ac.uk

On October 1st, at the beginning of the new academic year, Professor Sir Alan Fersht (Caius

1962) became the 43rd Master of Gonville & Caius College. He is however only the 42nd

holder of the post, as Thomas Batchcroft, the Grover Cleveland of Caius Masters, was deposed by

Parliamentarian factions following the execution of the Charles I in 1649, only to be restored to the

Mastership in 1660, at the age of 88. (Sadly, Batchcroft’s second term didn't last a year).

By the time this newsletter reaches your mailboxes, all US Caians will already have had the opportunity

to meet Sir Alan as he visits New York at the end of October with the Director of Development, Dr. Anne

Lyon, and the Deputy Director of Development, James Howell.

In May, Sir Douglas Myers (1958), the College’s most generous living donor, unveiled a new memorial

commemorating the greatest benefactors to the College since its foundation in 1348. The green slate

monument, commissioned from the renowned Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge, is headed by the three

founders of the College, Edmund Gonville, William Bateman, his Bishop, and John Caius who re-founded

the College in 1558. Below them are the names of our most significant supporters from every century of

the College’s history. At the other end of the list are donors from this century, including Rita Cavonius

from Quincy, Massachusetts, who named the conference center in the Stephen Hawking Building for her

late husband Dick, who had been a visiting scholar at Caius. Since the completion of the wall, the names of Shirley and Christopher Bailey have been

added to it, in recognition of their most recent donation. The Wall still has space for future benefactors, as many as are already there, so quite possibly

for the next 664 years!

Our annual telephone campaign in March raised £642,727, almost exactly $1 million. This is not only a record for Caius, but probably represents

the best ever performance by an Oxbridge College, during a two-week telephone campaign over the Easter Vacation. It is also the eighth year in

succession that our telephone campaign has raised over £400,000 ($600,000). We are grateful to many of you for your generous support.

We are always delighted to welcome our US alumni back to their College and hope to see many of you here during the coming year. For further

information, please contact the Development Office (+44 1223 339676 or [email protected]).

HOMERTON COLLEGEwww.homerton.cam.ac.uk

Homerton has gone through many changes since the arrival of Dr. Kate Pretty as Principal in 1991. She has been instrumental in the

complete rebuilding and refurbishment of the College, adding six new large buildings, including the new Library, the Mary Allan

Building and four new halls of residence. As well as presiding over a program of academic diversification, gaining us full College status in the

University and with it our Royal Charter, she has held down such senior posts in the University as Head of School, Head of Faculty, and of course as

a Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Kate has recently announced that this year will be her last at Homerton, so the search is on for a new Principal. Her legacy to

both Homerton and Cambridge is prodigious, but she has asked that her parting gift should be a fund for graduate students. This is an area of great

need; almost no public funds are available for our brightest graduates wanting to go on to do a Masters or Ph.D. Many of our former students have

fond memories of Kate and we are confident they will want to support her in this aim. Her departure marks the end of 22 years of hectic and devoted

service; she has secured the future of Homerton in Cambridge, for which we are all deeply grateful. In the next Newsletter we hope to able to report

on her successor.

One of her more recent creations, to mark our coming of age in March 2010, was the Charter Choir. Homerton offers small Choral Scholarships

and more recently an Organ Scholarship. This year, for the first time, Homerton Charter Choir went on tour. A week-long trip to the Alsace involved

performances in several different venues: a rural chapel in the Vosges mountains (Obersteigen), a former Benedictine abbey in the countryside

(Marmoutier), and two Protestant churches in the region’s historic capital city, Strasbourg (St.-Pierre-le-Jeune and St.-Matthieu). The Choir also sang

at the Sunday morning Eucharist at Strasbourg’s Anglican parish, St. Alban’s. The tour was a huge success. Their performances were gratefully

received, with impressive turnouts both in town and country venues. The Choir was given a chance to bond socially over a number of days; this has

not only forged many friendships but also means that they will feel a more cohesive unit on their return to Homerton. Closer to home, the Charter

Choir performs regularly at St. John the Evangelist parish church on the other side of Hills Road, but is essentially a secular choir and sings a varied

repertoire. A future tour of the USA is not out of the question.

Ash Court under construction.

Benefactors Wall in the Great Gate



HUGHES HALLwww.hughes.cam.ac.uk/development

During March, President Sarah Squire made her annual trip to the USA, hosting reunions

in Los Angeles and San Francisco. She greatly enjoyed reconnecting with the College’s

American alumni, and hearing their stories and memories of Hughes Hall. On her return journey, the

President held a gathering for alumni in New York, and again was delighted by the turnout and the

opportunity to strengthen the College’s US friendships.

Several of our Research Fellows have recently moved on to the next stages of their careers in America.

Dr. Rafael Dinner has taken up a position with Areté Associates in the greater Los Angeles area. Dr. Sovan

Sarkar is now a post-doctoral associate at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at the "other"

Cambridge in Massachusetts, while Dr. Sohini Chakrabortee is also at the Whitehead Institute working

on the role of intrinsically disordered proteins during stress. Hughes Hall Fellow Dr. Mark Turin, who

directs the World Oral Literature Project and the Digital Himalaya Project, is also an associate research

scientist at Yale.

In sporting news Hughes Hall Boat Club was pleased to have on board Americans Jack Lindeman

(BA Anglo Saxon Norse and Celtic) and Niles Garratt (BA History) who represented Cambridge in the annual Boat Race. Two more American students

hoping to make it into Cambridge University Boat Club this year are Rosemary Ostfeld (MPhil Environmental Policy) trialling to be a Cox and Robert

Otto (MPhil Nuclear Energy) trialling to be an Oarsman – good luck to them both!

The Development Office has been very lucky this summer to have had the help of American alumnus and former MCR President Jeff Cook (1983,

LLM) who devoted his time to volunteer with us in our efforts to search for lost alumni. Jeff focused on reconnecting with his year group from 1983-

84 and responses came from as far afield as India and Pakistan, bringing back some happy memories. Jeff also spent his time living his dream of

coaching on the Cam with Trinity Hall Boat Club.

We are delighted that Hughes Hall 1885-2010, written by Honorary Fellow Prof Ged Martin, has won an award this year from the Cambridgeshire

Association for Local History. If you are interested in purchasing a copy visit www.hughes.cam.ac.uk/bookHughes Hall is always pleased to hear news from our US alumni and to welcome them back to College at any time. If you are planning on visiting

or are interested in helping the College by hosting an event in the US then please contact [email protected].

JESUS COLLEGEwww.jesus.cam.ac.uk

We were delighted (and not a little relieved) that the works to Chapel Court were

completed on time at the end of September, one week before the start of the new academic

year. Over 100 first-year undergraduates are currently in residence there and enjoying the much-improved

facilities and, as the weather turns colder, insulation. Thanks to the hard work of our gardeners in

particular, it is now hard to believe that such a major building project, involving so much disruption, ever

took place.

However, work never stops on the cycle of maintenance and refurbishment of our College buildings.

We are now turning our attention to the fragile state of the Chapel’s stained glass windows. These are

currently being removed one at a time and worked on by specialist conservators offsite at their workshops.

It is not only the glass and lead of the windows which needs attention; much of their surrounding

stonework has crumbled and threatens to collapse. Newly-carved sections are therefore being inserted to

replace the old.

After a hugely successful tour of the east coast in December 2010 (see www.jesuscollegechoir.com/site/performances/tours/america_2010),

the Jesus College Choirs will be returning to the United States in December 2012. This time they will cover the western side with performances in

Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. The Choir have recently released a new Christmas album directed by Mark Williams, Journey into Light, which

is available through the Development Office.

If you would like to be kept informed of the dates and venues for the West Coast concerts please contact: [email protected]

KINGS COLLEGEwww.kingsmembers.org

From Julie Bressor, Fellow and Director of Development:

Many thanks to all of you who supported our two telephone campaigns this year. A news article has been posted on the Members and

Friends website (www.kingsmembers.org) with details, which include the following facts: 18 student callers had 958 conversations, worked 3

overnight shifts, drank 1,449 coffees, dialed 11,355 numbers, ate 143 chocolate bars, received 938 donations and raised £323,000 in support of students

at King's. We very much appreciate the time and consideration you offered to the callers.

We have been delighted to see so many of our US NRM's returning for anniversary, reunion and subject events, and a notable number of Friends

have joined us for the Easter Festival and other special events in the past few months. Do let us know when you are visiting College, or need a Member

or a Friend card; we are happy to help with arrangements. And do let us know when you move or change your e-mail address, so we can stay in touch

with you. We will soon be asking you to identify your postal and e-mail address preferences, in order to send you the information from the College

that interests you in the format you prefer (postal vs. email, etc).

In April 2013, the Choir of King's College will be touring the US; stops include Chicago (April 3), St. Paul, Minnesota (April 4), Philadelphia

Alumni and the President, Palo Alto: HamishHughes, Stefano Orowitsch, President Sarah

Squire, Clare Brown and Zarco Matetin

Chapel Court, Jesus College



(April 6) and Washington, D.C. (April 7). We expect to host events in each city, in partnership with the British Embassy and consulates and Cambridge

in America. The Provost, Ross Harrison, and several Fellows will join each of the events planned around the tour.

Keith Carne, the First Bursar, will join me for visits and small get-togethers in Boston, Washington and New York in December. This will be

Keith’s first visit to the States since he was a graduate student at Princeton! We look forward to seeing NRM's and Friends in these areas.

In other news, Professor Michael Proctor FRS is the Provost-elect of the College, to take office following the retirement of Ross Harrison at the

end of July 2013. Michael Proctor came to Trinity College in 1968 to read Mathematics. After Part II he spent a year in MIT as a Kennedy Scholar,

returning to Cambridge to complete his PhD. He served as an Assistant Professor at MIT for two years, and in 1977 became a lecturer in the Department

of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and a teaching Fellow at Trinity College. Mike presently holds the Chair of Astrophysical Fluid

Dynamics and researches and lectures in the Mathematics Faculty and directs studies and supervises at Trinity College. Most recently he served as

Vice-Master of Trinity (2006-2012).

We look forward to hearing from you; e-mail [email protected] or phone +44 (0) 1223 331313.

LUCY CAVENDISH COLLEGEwww.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk

The College was delighted to host its first-ever Alumni Reunion Dinner on Friday 21st

September as part of the University wide Alumni Weekend. The evening was a great

success and was enjoyed by many College alumnae and Fellows, who were very pleased to be joined by

Dame Anne Warburton, the 4th President of the College. On Saturday 22nd September the College hosted

a concert by Gülsin Onay, member of the Lucy Cavendish Combination Room. Originally from Turkey,

Gülsin Onay, is a world-renowned concert pianist whose career has spanned over 68 countries across all

continents, from Venezuela to Japan. Gülsin played pieces by Chopin, Beethoven, Haydn and Turkish

composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun. The concert was followed by a Turkish buffet in her honor.

American criminologist Dr. Tiffany Bergin, the Sutasoma Research Fellow at Lucy Cavendish

College, and Dr. Emmanuela Orlando, the Isaac Newton-Dorothy Emmet Research Fellow at Lucy

Cavendish, have run a conference at Lucy Cavendish on the weekend of 15th-16th September. The

international conference, “Linking Green Criminology with Law: A Socio-Legal Approach to

Environmental Crimes,” addressed topics including “A Green Perspective for Criminology: Some

Thoughts on Ecocide” and “Climate Change and Environmental Harms.” Dr. Bergin and Dr. Orlando are

currently writing up the conference for the Modern Law Review, which supported the Conference. Before

coming to study in Cambridge, Dr. Bergin was at Princeton where she earned an AB with highest honors

in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

One of the prestigious Pilkington Teaching Prizes, recognizing excellence in teaching at the University,

was awarded to Dr. Sue Brindley, a Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College and a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education. From her appointment as

co-ordinator for the English PGCE, taking it from an Ofsted grade 3 to an “Outstanding” in less than a year, Sue Brindley has been noted for her

energy, vision and intellectual leadership.

In the last academic year Lily Huang was awarded the Marie Lawrence Prize for First Class Results in Part IB Medical & Veterinary Sciences.

Lily was born in China but her primary citizenship is now the United States. Before coming over to the UK in 2006, Lily had been at Massachusetts

Institute of Technology (MIT).

The College wishes to congratulate Dr. Hong Jin, Ethel Cruickshank Research Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, who has been appointed as

tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-

Champaign in the United States. Dr. Jin will commence her new position in January 2013.We were delighted to welcome back Dr. Barbara Wittman

(1975) who returned to Lucy Cavendish College as a Visiting Scholar on six months sabbatical leave from teaching at the University of Akron in

Ohio (January to July, 2012). Barbara commented on the expansion of the college facilities: “In comparison to our original college facilities, all the

building in the past fifteen years to accommodate an increased student population exceeded all of my expectations.”

MAGDALENE COLLEGEwww.magdalenecambridge.com

Duncan Robinson, Master. CBE, FSA, DL, writes: “The entire Magdalene community

rejoices at the award of the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine to our former Master

and Honorary Fellow, Professor Sir John Gurdon, FRS. His pioneering work in the field of stem cell

research, which began in the 1960s with a series of experiments in the cloning of frogs, has long been

recognized by scientific awards from all over the world. Today he remains as research-active as ever,

often dining at High Table after a day’s work in the Wellcome/CRC Institute for Cell Biology and Cancer

which he helped to establish in Cambridge, and which was named the Gurdon Institute in his honor in

2004. For those of us privileged to know John as a colleague and a friend, it is especially gratifying that

someone who carries his distinction so lightly, and so often with a self-deprecating smile, should be given

the highest international accolade of all. On behalf of the whole College, I salute our Nobel laureate.”

See page 19 of this Newsletter for an appreciation of the work of John Gurdon, written by Magdalene

Fellow Prof. Peter Grubb.

We are delighted to welcome a number of graduate students from the United States. Mr. Vittorio De’

Medici-Rodrigues from George Washington University is taking an MPhil in Politics; Mr. Michael Mager

Dr. Emmanuela Orlando (left) and Dr. TiffanyBergin (right)

Professor Sir John Gurdon with fellow Nobellaureate Nelson Mandela (Honorary Fellow,

2000) at his admission ceremony inMagdalene on 2nd May 2001



is joining the College from Harvard to read for an MPhil in Economic and Social History; Ms. Courtney Sato, from Wellesley College, is pursuing an

MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies; and Mr. Michael Sugarman, from the University of California Los Angeles, has joined Magdalene as an MPhil

in Historical Studies. We also welcome Dr. John O. Ifediora as a part–time graduate student in the Faculty of Divinity focusing on Jewish – Christian

Relations.

By the time you read this the Master’s “Farewell Tour” to America will have taken place. Please look out for Magdalene E-Matters at the beginning

of Lent and Easter terms for details regarding our first visit with the new Master during 2013. If you currently don’t receive E-Matters then we don’t

have your email address; please contact [email protected] to update your details.

MURRAY EDWARDS COLLEGEwww.murrayedwards.com

At the beginning of July, the College announced that our President, Dr.

Jennifer Barnes, had decided to resign as President of the College in order

to concentrate on her current leadership role within the University as Pro-Vice-Chancellor

for International Strategy and as a Deputy Vice-Chancellor. The Governing Body of the

College has now begun the search for a new Head of House, to begin at the start of the

2013-14 academic year. In the meantime, Professor Ruth Lynden-Bell will continue as

Acting President.

We were able to celebrate an excellent set of academic results from our finalists this

year, with 93% of them achieving a First or 2:1. There were also some exceptional

performances in a number of individual cases and subjects: 5 out of 7 History finalists

achieved a First; half of our PPS finalists achieved a First; all 3 finalists in Natural Sciences

(Experimental and Theoretical Physics) achieved a First, and half of our Master of

Engineering students achieved a Distinction.

It has also been a busy summer for our alumnae. Over 90 guests joined us in July for our annual New Hall Society Family Day, for alumnae and

their young children or grandchildren. Although the weather was not very favorable, this didn't dampen spirits and everyone had a great time. Activities

included making torches and medals in our Olympics-themed arts and crafts, creating volcanoes and slime in a fun science class, planting flowers to

take home, and learning Chinese. There was also a fantastic magic show performed by William Bearcroft, son of alumna Sandra Bearcroft (née

Kulkarni, 1982), a talented member of the Young Magicians Club. We are already looking forward to next year's event!

In September, we once again welcomed our alumnae back to College for our annual Alumnae Weekend. Guests from a number of Colleges joined

us for a fascinating talk from our Fellow in Slavonic Studies, Dr. Rachel Polonsky, about her book Molotov’s Magic Lantern: Travels in RussianHistory. Our Alumnae Dinner was very well attended, and we were particularly delighted to welcome back groups from 1969 (who were celebrating

40 years since graduation), 1972, 1982, 1992 and 2002.

In the next few months we will be launching our brand new Law Network, for all alumnae, students and Fellows who studied or taught law, and

those who became lawyers subsequently. Our Acting President and Director of Development are planning to visit the East Coast of the US early in

2013 and hope to hold a number of events and meet with many of our alumnae while they are there.

NEWNHAM COLLEGEwww.newn.cam.ac.uk

From Penny Hubbard, Development Director:

We were delighted to welcome Professor Dame Carol Black, FRCP, FMedSci as new

Principal of Newnham College.

Dame Carol holds an eminent position in the world of healthcare. President of the Royal College of

Physicians from 2002 to 2006, she then became Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, a

charity representing all the medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Great Britain and Ireland, a post she

held until 2009. She has also been Chair of the Nuffield Trust for Research and Policy Studies in Health

Services since 2006. In 2011 she completed a five-year appointment as the National Director for Health

and Work, whose task was to provide a new cross-government Health Work and Well-being agenda. Her

independent review Working for a Healthier Tomorrow (2008) received broad cross-party support and

most of its recommendations have been implemented. She has published a second independent review

covering sickness absence, entitled Health at Work.

Dame Carol read History at Bristol University before switching to Medicine. She went on to be a

practicing clinician. Under her guidance as Head of Rheumatology, the Royal Free Hospital became a

leading center for the treatment of connective tissue disease and scleroderma.

Dr. Catherine Seville, Vice Principal, says: “Dame Carol offers the College a wealth of influential

experience in guiding institutions in changing environments. We are excited by the inspired, practical

leadership and supportive approach she has shown in her career to date and believe this will transmit

extremely well to Newnham at a time of radical changes in the higher education sector. As one of Great

Britain’s most highly regarded public figures in healthcare and science she is a role model for talented

young women to aim high and to grasp the opportunities that coming to Newnham will offer them.”

Dame Carol says: “I am honored to have been chosen to work with Newnham, a College which holds

an iconic and pioneering place in women’s education. Its distinguished fellowship and dedication to

New Hall Society Family Day at Murray Edwards

The Principal, Professor Dame Carol Black



encouraging and supporting talented young women provides a vital role in an outstanding university. Mentoring young women and preparing them

for the particular challenges they face as they progress through life is something which is close to my heart and which I very much look forward to

continuing.”

Dame Carol has already met Elizabeth Cropper (NC 1963) and Heather Wolfe (NC 1993) of the US Alumnae Committee when she visited

Washington and is very much looking forward to meeting the US Alumnae on the West Coast on 24th February 2013. We are very grateful to Audrey

Richards (NC 1959) who is hosting dinner in her lovely home in Berkeley. Details will be issued later in the autumn; please put the date in your diary.

We also hope to see many of you at the first-ever Newnham Ball being held especially for alumnae, at the College, on 21st June 2013. Please let

us know if you have not received your invitation; details and on-line booking at www.newn.cam.ac.uk/after-newnham/events

PEMBROKE COLLEGEwww.pem.cam.ac.uk

In the Spring Newsletter we were delighted to announce that Pembroke had surpassed its Excellence in Perpetuity campaign target of

£25 million. By the time the campaign drew to a close on 30 June, this figure had risen to £29.05 million. Pembroke could not have

achieved this magnificent total without the support of our American alumni and the College would like to reiterate its thanks to you. Please keep an

eye out for e-mail communications from Senior Fellows over the coming months offering feedback into how this money will benefit and already is

benefiting the College, its students and its academic staff. However, the British higher education system is undergoing a period of flux and Pembroke

needs to face these challenges head on. As well as helping undergraduate students we need to improve our support for graduate students. We will also

be focusing on raising our participation rate from 17% (good for the UK) towards a much healthier 30%.

It has been far too long since Pembroke held a Members’ event in the US and we are pleased to announce that we will be holding a drinks party

in New York (venue tbc) on December 5, hosted by the Master. Sir Richard Dearlove will be accompanied by our Deputy Development Director,

Nami Morris, who recently joined us from Clare Hall. Hopefully a number of the twenty new American students who started this Michaelmas will

also be able to attend. This is the first in what we hope will be a far more regular program of US Member events. We are committed to reinvigorating

our contact with you and will endeavor to visit the US every year.

In the first half of July 2013 the College Choir will be traveling to Boston, New York, and Newport, which will coincide with the 350th anniversary

celebrations of Rhode Island’s Colonial Charter. Watch out for more details via email and on Pembroke’s recently redesigned website

(www.pem.cam.ac.uk) as events are confirmed. If you have not already supplied us with your email address, please send it to

[email protected] to be kept up to date with this and other College news.

Finally, we would like to congratulate Stephen Greenblatt (1964), John Cogan Professor of the Humanities at Harvard, on his Pulitzer Prize for

General Nonfiction, awarded earlier this year for his book The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (W.W. Norton & Co.).

PETERHOUSEwww.pet.cam.ac.uk

Work is about to start in earnest on the Whittle Building in Gisborne Court. Earlier in the summer all the plumbing going to the Birdwood

was redirected, the trees and shrubs that had screened the Birdwood were moved to temporary holding beds behind the William Stone

Building, an old oil tank in the ground beside Fen Court was removed (fortunately a soil test indicated that it had not leaked so there was no need to

remove the soil as well), and the wall at the back of the College was prepared for dismantling. The actual building work has been slightly delayed

because the plans for the tunnel under the building needed modification to take into account the new, larger, fire engines! Contractors are putting up

a large wooden fence across the lower end of Gisborne Court, behind which the new building will arise. We hope that it will be possible to install a

webcam or at least to post regular pictures on the website to show the building’s progress. The College still needs more funds to pay for the building

without depleting the endowment. A number of US-based Petreans have already generously supported the naming of the William Brewster Room. If

you have not done so yet, this is your chance to be permanently associated with the College – so don’t be surprised to receive a call from Saskia Murk

Jansen (the Development Director)!

QUEENS COLLEGEwww.queens.cam.ac.uk

From Dr. Diana M. Henderson, Fellow and Director of Development:

The Queen Mother’s personal standard is flying from the roof of Old Court, the sun is reflecting off the Cam, there is an autumn chill

in the air, so, it must be the beginning of the Michaelmas term!

We welcome 143 new undergraduates and an incredible 200 new graduate students to the College; matriculation is completed, official photographs

have been taken and studies are underway. As you can imagine the College is a hive of activity.

I am delighted to report that we received in funds raised £1.3 million in 2011-2012 with some US$ 6 million currently under negotiation. In

support of our “Forging the Future 575 Campaign” and as a result of very generous donations from Hong Kong and Canada we have funded the

Munro-Greaves Bursary in Pure Mathematics and the Professor Ajit Singh Bursary in Economics. These and other awards will attract top students to

Queens’.

You should all by now have received your personal copy of the 2012-2013 Events & Services Guide. (An on-line version is available at

www.quns.cam.ac.uk/alumni/2012/2013-events). We will host 150 Members and guests to Academic Saturday in October and especially welcome

will be Steven DeWolf from Dallas, Texas who has kindly agreed to give one of the lectures which he has entitled, “Tilting at Windmills: Wind Power

in the Twenty-First Century”.

Anniversary Dinners this term will be held for the matriculants of 1982, 1992 and 1972 and at these we have the pleasure of the company of at



least three Members from the US. In the autumn Dr. Peter Mercer (1976), president of Ramapo College, NJ, called in to see us. His visit was very

welcome and as I am sure you know you do not need a specific invitation to come back to Queens’; we are always pleased to see you.

Thank you for your support and encouragement. Do wander around the Alumni pages of the College web site when you have a moment; it is a

great way of keeping in touch; look out for the regular updates on the final stages of the Round Project.

Floreat Domus!

ROBINSON COLLEGEwww.robinson.cam.ac.uk

As the academic year begins afresh, we are looking forward to another full program of events for alumni, their families and friends of

the College. The events range from our traditional Christmas concert on going-down weekend, when the Warden and Fellows also

entertain the Freshers and their parents to lunch in Hall, to dinners and gatherings in Hong Kong, London and Cambridge. Full details can be seen on

the College website at www.robinson.cam.ac.uk/alumninews. We hope that any US-based alumni who are travelling to any of the areas where we

are holding events would like to join us; we would greatly enjoy catching up with you. Please don’t hesitate to contact the Development Office if you

have any questions, or if you would like to host an event in your region.

Looking back over the summer, we would like to thank everyone who took time to speak with one of the current students undertaking our annual

telephone calling program. The students greatly enjoyed speaking to alumni and updating them on College life today and asking for their gifts to help

the College support current and future students. If you still intend to make a gift following such a call, we would be delighted to receive it. For US

tax-payers, gifts may be made to Cambridge in America with a request that the gift be directed to Robinson College at www.cantab.org or, for non-

US-taxpayers, directly to the College at www.robinson.cam.ac.uk/donate. This year’s campaign has raised US $135,000 to date, with some pledged

gifts still coming in and adding to that total. Thank you to all our donors!

Contacts: e-mail to [email protected]; telephone +44 (0)1223 339036.

ST. CATHARINES COLLEGEwww.caths.cam.ac.uk

From Deborah Loveluck (2007), Fellow and Development Director:

Many of you share our affection and vision for St. Catharine's and I am delighted to say

that together we have raised £2.5 million for the College this year. This will be invaluable in securing the

future for all who live and study here. I extend the warmest of thanks from the Master, Fellows and

students for your generosity. These gifts now bring the St. Catharine's Campaign total, including the

Annual Fund, to £17 million.

Of course, much of our recent fundraising has been conducted in aid of the College's newest building,

which is to be called the McGrath Centre. I am particularly humbled by your unswerving support of the

construction of the McGrath Centre. The project is now fully funded, entirely through gifts from our

Members and Friends. Thank you very much indeed. Named in recognition of the major contribution that

Harvey McGrath (1971, Geography) has made to St. Catharine's, it will be at the heart of College life,

providing the long-needed public rooms we have hitherto lacked for lectures, concerts, performances and

supervisions, as well as a new JCR and bar.

Another year of academic success and sporting success in College was aptly rounded off on the

morning of 3 August when George Nash (2008, Engineering) won a bronze medal for rowing in the

Olympics.

Professor Sir John Baker and I will be visiting the U.S. in early December this year. There will be two events on the East Coast:

• Monday, 3 December, Boston – a supper evening hosted by Mr. Michael Davies (1979, Engineering)

• Wednesday, 5 December, New York – a supper evening hosted by Mr. Christopher Jones (1979, History)

If you wish to attend either of these occasion RSVP to Harriet Colley ([email protected] +44 1223 338337). Partners are warmly welcome

at both events.

Our biannual year-group reunions continue to be a huge draw and we look forward to welcoming more of you back in 2013 (6 April for 1972-

1974 and 28 September for 1990-1992). Further information can be found in the Events section of the College website (www.caths.cam.ac.uk/events)

If you are planning a visit, please do let us know and call into the Alumni and Development Office: we are located in A1, next to the Porters'

Lodge. In the meantime, if you feel you need anything, please contact the Alumni & Development Office by telephone (+44 1223 338337) or email

[email protected]; we will be happy to help you.

ST. EDMUNDS COLLEGEwww.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk

From Katharine Cantell, Development Officer:

With a further 19 US students joining the College this year, we now have a total of 61 Americans studying at St. Edmund’s. We are

also pleased to welcome back one of our alumni, James Friedman (PhD, Philosophy, 1970) as a Visiting Scholar this term.

To update you on life here at the College, we have undertaken some major structural work over the summer, with the extensive refurbishment

of the Norfolk Building, together with the renovation and extension of the White Cottage. The Von Hügel Institute has moved into refurbished



office space in the Norfolk Building and the White Cottage will be used for additional

student accommodation.

We remain indebted to all the St. Edmund’s alumni and friends who continue to

support the College through their advice and help, or through a gift to the College. We

extend our warmest thanks to you all for your support and interest in St. Edmund’s

and its future. Generous donations from our alumni have enabled the College to assist

many students through the Annual Student Support Fund, in the form of travel grants

and student support awards together with a number of new initiatives, such as granting

Dean’s Awards to students in recognition of exceptional service to the College

community. The Student Support Fund has also been used to provide pastoral care and

practical help to students, such as a workshop to provide advice on technical thesis

writing. The American Alumni awards for 2011/12 of £1000 each were made to

Shidharth Ram and Bridget Senior to assist with research trips and projects in the USA.

If you should find yourselves in the UK, we do hope your schedule will give you time for a return trip to Cambridge and St. Edmund’s. We

recently celebrated the annual Alumni Dinner, at which we were entertained by a speech from one of our US alumni, the author G.M. Malliet.

Over the coming months there will be several events in London and at the College at which alumni are especially welcome. These include the

College Guest Night on 7 December and the College Quiz Night on 19 January. Details of forthcoming alumni events are listed on the College

website and you can also stay in touch with College news via Facebook, LinkedIn and regular e-bulletins.

We would love to hear your news. If you have any comments or questions, or your contact details change, please do contact the Alumni and

Development Office on [email protected].

ST. JOHNS COLLEGEwww.joh.cam.ac.uk

The conclusion of our £50 million Campaign (to our knowledge the most successful single fundraising drive of any Oxbridge

college) was not, of course, an end to our fundraising plans. The need for more resources to support our students, maintain

academic standards, steward our historic buildings and strengthen the endowment is starker than ever, and we hope our Development Programme

will continue to draw the support of Johnians around the globe. We are much encouraged by the results of this year’s Telethon, with almost

£300,000 being raised and 68% of those spoken to making a gift. This includes a significant number of donations from the US. One of the key

goals of the Development Programme is to increase participation rates from the current level of around 20%. Johnians in the US continue to

show the way in this respect, with over 27% having made a gift. We remain grateful for this wonderful generosity and loyalty.

The questionable British summer has not deterred Johnians from attending events in droves. Those who attended the Larmor Award Dinner

in July were treated to a (drizzly) early morning viewing of the Olympic Torch as it was punted along the River Cam through College.

After two years of excavations and renovations the Divinity School opened in October. The complex is a new home for the Admissions

Office as well as containing a purpose-built auditorium. You can find out more about this project in the forthcoming Johnian News.

You can also follow us on Twitter, @stjohnscam, as well as on Facebook. Make sure we have your correct email address so that we can stay

in touch with you and ensure you receive our monthly e-newsletter.

SELWYN COLLEGEwww.sel.cam.ac.uk

From Sarah Harmer, Development Director:

Since our last update in the spring, Selwyn has made two fantastic trips to the US. In July, the Selwyn Choir toured the East Coast

for ten days. They had a wonderful time, and would like to thank all of the alumni and friends who came out to support and welcome them. You

can read more about their trip from Selwyn’s Director of Music, Sarah MacDonald, on page 3.

Then in September, the Master and I spent a week in New York City, and were delighted to meet many alumni during our time there. The

highlight of the trip was a walking tour of the High Line led by Dave Richards (1967), who is a partner at McCarter & English LLP and handled

the transfer of the park rights from CSX Transportation to the City of New York. He

gave Selwyn alumni a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the High Line, which all

thoroughly enjoyed. After the tour, alumni gathered for cocktails and canapés at a local

restaurant. Following on from the event, Selwyn alumni in the New York area are

hoping to start organizing regular informal gatherings; If you are interested in joining

them or hearing about potential meetings, please do be in touch with the Development

Office.

Closer to home, I am delighted to be able to announce that the refurbishment of

Cripps Court has started. The work, which will commence two or three staircases at a

time and started at the end of August, will completely redevelop the inside of the court

and make all rooms en-suite. An extra floor will also be added, giving the College

another 50 student rooms. Scaffolding is up and the builders are in the process of

refurbishing M and N staircase. The work on M and N is due to be finished in March,

when the builders will move on to J, K and L. If you want to follow the progress of

the building works, please do join us on Facebook where we will be posting regular

updates (www.facebook.com/Selwyn.College.Cambridge).

Group photo from the Alumni Weekend, September 2012

The Choir at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, PA

OLIV

ER

KAY, S

ELW

YN

2008



Finally, I would like to thank all of our alumni and donors in the US for their continuing support. Selwyn’s overall participation rate rose

from 12% to 15% this year, and we are extremely grateful.

As ever, if you have plans to visit Cambridge or London, please do let us know. We would be delighted to welcome you back to College or

drop down to London to say hello.

SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGEwww.sid.cam.ac.uk

Sidney is saddened to report the death of former Master Professor Sir Gabriel

Horn.

Professor Sir Gabriel Horn MD, ScD, FRS, FRCP served as Master of Sidney Sussex College

between 1992 and 1999. A former head of the Department of Zoology and Fellow of King’s

College between 1962-74 and 1978-92, he was awarded the Royal Society's Royal Medal in

2001 and in 2002 was knighted “for services to Neurobiology and to the advancement of

scientific research.”

Professor Horn worked as Master to increase the size and diversity of our Fellowship and

the quality of the College's facilities. In March 1996 he welcomed HM Queen Elizabeth II and

HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to the College for the unveiling of the foundation stone

of the William Mong Hall, the first-ever visit by a reigning British monarch. The building was

opened by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in 1999, Professor Horn’s retirement year.

Acting Master Professor Richard Penty writes, “Gabriel was an extremely distinguished

scientist, a highly respected former Master of Sidney, but perhaps most importantly a warm-

hearted human being, much loved by all who knew him. He was still playing an active and

important part in the life of Sidney and the Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour and will be

greatly missed by the whole College community.”

Details of arrangements for a memorial event to celebrate Gabriel's life and work will be

published on the College website as soon as they are known.

In other news, Professor Rosamond McKitterick has recently returned from the US where

she gave the Eberhard Faber lecture in Princeton. Professor McKitterick was accompanied on

the trip by a group of her PhD students who took part in a graduate workshop with their

counterparts in Princeton, also early medievalists studying for PhDs.

Meanwhile, Dr. David Skinner, Osborn Director of Music, visited the USA over the Summer

as part of a tour with the College Choir. The Choir enjoyed appreciative audiences in a number

of venues including Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and Memorial Chapel at Stanford University. They also visited Las Vegas, Fresno, Carmel-

by-the-Sea, and finally Santa Barbara. The Choir was featured in both radio and television coverage, and received enthusiastic reviews from

local and state newspapers. The tour was made possible with support from the Parry Dutton Fund and also Ann Mather (1978), who sponsored

both the Grace Cathedral event and the reception following the concert in the Basilica at Carmel Mission.

TRINITY COLLEGEwww.alumni.trin.cam.ac.uk

The College is delighted to announce the very recent installation of Sir Gregory

Winter as Master. The historic ceremony took place in glorious sunshine on the

2nd of October at Trinity College and was enjoyed by an enthusiastic crowd of students, alumni

and staff. Sir Gregory Winter is a protein engineer and best known for his research and inventions

relating to therapeutic antibodies. His research career was based at the Medical Research

Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, and he was until recently the Deputy

Director. He has won numerous scientific awards, and founded three biotech companies:

Cambridge Antibody Technology in 1989 (bought by AstraZeneca), Domantis in 2000 (bought

by GSK) and Bicycle Therapeutics in 2009.

On the 8th of July, we welcomed the Olympic Torch Relay to Trinity. The visit included a

re-enactment of the Chariots of Fire run around Great Court and despite the bad weather and a

very early start we were immensely pleased that so many people turned out on this wonderful

occasion.

Unfortunately, bad weather was something of a theme this year as torrential rain forced us

to cancel both the Annual Family BBQ and the Benefactors’ Garden Party. We were very sorry

not to be able to go ahead with these events and hope for better weather next year.

The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge has become the recipient of a prestigious

Gramophone Award for its 2012 recording of Herbert Howells’ Requiem & other works. It is

the first Cambridge College choir to be awarded this accolade and follows on from its nomination

for a US Grammy Award earlier in the year. The winners were announced at the 2012

Gramophone Awards event at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Thursday the 27th of

September.

Professor Sir Gabriel Horn (1927-2012)

Sir Gregory Winter



TRINITY HALLwww.trinhall.cam.ac.uk

From Jocelyn Poulton, Development Director:

Our summer was shattered by the devastating news of the sudden and

unexpected death of Dennis Avery (TH 1980) on 23 July 2012. Dennis Avery’s support of

the College and of the University – made either personally, with his wife Sally Wong-Avery,

or through his various charitable foundations – was exceptional, earning him the Medal for

Outstanding Philanthropy bestowed upon him by the then Chancellor, HRH The Duke of

Edinburgh. All those who had the privilege to meet him will miss his beaming smile, his

interest in people, his energy and enthusiasm and his love of life.

The Master, Professor Martin Daunton, represented both Trinity Hall and the Vice

Chancellor at the funeral in San Diego, and writes the following tribute: “At the funeral

service, Dennis's children and Sally spoke of Dennis as a family man. We then moved to a

Chinese restaurant which expressed another side of Dennis’s life with Sally – his love of

Chinese culture. I was privileged to visit Sally's Chinese school during my visit, and to see

how much they achieved. Over lunch, tributes were paid to Dennis. We all knew how much

Dennis meant to us at Trinity Hall, but we did not know the full range of his generosity –

neither did anyone else. Again and again, we heard of a gift – usually anonymous or

unpublicized – that transformed the lives of people Dennis met. He always wanted to help

people fulfil their potential, and did so with an openness and graciousness that was

remarkable. Dennis was a man who lived modestly and gave generously, not only in material

terms but of himself. He knew how to make friends, not least here at Trinity Hall, and will

be remembered here in College as a man who transformed Trinity Hall and many other

institutions and people. He will remain in the memory of the Hall as long as we survive,

alongside our other benefactors from Bateman to Nathanael Lloyd to the present. Future

generations will not have experienced the warmth and gentleness of a remarkable man. We

will think of Sally in the time to come as she deals with a loss which is obviously all the

more intense.”

The College will be holding a memorial service for Dennis, details of which will be posted on the website once arrangements are in place.

Tributes can be read on the Trinity Hall website www.trinhall.cam.ac.uk/dennisaveryIn this Olympic year, we send our congratulations to Tom James (2002) for winning a gold medal at London 2012 in the Men’s Coxless

IV, and to Emma Pooley (TH 2001) for her strategic approach in the Women’s Road Race which won her fellow team member silver.

If you do find yourselves in the UK, we do hope your schedule will give you the time for a return trip to Cambridge and Trinity Hall,

where a warm welcome awaits you and perhaps a visit to the Old Library. Already, Michaelmas Term has started and the Freshers of 2012

have settled in to the routine and excitement of university life. The College has an interesting and diverse program of events for the coming

academic year, more details of which are given on the website.

We remain indebted to all the Trinity Hall alumni and friends who continue to support the College through their advice and help, or through

a gift to the College. We extend our warmest thanks to you all for your support and interest in Trinity Hall and its future.

WOLFSON COLLEGEwww.wolfson.cam.ac.uk

Thank you to all our members who joined us on August 18 for a reception and recital in the spectacular setting of BargeMusic

on Brooklyn, New York’s East River. Wolfson Fellows Tom D’Andrea – the driving force behind the concert – and Tom Grant

were with us, and we were also delighted that Kim Fink from Cambridge in America was able to join us.

The evening began with drinks and canapés at the Water Street Restaurant & Lounge. We then moved to the concert venue – formerly a

large houseboat – which has been transformed into a concert hall, with the glass wall against which the musicians perform overlooking the

Manhattan skyline. Leading NYC-based pianist, and past performer at a Wolfson Music and Madeira evening, Olga Vinokur was joined by

virtuoso violinist Mark Peskanov, the artistic director of BargeMusic, and cellist Eugene Osadchy in a program of 18th and 19th century gems:

Mozart's C Major Piano Trio, K548, followed by Franz Schubert's effervescent Rondeau Brillant in B minor for violin and piano, and

Tchaikovsky's masterpiece Piano Trio in A minor. Photographs can be seen on our Facebook page at facebook.com/WolfsonCollegeBack at College, we are pleased that ten of our Visiting Academics in the 2011-12 year hailed from the USA. We very much look forward

to staying in touch with you all. As we write, we are looking forward to welcoming our new Visitors at this term’s reception. If you are

interested in applying to Wolfson in this capacity, details can be found on the website at www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/applying/academicvisitorsWe were also delighted to welcome members from the US to our recent alumni reunion. With alumni from eight countries attending, the

event was a lively and international one. Members are invited back to College every five years, and our next reunion will be on 22 September

2013, for those who started at Wolfson during the academic years beginning 1 October 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2003.

Please save the date now if you are in one of these year groups; invitations will be sent closer to the time.

Once again, our US alumni have been the largest group of supporters to Wolfson, and we are enormously grateful for your gifts.

This year we have been able to increase our support for Wolfson students, and we aim to increase our ability to do so even further, with student

support being the main goal for our 50th anniversary in 2015. Thank you so much for all that you do; it really does make an enormous

difference.

Dennis Avery unveiling the Avery Court plaque



At the start of Michaelmas Term, 87 newly

minted Gates Cambridge Scholars arrived to

take up their courses of study, including 45

from the United States. One among them is

Daniel Walden, from Berkeley, CA, Oberlin

College’s first Gates Scholar, who will be

pursuing an MPhil in Music Studies at King’s

College:

“At Oberlin I completed degrees in

Classics and Piano Performance with a minor

in Historical Performance. For my senior

honors thesis, I explored the uses of Greek music theory in the design

of theaters, temples, and technological devices by the Roman author

Vitruvius, showing how he proposed that temple columns should be

spaced at the intervals of a musical scale and theaters should be made to

resonate like musical instruments.

”For the MPhil in Musical Studies at Cambridge, under the direction

of Professor Iain Fenlon, I am investigating how sixteenth-century Italy

turned to Classical antiquity to develop musical theory and architectural

practice, facilitating a unique culture of scientific, musical, and even

magical experimentation that have had an enduring influence on music

and architecture.

“I am also an active performer on the piano and harpsichord. I am a

passionate advocate of contemporary and 20th-century music, and have

worked with composers in the United States and Europe in introducing

new classical works. This March, I performed Arnold Schoenberg’s

Piano Concerto with the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra as winner of the

Oberlin Concerto Competition.

“My extracurricular interests include historical instrument design

and repair; in 2009 I built a clavichord closely modeled on an 18th-

century instrument called the ‘King of Sweden,’ and am currently

working on the repairs of an 1803 Broadwood grand piano.

“It means a lot to me to be part of the Gates family of students from

around the world who are investigating all sorts of different topics in the

humanities and sciences, who are committed to positive social change

and the application of their research to a broad community beyond the

experts in their fields. I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to represent

music and the humanities alongside these peers.”

For profiles of all the matriculating 2012 Gates Cambridge Scholars,

and for information about how to apply, go to www. gatescambridge.org.

Spotlight on One 2012 GatesScholar: Oberlins Daniel Walden,

Now at Kings

Bill Janeway HonoredWilliam H. Janeway (Pembroke), chair ofthe Board of Directors of Cambridge inAmerica and co-chair of the Cambridge800th Anniversary Campaign, has beenawarded an Honorary Commander of theBritish Empire (CBE) “for services toeducation in the support of the Universityof Cambridge and to UK/US relations.” He is a SeniorAdvisor and Managing Director at Warburg Pincus, andauthor of the recently published book Doing Capitalism inthe Innovation Economy (Cambridge University Press).

A Kingsman Returns to Collegeto Teach About Bloomsbury

Peter Stansky, the Frances and Charles Field Professor ofHistory, Emeritus, at Stanford, reports:

This past September I had the splendid experienceof returning to my old Cambridge College, King's, for anintense twelve days. After graduating from Yale in 1953 Ihad done a second B.A. there, reading history. I had kept upwith the College to a degree over the years, but mostextensively more recently twice teaching a Bloomsburycourse there to a group of Stanford Universityundergraduates. It was a thrill to do so at the very place ofBloomsbury's paternal birth – Keynes, Fry and Forster atKing's – Strachey, Woolf and Bell at Trinity. (Its mother, soto speak, was Vanessa and Virginia Stephen in London –Virginia irritated at being denied a Cambridge education.)Those undergraduate classes were held in Dadie Ryland'sdining room, with its fantastic view over the lawn to Clare,with the Cam on the left. It was the location of a veryfamous and elegant lunch, lovingly described in VirginiaWoolf's A Room of One's Own and wonderfully recreated bythe kitchen as the concluding event of the course. Now thistime I was teaching a Bloomsbury class to Stanford maturestudents. The class was in the Munby room, named afterthat fine man, A.N.L. Munby, who was Librarian of theCollege in my day. (The present Librarian, Peter Jones, andthe Archivist, Patricia McGuire, were extremely helpful tothe class in making the experience work.) King's has themost extensive Bloomsbury archive in existence and eachstudent wrote a paper using a small selection of originalletters or manuscripts from one particular Bloomsburyfigure. It is an exciting and special experience. There is nological reason that a photocopy or digital version shouldn'tbe the same, but it isn't. Similarly, studying Bloomsbury atKing's might not be all that different from studying itelsewhere, but it is. Soit was lovely to be backat my old College. TheStanfordundergraduates Itaught there had awonderful time butperhaps the maturestudents, with muchmore life experience,got even more frombeing there. I know thatit meant a lot to me tospend those daysrecapturing to anextent an experience Ihad had more than fiftyyears ago. I was alsorenewing my presentand future life thanksto being within theCollege once again.

Peter Stansky's most recent book is astudy of a Kingsman: Julian Bell: FromBloomsbury to the Spanish Civil War

(Stanford University Press, 2012)



The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Leszek

Borysiewicz, delivered his annual address to

the University in the Senate House on

Monday October 1st to mark the start of the

new 2012 - 2013 academic year (his third, of

seven, as V-C).

The address, entitled “The Scale of our

Ambition” highlights Cambridge as one of a

handful of truly world-changing universities

and one of the UK’s greatest national assets.

“We are curators of an 800-year-old

institution, which has the potential to last

many centuries more,” he said. “We have a

responsibility to the past, and especially to the

future. How are we to discharge that

responsibility?

“What actions must we take today to

ensure our place tomorrow among the leaders,

forcing the pace, keeping the world’s greatest

universities contributing to the utmost of their

potential?

“I offer three answers. First, Cambridge

needs to grow. Second, we need to change; and

third, we need to ensure that growth and

change are informed at every step by our

values, our principles, and by the spirit and

ambition that have seen us flourish for our first

eight centuries.”

The Vice-Chancellor drew attention to a

growth opportunity of international

Growth, Change, Values, Ambition: Watchwords for theNew Academic Year

Aerial view of the North West Cambridge plan, looking north, bounded by Madingley Road (bottom), Huntingdon Road (right center to upper left), and the M11 (left)



importance: the chance to develop a new

quarter of the city, North West Cambridge, and

to make an investment now in the Cambridge

community which would ensure the

University’s academic health for the years to

come. “To continue to research at the highest

international levels of excellence, we need to

increase the numbers of postgraduate students

and postdoctoral researchers. These groups are

essential in all disciplines to sustain active

research programs, and so are key to our

future academic development and

competitiveness, just as we are responsible

for theirs.” This development is “the biggest

capital project that this University has ever

contemplated….The development of our

physical infrastructure is of a size and scale

that enables our future development and

ensures that we can grow our postgraduate

community.”

For more details and progress reports

about the plan for North West Cambridge, go

to www.nwcambridge.co.ukThe V-C continued: “However, our

success in the future does not depend on

buildings and facilities, but on continued

growth and change in our academic staff. In

doing so, we must maintain our commitment

to our values and hence excellence…Here,

support from philanthropy will be vital.” He

concluded: “Cambridge is one of a small

handful of truly world-changing universities

and we are ambitious for our institution. That

ambition is born not just because we find

ourselves curators of an 800-year legacy, but

because we have a duty and a responsibility

for its health and strength, its spirit and its

power to transform. It is incumbent on us to

look to its future. That we do so matters, for a

score of reasons, rational and emotional: our

own institutional loyalty and affection; a

respect for Cambridge’s past; a competitive

streak, glancing westwards to our sister

institutions in the United States, and

increasingly to the East. There is, too, a

responsibility to the UK: in our teaching,

where we want the country’s 18-year-olds, and

others of more mature years, to have options

for further study worthy of their talents; in our

cultural contribution to the nation; and in our

economic contribution. Like North West

Cambridge, our ambition must be on an

Olympian scale, commensurate with our

ambition for our future. Not least among the

reasons why it matters is that Cambridge

transforms lives, through our teaching and our

research.”

To read the full text of the V-C’s October

1st speech, go to the University’s website,

www.cam.ac.uk

Professor Sir John Gurdons NobelPrize: A Colleagues Appreciation

Sir John receiving his knighthood, with Lady Gurdon, 1995

HRH the Duke of Edinburgh opening the John Gurdon Institute, 1989

Professor Peter Grubb (Magdalene, 1960),

Emeritus Fellow, Emeritus Professor of

Investigative Plant Ecology, writes:

John Gurdon began his research career

in Oxford at a time of pivotal importance

in biology. He was intrigued by one of the

most pressing problems in biology: if

every cell in an organism contains the

same set of genes (messages), how is it

that the many different kinds of cells in an

adult come to develop differently from

one another? One possibility was that

particular genes are lost or at least

somehow turned off irreversibly along any

given line of cell development. That this

is not the case was shown by John’s first

breakthrough, published in 1962. He

established that differentiated cells can

still contain in a functional state all the

genes necessary to control the

development of an unfertilized egg up to

the stage of reproductive adult. This

fundamentally important point was shown

by taking a nucleus from a fully

differentiated cell in the gut lining of a

tadpole, and injecting it into an enucleated

egg, which then developed into a normal

fertile frog. The task of extracting the

nucleus from one gut cell (about one

hundredth of a millimetre in diameter),

and injecting it into an egg is easier said

than done! Great skill and lots of practice

are needed. John’s experiment was the

first case of what came to be known as

“cloning” an animal – familiar to most

people in the much later work on Dolly

the sheep.

John, who moved from Oxford to

Cambridge in 1972, went on to tackle the

question of how particular genes are

switched on in particular cells. He kept

ahead of his competitors by imaginative

micro-manipulation experiments with

amphibian embryos, including the injection

of single genes rather than whole nuclei

into specific cells. Meanwhile Martin

Evans, who joined John in leading the

Welcome Trust and Cancer Research

Campaign Institute of Cancer and

Developmental Biology (now the Gurdon

Institute), discovered “stem cells” –

isolated from mice. These cells can be

cultured in the laboratory, and turn into

many different kinds of adult cell, given the

right conditions. The race was then on find

the chemical signals that would turn adult

cells of mammals into stem cells,

especially with a view to their being used

in medicine. It proved to be a hard problem

to crack. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto

University, who shares the Nobel Prize

with John, was the first to succeed – in

2006. After many abortive attempts, he was

surprised to find that he could do it by

adding just four genes. It turns out that in

other vertebrates the formula doesn’t work,

and John’s team is still trying to solve the

problem for mature cells of amphibians.

We hope so much that his team will win the

race for this type of animal!


Sculptures by Christ’s College alumnus Anthony Caro, who studied

engineering at Cambridge, are featured in “Caro: Close Up” at the Yale

Center for British Art until

December 30. The museum

is located at 1080 Chapel

Street, New Haven, CT.

Telephone toll free: 1 877

BRIT ART (274 8278)

within the United States;

International: +1 203 432-

2800. E-mail ycba.info@

yale.edu For more inform-

ation go to http://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions/caro-close


The CAm Newsletter is published by Cambridge in America

292 Madison Avenue, 8th floor, New York, NY 10017Telephone: (212) 984-0960, Fax: (212) 984-0970,

Email: [email protected], Website: www.cantab.org

The landmark exhibition “Churchill: The Power of Words” at New

York City’s Morgan Library & Museum, organized by Cambridge’s

Churchill Archives Centre, attracted more than 60,000 visitors while

on view from June 8 to September 23. It won plaudits in The NewYork Times (“fine…marvelously compact”), The Wall Street Journal(“riveting…elegant”), and The New Criterion (“packs a great

wallop”), was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, and was

the centerpiece of a Charlie Rose TV panel discussion about Churchill

on June 17, including Cambridge historians Peter Clarke (former

Master of Trinity Hall), David Reynolds (Christ’s), and

Lord Watson (Queens’) as well as Winston Churchill’s grand-

daughter Celia Sandys (view the 52-minute video at www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12407). Attendees and speakers at

a gala opening reception on June 7 included Vice-Chancellor Sir

Leszek Borysiewicz, Master of Churchill College Sir David Wallace,

and London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Churchill ExhibitionTriumphs at NYCs

Morgan Library

Entrance to the exhibition gallery

Churchill Archives Centre Director Allen Packwood addresses gallery visitors

Recent paintings by Rackstraw Downes, who earned a BA at

Cambridge (St. John’s) in 1961, are on exhibit until November

24, at the Betty Cuningham Gallery, 541 West 25th Street in New

York City’s Chelsea neighborhood (near the High Line). Telephone

(212) 242-2772; www.bettyCuninghamgallery.com.

The artist’s 2009 MacArthur Fellow Award citation reports:

“Rackstraw Downes is a painter whose minutely detailed, oil-on-

canvas landscapes invite viewers to reconsider the intersection

between the natural world and man-made objects…Considered one

of the most distinctive representational painters of his generation,

Downes is challenging familiar conceptions of realist painting in

works of formal rigor and quiet, yet stunning, beauty.”

Cambridge Artists Workson View in New York &

New Haven

Anthony Caro: Table Piece XCVII

Rackstraw Downes: Delancey at Suffolk

Presidio in the Sand Hills Looking East with ATV Tracks and Water Tower

Table Piece LXXX


Documents

Cambridge in America Newsletter, Issue 23, Autumn 2012