June 2010 Issue 12

June 2010 Issue 12

The 125th anniversary year began with the inaugural Law Dinner on the 26 February, generously sponsored by Hughes Fellow, William Charnley, and attended by the President of the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Lord Phillips. This was followed by alumni receptions in New York and Washington on the 16 and 18 March, hosted by the President, Sarah Squire, and Development Director, Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan also attended the Hong Kong alumni party in honour of the Vice Chancellor on the 7 April, on behalf of the college.

Hughes Launches its 125th Anniversary in Style

News from HughesNewsletter for Hughes Hall members

Participants at the Academic Evening listen to the President’s opening remarks

The Right Honourable the Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, President of the Supreme Court (left), chatting to

(l to r) Dr John Barker of the Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law, and Fellow, Hughes Hall,

William Charnley and the President

Celebrating 125 years

Our students launched their own contribution to the anniversary with a highly successful Academic Evening in April, organised by the MCR to showcase some of the extraordinary research being done by Hughes members. It was a fine way to mark 125 years of academic innovation and the great diversity of disciplines now represented in college.

There will be other celebratory dinners and events throughout the year. The City Lecture and Dinner takes place on the 17 May; this year’s May Ball, themed to commemorate our 125 years, is on 12 June. The Ogden Dinner for Education students and the MBA Matriculation Dinner are in September, and the Zimmern Medical Dinner will take place in November.

And finally of course there is the special Anniversary Dinner for all our former students, when we shall focus on the 125 years since the first students stepped through the college doors. This will be preceded by a lecture given by the distinguished historian Professor Ged Martin entitled A Beginning Place: Hughes Hall 1885–2010. Some of you may remember Professor Martin’s entertaining lecture on 19th century University life at the Alumni Weekend last year. The lecture and dinner will be on Saturday, 25 September and is timed to coincide with the University’s Alumni Weekend. This is an excellent opportunity for alumni and friends of Hughes to visit college and join us in commemorating our history.

Sir Robin Auld, the A L Goodhart Visiting Professor of Law, was the guest speaker at the Charnley Law Dinner. He wrote to the President after the event:

What a splendidly successful inaugural Charnley Law Dinner you gave last night. The impressive list of those who attended shows the measure of support you have and can expect for your initiative to put Hughes Hall on the legal map…. And, in William Charnley, you have not only a generous, but also a highly proactive, supporter. The food, wine and attentive and friendly service of the college staff were, of course, of the best. But, above all, it was a jolly and companionable evening.

A date for your diary! The 125th Anniversary Alumni Lecture and Dinner on Saturday, 25 September. See page 5 for details.

2 June 2010 Issue 12

Mark Turin and the World Oral Literature Project Dr Mark Turin is a linguistic anthropologist. He studied archaeology and anthropology at the University of Cambridge, and holds a PhD in descriptive linguistics from Leiden University, where he was affiliated to the Himalayan Languages Project. He is currently a Research Associate at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and a Post Doctoral Research Associate at Hughes Hall. He directs both the recently established World Oral Literature Project, an urgent global initiative to document and make accessible endangered oral literatures before they disappear without record, and the Digital Himalaya Project which he co-founded in 2000 as a platform to make multi-media resources from the Himalayan region widely available online.

In early 2009, my role as a University Research Associate sans college affiliation provided me no outlet for combining my scholarly pursuits with contributing to the intellectual development of students through college life. Having been an undergraduate at Cambridge, and as a confirmed participant in scholarly communities through committees, review boards and fundraising panels, I was eager to be part of a college community. When I applied to Hughes Hall to be a PDRA, and was invited to meet

the President and a number of Fellows over lunch, I was immediately impressed by the intellectually dynamic yet unstuffy feel of the college and its members. I was naturally delighted to be offered Associate status at Hughes Hall, and since my appointment I have been a regular participant at college events, brought scholars and guests visiting Cambridge to lunch at Hughes, accommodated visiting scholars in the college’s excellent guest rooms and enjoyed supervising one of Hughes’s own students!

The Hughes Connection

Mark in Mongolia, with guide

Peter Richards, who has died of cancer, was my esteemed and much liked predecessor as Editor of News from Hughes. He came up to Cambridge to read Archaeology and Anthropology in 1970, and met his wife Mary on an archaeological student dig. He stayed on in Cambridge to complete his PhD on Anglo-Saxon trade, and then became one of the first graduate trainees at Cambridge University Press, where I first met him.

He left CUP to take up the editorship of CAM, the Cambridge University alumni magazine, and became a Fellow of Hughes at about the same time. He used his editorial skills and flair to excellent effect for News from Hughes, but combining the two roles became too onerous. I was already a Senior Member and was very pleased when Peter asked me if I would be interested in taking over from him as Editor of the college newsletter.

Peter was an active Fellow of Hughes, and a great supporter of the college and the students. He liked the diverse nature of college and varying points of view, and would argue passionately for what he felt was right, enjoying the cut and thrust of debate. He was a generous colleague and is much missed.

Annemarie Young, Editor, News from Hughes, Senior Member

Dr Peter Richards, 1951–2009 Quondam Fellow, Hughes Hall

An Appreciation

Philosophy at Cambridge Conference to be held at HughesFriday, 19 November and Saturday, 20 November, 2010

This event is being sponsored by the President of Hughes Hall and the Cambridge Philosophy Faculty, as part of the college’s 125th Anniversary. Hughes student Alexis Papazoglou (PhD in Philosophy, 2008) is organising the conference. Philosophers from nine different Cambridge faculties and departments (Philosophy, History and Philosophy of Science, Classics, History, Divinity, Politics and International Studies, Modern and Medieval Languages, Law and English) will respond to the question ‘What is your conception of philosophy?’ and will address the relationship between philosophy and science, the relation of the history of philosophy to the practice of philosophy, and the possibility of the impact of philosophy on everyday life.

ElectionsQuOnDAM FELLOW

Rev Dr Philip Raymont

nEW SEnIOR MEMBERS

Dr Martin Hadley-Brown – Tutor on Cambridge Graduate Course in Medicine Mr Tevita Aho – Department of Urology at Addenbrooke’s HospitalDr Nathan Crilly – Department of EngineeringDr Agnieszka Iwasiewicz-Wabnig – Cavendish Laboratory, Department of PhysicsDr Mukesh Kapila CBE

3June 2010 Issue 12

Cutting Global PovertyLydia Keen, a second

year BA student in

Politics, Psychology

and Sociology, was a

hairdresser for over

10 years before coming

to Hughes via an Access

course. After a life

changing moment, she worked night shifts to finance

her successful A level studies. She chose Hughes

initially because of its reputation for good food, and

is very glad she did. The college’s community spirit

means it feels like home, something which is very

important to her. Lydia devoted a day to cutting

hair to fundraise for the Global Poverty Project, the

initiative of Hughes International Relations student

Hugh Evans. It’s an ambitious project, whose aim is to

eradicate global poverty.

Congratulations to Hughes Hall undergraduates For all its 125 years Hughes Hall has been a college for future teachers; for some 40 years it has welcomed postgraduates in research and other vocational courses; and now for the last decade it has been a home for mature undergraduates, steadily increasing to the present cohort of about 85. This last development is less well-known than previous ones – indeed, we’re still sometimes seen as an entirely graduate college – but its effect has been just as profound and beneficial.

Hughes Hall undergraduates are all mature, ie over 21. Some have simply taken a long break after school, some come for a second degree (BA Affiliates or Graduate Medics), some come after military service in their home country. But many come as Access students, having left school with few qualifications, resumed study later and now proving themselves capable at the highest level.

To admit undergraduates was a major undertaking for Hughes Hall. In Cambridge this meant setting up the full support system, including Directors of Studies and supervisors, and for a relatively small cohort, so without economies of scale.

Yet it has been hugely beneficial in many ways. Undergraduates are often very active round college, with characteristically wide interests and enthusiasms. Their presence in college for three years gives stability and continuity when many others are here for only a year. More importantly, their experiences and personalities mean that they give as much as they receive in the frequent interaction with postgraduates and the senior membership. Further, they link the college into the university and its faculties in a different way to postgraduates.

Hughes Hall undergraduates have also done extremely well academically. They regularly top the small table of mature-age colleges, while last year our undergraduates were at the edge of the top quartile of all Cambridge colleges across all Tripos results – a remarkable achievement.

Well done to our Hughes Hall undergraduates. Long may they flourish!

Dr Philip Johnston, Senior Tutor

Johnny Dankworth memorial concertJazz composer, saxophonist and clarinettist Sir Johnny Dankworth CBE was an Honorary Fellow of Hughes. A jazz concert was held on 11 March in the packed out Pavilion Room as a tribute to Johnny and his distinguished career. The music was led by Martin Kemp, a fellow saxophone and clarinet player, with Iain Mann on violin, Will Curtis on bass, Bert Schilperoort on drums and Hughes student Paul Zinger on piano.

MU

SIC

AT H

UGH

ES

Lydia Keen

Farewell to Louise Louise Daly at work during Formal Hall.

Louise has moved on

and her friendly face

and helpfulness are

already much missed.

And Louise misses college:

It’s such a friendly college. It was just like a

second home. And the food was amazing!

4 June 2010 Issue 12

Dara Sandhu – Boxing for the Blues ‘... must be fun!’That’s what every second person at the Hughes bar seemed to say. Well, I’m not sure if training six times a week so intensively that your body never seems to recover can be described as fun! Balancing an MPhil in Real Estate Finance with rigorous training every day was a very exciting prospect at first. However, I started to wonder why I was putting myself through this and very often I just wanted to quit. These doubts all faded away the moment I won my first bout in a Town vs Gown event. The sense of accomplishment is incomparable to anything else I have experienced. While physical changes were obviously apparent, the rigorous six months changed my perspective. It gave me a willpower that I never had before to set myself targets and make sure I achieve them. Passion, dedication and commitment are words that get thrown around a lot, but I truly understood their meaning only after boxing for the Blues in 2008–2009.

Hughes helps win the 2010 Boat RaceThe first ever Boat Club President from Hughes, Deaglan McEachern, and two fellow Hughesians, Fred Gill and Derek Rasmussen, helped Cambridge win the race. Both the Blue Boat and Goldie produced outstanding performances to do what is supposed to be impossible, coming from behind on the Championship course. In one of the most remarkable races ever seen, the Light Blues, on the less-favoured Middlesex station, their much-vaunted fast start first matched and then overturned, somehow managed to resist all their opponents’ efforts to destroy their rhythm, then turn the disadvantage of the Surrey bend into first a neck and neck struggle and ultimately, at the Bandstand, edge the bow of ‘the 800th’ into a lead. Twice more the Dark Blues tried to come back and were repulsed, until stroke Fred Gill upped the rate one last time to generate clear water. Congratulations to Deaglan and his fellow Hughes Blues, to Code Sternal in Goldie, and to ‘spare’ Nick Edelman.

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Reflections of an MCR President: nouar QutobNouar is a Palestinian, born and raised in Jerusalem. At the age of 16, she became a member of the Seeds of Peace organistaion and with the support of her encouraging parents, she chose to take on the challenge of studying far from home. Nouar has an undergraduate degree in Bioinformatics from Brigham Young University and an MPhil in Biological Sciences from Cambridge. She is currently studying for her PhD in Population Genetics.

I believe education is an important building block of great nations. Coming from Jerusalem, where the conflict is an obstacle to stability, freedom of movement and the pursuit of education, I’ve constantly felt that I need ‘to make a difference in my society’ by getting an education from top academic institutions. My involvement in the MCR began shortly after I started my MPhil, when I realised the importance of college in our lives, be it at a social level or an educational level. I was MCR Social Secretary first and was then elected MCR President. During my term, I learned that representing and pleasing 500 students is a hard task, yet a rewarding one. A ‘thank you’ at the end of the day was more than enough to motivate me and drive me to do more. The MCR had a great year. Our calendar was packed with social activities; we had our first Annual Academic Evening, and the Hat Club flourished. Throughout the year, we tried to create a harmony between the committee members and the students by being approachable and friendly. Equally important, we worked hard on bringing together students, Fellows and college staff because we believe that they are a fundamental part of our lives here. At a university level, Hughes Hall MCR became known to the Graduate Union after hosting its successful annual garden party, and at an external level, we strengthened the links with our sister college in Oxford.

I truly enjoyed leading the MCR, working with our impressively diverse students and learning from them.

nouar (left) with her counterpart at Linacre College, Hughes’s sister college in Oxford, during a visit last October. Linacre

returned the visit in April. 25 members of their MCR and 3 senior Fellows came to Hughes for a very convivial ‘Linacre Feast’.

Congratulations to the Hughes Hall badminton team on their great success this year!

5June 2010 Issue 12

Events DiaryTHE MARGARET WILEMAn MuSIC SOCIETy Future concert dates are on the website

HAT CLuB RESEARCH SEMInARSContact Mark J McWilliams (mjm99@cam.ac.uk) for details. Hat Club Seminars take place every second Wednesday during full term.

MAy BuMPSWednesday, 9 June to Saturday, 12 June, 2010

HuGHES HALL MAy BALL‘Journey Through 125 Years’Saturday, 12 June, 2010 (see page 8)

JuDGE BuSInESS SCHOOL ALuMnI GRAnD REunIOn WEEKEnDThursday, 17 June to Sunday, 20 June, 2010(see page 7)

ALuMnI WEEKEnD EvEnTS AT HuGHESFriday, 24 September, 2010Lunch followed by a lecture given by Professor Anthony Dickinson, ‘Do other animals think about the future?’.

Saturday, 25 September, 2010125th Anniversary Drinks Reception and Dinner (see below).

If you are interested in any of these events please contact Jenni Morris at events@hughes.cam.ac.uk

PArnesH sHArmA (Hughes Hall, MPhil in Criminology, 1999) completed his DPhil at Oriel College, Oxford. Parnesh writes ‘though my years at Oxford were indeed memorable, Cambridge remains for me the best of my years spent in the UK . . . thanks.’

Dr mArk Turin (Post Doctoral Research Associate) Congratulations to Dr Mark Turin and his wife Dr Sara Shneiderman on the birth of Nina in February, 2010.

Dr JoAn miller (Hughes Hall, PGCE in Geography, 1944) Congratulations to Dr E Joan Miller (née Wilson), who was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the College of Arts and Sciences at Illinois State University, USA, on 28 March, 2009.

DAviD vAn reybrouCk (Hughes Hall, MPhil in Archaeology and Anthropology, 1993) is soon to publish his 680 page history of the Congo. His previous book, A Plea for Populism, was awarded the Jan Hanlo Essay Prize, Holland’s most prestigious biannual prize for essay writing, as well as the Flemish Cultural Award, a state prize for non-fiction and essay.

elAine soon (PhD in Medicine, 2009) Congratulations to Elaine on getting the Young Investigator Award (sponsored by Pfizer).

news from Hughesians

rosemAry robson (Hughes Hall, PGCE in Geography, 1949)

We were sorry to hear the news that Rosemary passed away in April, 2009. Rosemary was Head of Geography at the Girls High School in Eastbourne, later Deputy Head and Deputy Principal of the Sixth Form College. An Honorary Fellow of the Geographical Association, she led a very active life in her retirement.

We were also sorry to hear of the deaths of:

niCHolAs HuTCHinson (Hughes Hall, PGCE, 1996)

JoyCe CArPenTer (Hughes Hall, Certificate of Education, 1946)

All alumni are warmly invited to attend the 125th Anniversary Alumni Dinner on Saturday, 25 September. As our main 125th Anniversary event, we would be delighted to see as many of you there as possible. The evening will begin at 6pm with a talk from Professor Ged Martin on the origins and history of Hughes Hall. This will be followed by drinks in the Peter Richards Room, and a three-course dinner in the college dining hall at 7:30pm. Join us and generations of Hughesians to raise a glass to the college’s anniversary.

Alumni can book free tickets for themselves and one guest, by contacting the Development Office. If you would like to bring extra guests, please let us know.

The tickets are free of charge, but if you would like to support the college in our 125th year, donations can be made to the Scholarships and Bursaries Fund, which gives direct support to our students.

Contact the Development Office by post or:Tel: +44 (0)1223 334895Email: alumni@hughes.cam.ac.uk

125th Anniversary Alumni Dinner

Celebrating 125 years

Hughes Hall

6 June 2010 Issue 12

Hughes Hall is a very cosmopolitan college with more than 40% of our students domiciled outside the UK and representing 35 countries. We have particularly strong links with a number of countries, including Hong Kong and China – with about 40 current students and nearly 150 alumni.

Over the last couple of years a very strong collaboration has built up with Hong Kong University, supported by the generous philanthropy of two major donors to the college, which has enabled the establishment of a series of scholarships. The most recent to be set up is the Edwin S H Leong Hughes Hall Scholarships – the first of which we hope will be awarded to a student beginning their postgraduate studies in 2010.

These relationships with Hong Kong have developed thanks to the exceptional generosity of a small number of great friends of the college. But there is a way for all of us to contribute in a way which can really help deserving future students.

Attracting the finest students to Hughes Hall is, of course, a major element in the college’s continuing strategy. Being able to offer scholarships and bursaries based on academic merit to excellent students enables us to support those who may not otherwise be able to afford the costs of undergraduate or further study at Cambridge. Crucial, timely support can give them the chance of continuing their education here. Especially important is funding to enable MPhil students who successfully complete their Masters to continue on to PhD studies.

To enable the college to offer such scholarships and bursaries, significant efforts have been made over a number of years to build up a capital fund capable of generating income from which scholarships and bursaries can be offered. This fund

already stands at £500,000 and has enabled the college to offer a range of new Hughes Hall awards.

We are now launching a major campaign, in this our 125th Anniversary year, to ask our alumni to help us to triple the number of awards that we are able to offer – so that we will be able directly to assist over 20 students every year, in addition to those students who win the existing scholarships and bursaries provided by our current generous major donors.

The difference these funds will make will be considerable. Students who might otherwise not be able to come up to Cambridge will be able to take up their places confident that their financial provision

is secure. The college will be able to attract increasingly strong candidates who will add further to the developing academic excellence of the college, its research vitality, and perhaps, in time go on to become academic members of the college.

The aim of the Anniversary Fund is primarily to pool lots of individual contributions – each one of which may be relatively modest – so that collectively they can have a major impact on the future of the college via the support that could then be offered to deserving students.

If you would be interested in supporting the 125th Anniversary Scholarships and Bursaries appeal, please do contact the Development Office – your gift could help to transform a future student’s life.

Jonathan Taylor, Development Director and Fellow

Development Office contact details: development@hughes.cam.ac.uk

Tel: +44(0)1223 334895

Scholarships: A Path to Educational Opportunity and Excellence

The vice Chancellor in Hong Kong, presenting Mr Edwin Leong – who recently set up a scholarship fund for Hughes students –

with one of the watercolour prints of Hughes Hall featured in the last issue of news from Hughes

Help Hughes when you use AmazonHelp support Hughes by doing your Amazon shopping through the Hughes Hall website. Just click on the Amazon link on the home page. A percentage of the purchase price goes to the college, at no cost to you. Hughes Hall is an associate of amazon.co.uk

E-HugHESTo receive News from Hughes by email, to submit articles for the newsletter, and to sign up to the Hughes alumni e-bulletin (which lists all news and forthcoming events in a termly email), contact the Development Office at development@hughes.cam.ac.uk

HUGHES QUESTIONNAIREAlumni and former members should by now have received the joint questionnaire from Hughes Hall and the University. If you haven’t returned it to us yet, please do take a few minutes to fill it in and tell us about your news. The questionnaire can also be completed online at: www.hughes.cam.ac.uk/questionnaire

Judge Business School and Hughes Hall MBA, MFin, MPhil and PhD students benefit from a very special relationship that has grown over the years between Hughes Hall and Judge Business School. A part of Hughes’s commitment as a college is to the professions, and business students represent a significant number of the yearly cohort. The strength of ties with JBS is clearly represented by the active involvement of members of the Business School in the life of Hughes as Fellows and Senior Members. Hughes is the first college to appoint a Director of Studies for MBA and other graduate management programmes to work with college Tutors as a pillar of support for postgraduate members and to help organise activities to enrich their experience at Cambridge and in their future careers.

The community of scholars at Hughes embraces highly influential and distinguished figures in entrepreneurship around Cambridge, such as Dr Hermann Hauser and Teri Willey, Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise, as well as City Fellows who are active in local and large global corporations. These City Fellows participate in special evenings to connect with business scholars throughout the year. Hughes Hall students have a long tradition of demonstrating leadership and a strong sense of community in their respective programmes. For example, last year, MBA students developed an online alumni portal for Hughes Hall students, which was unveiled at Hughes Hall to commemorate the 20 year anniversary of JBS. In attendance were a number of JBS faculty, Hughes Hall Fellows and Senior Members, including the President, Sarah Squire, JBS Director, Professor Arnoud de Meyer and MBA Director, Dr Jochen Runde.

There are a lot of activities to engage in and the college can be a special place to develop friendships and networks which will last a lifetime.

Dr Michael Barrett, Senior Member Hughes Hall, Director of Programmes and Reader in Information Technology and Innovation, Judge Business School

The Hughes Hall Business Society uses the presence of the largest concentration of business students in a Cambridge college to foster discussion among all students interested in entrepreneurship and business activities. The mission of the HHBS is to encourage and support business and enterprise activities within Hughes Hall, benefiting its members and the greater community.

During the past year HHBS organised the first entrepreneurship themed Formal Hall, where academics from Cambridge Judge Business School and professionals in law, finance, marketing and operations gathered to discuss the requirements and challenges of setting up new businesses. In addition, a series of distinguished guest speakers were invited to share their experiences with students and provide an informal forum for students to interact with these industry leaders. The HHBS has the potential to make significant contributions to the entrepreneurial spirit of students at the University of Cambridge.

Faisal Darras, MBA 2009

HHbs set itself seven strategic objectives:

e To promote business opportunities to Hughes Hall members.

r To encourage entrepreneurship projects led by Hughes Hall members.

t To build and maintain relationships with Hughes Hall alumni in business and related fields.

u To facilitate interaction between Hughes Hall members and the business community.

i To support the role of Hughes Hall as an advocate of multi-disciplinary business co-operation.

o To liaise with the University of Cambridge business and enterprise organisations.

p To ensure the continuity of the Hughes Hall Business Society.

Judge Business School Alumni

The Hughes Hall Business Society (HHBS)

June 2010 Issue 12 7

elly (e r) Truitt studied for her MPhil at Hughes in 1997–98, while working in the college bar and organising various social events. After taking her MPhil in Medieval History, she worked for several years in England and the US, before moving to the other Cambridge, in Massachusetts. She received her MA in the History of Science from Harvard University in 2003, and her PhD in 2007. She has completed several fellowships, including a Bourse Chateaubriand, during the course of which she lived in Paris, and a year-long residency at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is currently an assistant professor of Medieval History at Bryn Mawr College, an undergraduate college outside Philadelphia, and has recently been awarded a research grant by the National Science Foundation.

June 2010 Issue 12

News from Hughes: Editor Annemarie Young (annemarie.young@ntlworld.com) Design by Andy Wilson (andy@andywilson.biz)Contact us with your news, by post at: Hughes Hall, Cambridge CB1 2EW; or by email at development@hughes.cam.ac.uk

Photographs courtesy of The University of Cambridge (view of Judge); Oxford University Library (Alexander the Great and automata: MS Bodley 264, fol. 70v); the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, (Lancelot and copper knights: MS Fr. 112, fol. 78); and contributors

Printed in England

After I left Hughes, I bounced around for a few

years, not sure of what to do next. I had grown

somewhat exhausted with academia, and with the

more traditional institutional, religious, and political

history that I had studied at Cambridge. Almost

by chance, I learned about the History of Science

department at Harvard University, where, it seemed,

I could combine my interests in medieval intellectual

and cultural history with my interests in science,

medicine, technology, and magic.

Over the past few years, I have been working

on a book about medieval automata—actual or

imaginary objects, often in the form of people or

animals that were, or appeared to be, self-moving.

These objects allow me to consider myriad questions

about the uses and development of different

technologies; ideas about the natural world and the

cosmos; the movement of luxury goods, manuscripts,

and knowledge across Europe, the Byzantine Empire,

and the Dar al-Islam; western European ideas about

life, life-likeness, and death; and the importance of

robots, cyborgs, and androids in our own culture.

General interest in medieval science (including the

occult sciences, like necromancy and divination),

historical legend, and cultural artefacts informs

most of my work. I have published several articles

related to my current book project on neo-platonist

philosophy and automata, the development of

early mechanical clocks, and tropes of moving

statues in medieval French literature. My other

ongoing research projects include articles about the

introduction of advanced astral science to medieval

England in the early twelfth century, Chaucer’s

treatise on the astrolabe, medieval writers’ views

about history and literature, the history of balsam,

and a second book project about Gerbert of Aurillac,

a famously wicked pope of the tenth century.

In addition to my research, I also teach medieval

history courses to undergraduates. For the moment,

I teach the general medieval introductory courses,

as well as more specialised courses in the crusades,

medieval medicine, intellectual culture, the history

of magic, and the golden age of Islam. In my

spare time, my research interests inform my leisure

pursuits, as I am often found reading or watching

science fiction and fantasy, or looking at medieval

art and artefacts.

What’s interesting about medieval robots?

May BallAs Hughes Hall is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, the theme for the 2010 May Ball is A Journey Through 125 Years. The May Ball will take guests on a journey through time, starting from 1885. We hope you will be able to join us in celebrating 125 years of transformation and diversity.

Contact hughesmayball2010@googlemail.com for more information, and visit our website http://www.hughesmayball2010.com where you can buy tickets online.

Lancelot battles the copper knights guarding Doloreuse Garde. After defeating them, he finds the box that contains the enchantments over the castle. (Lancelot du Lac, French, c.1470)

Alexander the Great encounters two golden automata guarding the bridge to the Bois des Puceles. (Le Roman de Troie, France, c.1340)

Elly Truitt