The Record 2009 - Keble College - University of Oxford

Keble College: The Record 2009
Archivist, has been key to both these initiatives and we also
have a new Librarian, Yvonne Murphy, after the retirement
of Margaret Sarosi. Yvonne has come from a very successful
tenure at the Linen Hall Library in Belfast, and she is currently
conducting a strategic review of the College Library and its
collections and how we might promote and develop them.
Yvonne Murphy
Jenny Tudge
Much time and effort has gone this year into the preparations
for our major plans to develop the Acland site and shape and
secure the College’s future beyond its 150 th anniversary in
2020. With the recruitment of Jenny Tudge (1986) as Director
of Development, and the expansion and restructuring of the
Development Office, we are in a strong position to carry all
this forward. We owe the fact that we could do this to the
farsightedness and generosity of George Robinson (1975) and
Robin Geffen (1976), and a significant number of Old Members
have already agreed to serve on the Campaign Board and
as volunteers. Jenny and I travelled to the US in April, from
where she went on to Hong Kong, and we expect to make
more overseas visits during 2009–10. I know that like me, she
has already been overwhelmed by the degree of warmth felt
towards the College among our Old Members.
The process of obtaining planning permission is tortuous for
what will be easily the biggest and most important college
development in Oxford for many years. The Keble Acland site
has frontage on both the Banbury and the Woodstock roads,
is adjacent to St Anne’s, and contains a small element (invisible
except from inside the present buildings) that is listed in virtue
of its connection with Thomas Jackson, the architect of the
Examination Schools among other Oxford buildings. After two
rounds of consultations, public comment and many discussions
with the city planners and English Heritage, we hope to
obtain permission soon. Given its position and given Keble’s
architectural history, the responsibility for such a large and
important project is very great.
But this is not just about giving Oxford yet another set of
landmark buildings, however exciting that may be. Our vision
is to commemorate the College’s 150 th anniversary and to
shape its future for many more generations to come. This
future is about research as much as about undergraduates.
It is also for all the members of the College, whether they be
undergraduates, graduate students or academics. The Acland
development will house all these, as well as giving them space
and facilities for the generation of new thinking and new ideas.
It will house an Institute of Advanced Study to bring together
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