The Record 2009 - Keble College - University of Oxford

Roger Boden
Marc Brodie
The Life of the College
researchers and thinkers in arts and sciences. It will have
media, resource and performance space and it will be home to
international and interdisciplinary students, researchers and
practitioners. My colleagues and I, in particular Jenny Tudge,
the Bursar Roger Boden and the Senior Tutor Marc Brodie,
have been working very intensively on shaping the vision, and
to say that this is an exciting concept is an understatement. It
is one that is very dear to my own heart and one that I believe
that Keble, with its distinctive tradition of innovation and
boldness, is well placed to realise.
Isla Smith’s decision to take early retirement from the
Development Office at the end of 2009 in part precipitated
these changes, and Keble and its Old Members will certainly
miss her hugely. I am reminded every day just how much Isla’s
eleven years here have done to build up the close relationships
we now have with so many of our nearly 9,000 former students,
whose matriculation years range from the early 1920s to the
present. When our students graduate I often tell them that
Keble is for life; they are unsure of what that means, but these
ongoing connections are a major part of what colleges are
about. Isla’s dedication and warmth of personality have truly
transformed these relationships, as many recent examples have
brought home to me. We are beginning the process of finding a
successor for Isla (not easy), and under the new structure Ruth
Cowen (now full-time as Alumni Relations Officer) will be the
main point of contact for Old Members (I know some of you
do not like the term alumni, though nowadays it is in fact much
more widely used). Many of you know Ruth already and you
can be sure she will provide the warm personal contact you
have come to expect. Next year’s Summer Dinner on 3 July
2010 will honour Isla and this will be a chance for Old Members
to say goodbye to her properly.
Mobility seems to be an increasing feature of academic life,
and we are certainly feeling its effects at Keble. Two of our
fellows, Dr Stephen Clark in Computer Science and Dr Niels
Dechow in Management, moved on to other posts during the
academic year, while Dr (now Professor) Niranjan Thatte
in Physics moved to a research post in the Oxford Physics
Department. Professor Ralph Hanna has retired from his
Keble tutorial fellowship while remaining post-retirement
in a research post in the English faculty. Professor Robin
Wilson has also retired from Keble after combining twentynine
years of teaching mathematics here with his full-time
Open University post. If this is not enough, no fewer than
nine research fellows come to the end of their appointments
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