Univ Record 2017

DR LAURA VARNAM, Lecturer in Old and Middle English Literature at Univ, was
interviewed for a new documentary on the twentieth-century writer Daphne du Maurier
that premiered on European culture channel Arte in February 2017, Daphne du Maurier:
Sur les traces de Rebecca (‘In the footsteps of Rebecca’). The documentary had its UK
premiere at the Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature in May and Dr Varnam participated
in a panel discussion of the film. Dr Varnam ran a number of events at the Fowey
Festival, including an interview with author and biographer Tatiana de Rosnay, author
of Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier and co-organised a conference at
Univ in April 2017 on ‘Architectural Representation in the Middle Ages’ which included
an exhibition of architectural materials from the college archives and library.
Chaplain
ANDREW GREGORY has published The Gospel according to the Hebrews and the Gospel of
the Ebionites (OUP, 2017). He has also published one journal article and two chapters in
edited books.
Leaving Fellows and Staff
PROFESSOR NICK RAWLINS
Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Development and External Affairs at the University of
Oxford 2010-2017
Nick is quintessentially a Univ man, having been an undergraduate (1968), postgraduate,
junior and then senior research fellow, ‘new blood’ lecturer, tutorial fellow and finally
emeritus fellow. The only interruption in his connection with the College was when his
promotion to one of the statutory chairs of Psychology led to him moving for a period
to Wolfson College. His final University appointment was as the Pro-Vice Chancellor
in charge of development, including fund-raising; a task he had already performed very
successfully for the College as Development Fellow from 2001 to 2007. Perhaps the
University will most remember him for the amazingly successful fund-raising in his final
appointment, with many hundreds of millions of pounds coming in to the Colleges and
University. From a College perspective there are other significant memories.
I first came to know Nick as a tutee; he was lively and talkative, never dull. He was also
a graceful and equable personality. What was most notable, though, was his adventurous
spirit. This showed up scientifically in his bold exploration of research outside his primary
expertise in behavioural neuroscience and this more general curiosity was acknowledged,
for example, by his appointment as the first and only psychologist to chair the Wellcome
Trust Neuroscience Panel (as well as the more conventional accolades such as Fellowship
of the Academy of Medical Sciences). It also made him a superb teacher and doubtless
there are legions of undergraduates who will remember him with affection and respect;
for some, being tutored by him was doubtless a life-shaping experience. As a colleague
he was equally inspiring, setting a high standard in everything he did for the College, the
Psychology Faculty and the University. It seems fitting that his future connection with
the College will include reverting to custodianship of the wine cellar; even as a graduate
student he was importing barrels of wine, bottling
them and selling them with minimal mark up to his
peers. As in many other fields his sense of adventure
combined with expertise was to everyone’s benefit!
Professor Julian Jack
Professor Nick Rawlins retired after seven years as Pro-
Vice-Chancellor for Development and External Affairs at
the University of Oxford this year. Professor Rawlins was a
Junior Research Fellow at Univ and then a Senior Research
Fellow before taking up a tutorial Fellowship which he held
for more than 20 years. Although Professor Rawlins remains
an Emeritus Professor at Univ, we felt his retirement should
be noted in this year’s Record. A celebration dinner was held
in his honour at College in October.
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