The Queen's College Record 2023
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
FROM THE PROVOST<br />
From the Provost<br />
Credit: Tom Weller<br />
<strong>The</strong> year 2022/3 needs celebrating for many reasons, but<br />
one is simply that the <strong>College</strong> completed its first full<br />
academic year unaffected by pandemic restrictions, for<br />
four years. It was a good year for Queen’s.<br />
<strong>The</strong> start of the year saw the beginning of the new<br />
outreach initiative to support disadvantaged young people<br />
in the North West of England. Work began in schools in<br />
Dr Claire Craig, Provost Whitehaven and Darwen. This project, as well as being<br />
an important initiative in its own right, re-invigorates the<br />
<strong>College</strong>’s historic links to the homeland of its Founder, Robert de Eglesfield, and is<br />
entirely due to the generosity of Old Members. Old Members do not contribute only<br />
through donations of money, however, but also through their time, as 18 also took<br />
part as mentors and tutors, alongside current students and staff.<br />
A <strong>College</strong> like Queen’s, rooted in history, often finds itself taking the long view,<br />
both backwards and forwards. We own copies of all four of Shakespeare’s folios<br />
and we took part in the country-wide celebrations to mark 400 years since the<br />
publication of the First Folio in 1623. In its special carry-box and accompanied by<br />
its own bodyguards, it travelled to the London Old Members reception as part of<br />
an evening of meeting friends and hearing from an expert panel that included Old<br />
Member Alfred Enoch (Modern Languages, 2007), who recently played Orlando in<br />
As You Like It at Soho Place.<br />
Continuing the historic themes, the <strong>College</strong> celebrated 100 years of the Harmsworth<br />
Visiting Professorship in American History, which was set up by Lord and Lady<br />
Rothermere in memory of their son Vyvyan, who died in the First World War. It<br />
welcomed a number of former Harmsworth Professors, who contribute so vibrantly<br />
to the quality of <strong>College</strong> life.<br />
Looking forwards, we elected our very first Visiting Professor in a wholly new<br />
scheme, again established by generous Old Members, to mark the centenary of the<br />
introduction of the iconic Oxford PPE degree. <strong>The</strong> first holder based at Queen’s will<br />
be Professor Christina Davis, who will be joining us from Harvard in 2024. Meanwhile,<br />
the <strong>College</strong> has continued its investment in the tutorial system, which is the heart<br />
of what we do here, strengthening our presence in Law from one to two Tutorial<br />
Fellows with the appointment of Prof Emily Hudson.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>College</strong> continued to become more porous, strengthening its connections<br />
with other places of learning and leading figures outside academia. We welcomed<br />
the first arrivals under a new Distinguished Visitor scheme, in James Unwin,<br />
6 <strong>The</strong> Queen’s <strong>College</strong> | <strong>College</strong> <strong>Record</strong> <strong>2023</strong>