Graduation Week
The University of Bath’s 2012 summer degree award ceremonies take place next week, with more than 2,300 students expected to attend at the city’s Abbey. For more details click here
Congratulations to our Student Officers Alix Chadwell, Jon Gleave, Alex Pool and Hanna Wade who will all graduate this week.
University Updates
Leave Booking is going online
Enhanced entry requirements to STV and Pool
Uni Popshop Competition
The Students' Union shop competition - Uni Popshop - run for the SETsquared Partnership (www.setsquared.co.uk) last week in Spitalfields Market has announced the winner. The prize was won by the University of Bath team who were selling recycled bags from the social enterprise ElephantBranded. The team made a profit of £458 at the one-day event. Tom Pellereau, University of Bath alumnus, inventor and the 2011 winner of BBC’s ‘The Apprentice’, announced the winner at an awards evening on Friday 29th June at the Lloyd’s building in London, and said he wished competitions such as this were available when he was a student. The event was part of a year-long programme of activities run by Enterprise Bath that helps students improve their business skills, and to turn their bright ideas into profit making companies.
Meeting of Minds
The annual Meeting of Minds conference took place last Thursday (28 June), and was opened by the new Pro-Vice Chancellor for Internationalisation, Prof. Colin Grant. The event includes speakers from across the University (9 departments this year), who gave short, accessible talks on their research which had to be understandable by an audience unfamiliar with their subject.
The conference had a theme of sustainability this year, with guest speaker Prof. Daniella Tilbury talking on the relevance of 'Sustainability Across the Disciplines'. Speakers were judged by academics from a range of departments on their accessibility and how well they conveyed the key themes of their research, with prizewinning best speaker Chris Vagg from Mech Eng and runner-up Shadi Ba Surra of Computer Science.
Birthdays
Happy Birthday to Charlie for the 7th July and a special Happy Birthday to Karen who turns 30 on the 5th July!!
Get To Know You - Jean-Marc Hodgkin
1. What made you want to become involved with the Students' Union?
I manage a large independent girls school in Bedford but I don't have an educational background. I though being involved with a Students' Union was a great way for me to find out more about the current educational landscape from the point of view of the student, whilst also helping provide some professional support to what must be a daunting set
of responsibilities for a newly appointed sabbatical. I was also hoping for a few invites to see some great bands and benefit from cheap beer (oh how it's changed since my day -- social responsibility and all that !!)
2. Can you tell us a bit about your background, your past career and what you are doing now?
As mentioned, I am Bursar at Bedford Girls' School (www.bedfordgirlsschool.co.uk <http://www.bedfordgirlsschool.co.uk>) -- it's a great job with lots of interesting work and variety and some great people here. Prior to that I was Head of Business Consultancy at the London Stock Exchange for around 10 years and before that I worked as a Forensic Accountant for the Law Society investigating dishonest solicitors. I'm a Chartered Accountant by profession and live in Milton Keynes (which isn't a great opening line at parties.......)
3. What do you like to do in your spare time?
In my spare time, I am a fanatical Polo Player. I am the Patron of the Tiny Badgers Polo Team and we play pretty much every weekend from April to September and look after six horses, some sheep, chickens, dog, 2 kids, wife etc etc. (not noted in order of importance I hasten to add....). I am Treasurer of the West Wycombe Park Polo Club and a School
Governor at a lovely prep school called Beachborough near Buckingham. I'm also studying for my Masters in Education through the OU (so technically I am a student too -- loving the £5 a month Spotify subscription through the NUS card by the way !!)
4. Of the places in the world you have visited, where has made the greatest impression on you and why?
I love Argentina -- the people are real, passionate and really know how to party. It's also seriously chilled out and has very very few rules (don't kill anyone -- pretty much that's it...), plus it has loads of space and horses with which to explore that space. I'm not sure I could live there permanently, but it's a wonderful counterpoint to bureaucracy and permanently plugged in culture that we live in over here. A month in the countryside outside Buenos Aires and you come back a completely different person .... usually with sense of perspective ;-)
Mind Trap
1.) The 22nd and 24th Presidents of the United States had the same mother and the same father, but were not borthers - How?
2.) If seven people meet each other and each shakes hands only once with each of the others, how many handshakes will there have been?
3.) Barney Dribble is carrying a pillow case full of feathers. Hardy Pyle is carrying three pillow cases the same siza as Barney's, yet Hardy's load is lighter. How can this be?