#aularian

The St Edmund Hall - HEC Montréal Scholarship

I enjoyed having lunch with Kathy Willis, Principal of St Edmund Hall, my College at Oxford University.

Recent and longstanding Aularians met in Montréal, to celebrate our reciprocal scholarship with HEC. It is generously funded by Jean Chagnon of Lallemand.

The scholarships mean more Canadians can now study at Oxford, and more Oxonians can build links to Canada.

Elections for the Oxford Professor of Poetry

The last remaining powers of Oxfordʼs Convocation — the assembly of its graduates — are to elect the Chancellor and the Professor of Poetry.

Voting for the latter is underway, with a strong field of candidates.

Yet, I am disappointed that their campaign statements are all in prose, rather than in verse. I would absolutely vote for a poet wielding a colourful limerick about Nantucket.

Teddy Hall’s #GiveItYourHall Campaign

I chose St Edmund Hall as my College at Oxford University, because I was entranced by its history: as the oldest undergraduate house in the world, its precise origins are lost in the mists of time, but it has been educating students for some 800 years.

But I discovered that its past is the least of its gifts.

It welcomes students of all backgrounds and from every corner of the world, who might otherwise never feel that Oxford could be a place for us.

The people I met, the friendships we built, the experiences we shared, were all formative influences in my life.  Teddy Hall gave us a vista of a greater world, and opportunities to make that a world a better place.

By supporting the #GiveItYourHall campaign, Aularians can ensure those gifts do not perish, but are instead passed on to succeeding generations of students.

Spirit of the Hall

St Edmund Hall, my College at the University of Oxford, is the oldest undergraduate institution in the English-speaking world.

Its precise origins are lost in the mists of time, but it has been educating Aularians for at least 800 years.

Studying at Teddy Hall was a seminal experience in my life.  It helped me glimpse — and believe in — possibilities beyond the horizon of the world I had known before.

I was flattered that Olly Donnelly invited me to be part of the Spirit of the Hall podcast, about the ways the College has shaped the lives of its graduates.

I’m a jor 4 alfajores

I’m guessing you watched the ending?