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Welcome to the spring 2023 issue of the e-newsletter!
Signs of spring are starting to appear around College, even as the wintery weather persists. Read on to find out what the College community has been up to this Lent term and to look ahead to what's coming up soon.
  
Above left: A frosty Third Court. Above middle: The Master's Lodge in the winter sun. Above right: Snowdrops in the Fellows' Garden.
Christ's Comings and Goings
We are pleased to welcome a few new faces to Christ's. At the beginning of Lent term, Dr Paul Barker joined the College as a Fellow in Chemistry. Dr Barker is an Associate Professor in the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry and he is joining us from Downing College, where he has been a Fellow for the past 18 years.
We are also looking forward to welcoming Revd Dr Helen Orchard to Christ's as the new College Chaplain. Dr Orchard will be the first female chaplain and the first chaplain to be made a Fellow. She will take up the role in Easter term. You can read more about Dr Orchard here.
 
Above left: Dr Paul Barker. Above right: Revd Dr Helen Orchard.
A familiar face in a new position: Congratulations to Dr Tom Monie (m. 1996), who has been elected as the new Christ's College Senior Tutor. He is taking over from Dr Robert Hunt, who stepped down in January after over 14 years in the role. Dr Monie served as the interim Senior Tutor after Dr Hunt left the position and was formally named to the role permanently in February. Dr Monie, who received both his BA and PhD at Christ's, returned to Christ's as a Bye-Fellow in 2006 and is currently Director of Studies in Biological Natural Sciences. Read more about his appointment here.
Above: Dr Tom Monie.
Finally, we are very sorry to say goodbye to Ms Catherine Twilley FRSA, who has served as Development Director at Christ's since 2008. While at Christ's, Catherine oversaw numerous development initiatives including the Campaign for Christ's, which raised £50million for the College between its launch in 2015 and its conclusion in 2022, and the construction of Yusuf Hamied Court, which will be officially opened in Easter term. She is moving on from Christ's to take up the role of Development Director at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. A search for a new Development Director has begun; read the job description here. We are sorry to see Catherine go but wish her all the best in her new position!
Above: Catherine Twilley at a September reunion.
Lent Bumps
The snow hit Cambridge just as Lent Bumps kicked off this year, making it a cold and blustery few days out on the river! Unfortunately, cold temperatures, a fast current, and a very high water level made it necessary to cancel the fourth day of rowing completely as well as the lower division races on day five. Despite these adverse conditions, all four of the Christ's boats rowed with tenacity and gained valuable experience for May Bumps in a few months' time. We're looking forward to seeing the crews back in action on the river when we gather for our annual May Bumps Picnic on 17 June.
  
Above left: W2. Above middle: M1 rowing through the snow. Above right: M2.
Listen Back to Lent Term
This has been a busy term at Christ's! While we are not able to live stream in-person events, we have recorded the audio of many of the talks and lectures that have taken place over the last few weeks.
On 30 January, Professor Mark Girolami FRSE gave a Lady Margaret Lecture entitled 'Lord Kelvin, First Baron of Largs: A Father of the Digital Age?' One name that is seldom linked to the digital era is William Thomson, First Baron Kelvin, who was Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for over half a century during the Victorian age. Given the many contributions to scientific knowledge and advances in technology this Victorian polymath gave to us, this lecture considers whether Lord Kelvin should indeed be considered as one who helped lay the scientific and technical foundations for the digital revolution. Listen to his lecture here.
 
Above left: Professor Mark Girolami. Above right: The view from the recording booth.
On 21 February, Sathnam Sanghera (m. 1995) sat down with Christ's Fellow Professor Duncan Bell for a fascinating and thought-provoking conversation about his recent book Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain.' The bestselling book is Mr Sanghera's effort to face up to Britain's imperial history and the 'toxic mixture of nostalgia and amnesia' which he argues underpins an attitude of British exceptionalism, a distrust of experts, and a blindness to its enduring racism. In this Lady Margaret Lecture, Mr Sanghera and Professor Bell, a historian of British imperial ideology, discussed the book and how Britain's educational, social, and political systems could better reflect the realities of its imperialist past. Listen to their conversation here.
Above: Sathnam Sanghera and Duncan Bell.
On 7 March, Christ's Honorary Fellow Professor Philip Kitcher (m. 1966) gave a C P Snow Lecture titled 'The Rich and the Poor.' C P Snow was a Fellow of Christ's College, and this endowed lecture aims to bridge the divide between the humanities and the sciences--a division that he argued is a major barrier to solving the world's problems. Professor Kitcher's lecture revisited the second half of Snow's famous 1959 Rede Lecture, 'The Two Cultures,' to consider how Snow's predictions of a world in which the advances of science would greatly reduce or even eliminate poverty have held up. He argues that the current institutions aiming to remedy international poverty are not only inadequate to deliver what is needed, but also at odds with the conditions of ethnical life. Listen to his lecture here.
Above: Professor Philip Kitcher.
Alumni Webinar with Kate Davenport and Prof David Reynolds - 13 April
As part of our ongoing Christ's College Webinar Series, which we launched in 2020, Ms Kate Davenport OBE (m. 1993) will be in conversation with Professor David Reynolds on 13 April at 6pm BST. After reading history at Christ's, Kate moved up senior management at M&S before segueing into the world of diplomacy, working and Brussels and then in Berlin when Simon McDonald was Ambassador. She then served for four years as Political Counsellor in Kyiv before becoming Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Prague, where she is currently responsible for the daily running of a 14th-century castle. Join our webinar to find out what it's like to travel around Ukraine and really get to know the people, why a violin is a useful diplomatic asset, and how far a history degree can take you. Register here.
Above: Kate Davenport.
Telephone Campaign 2023
We are halfway through the 2023 Telephone Campaign! Our student callers have enjoyed speaking to our alumni about the College, not only to raise funds for student support, but to share stories about Christ's over the years and to hear about the paths our alumni have taken after leaving College. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to speak with us! We look forward to chatting with more of you in the week ahead. Learn more about the Telephone Campaign and meet our student callers on our website.
Above: This year's student callers learning about the College's history from Professor David Reynolds.
Call for News
Do you have news you would like to share with the Christ's community? Our Year Group Representatives will be in touch in the next few weeks to collect alumni news for this year's College Magazine. If you would prefer to submit news directly to the Development Office, however, you can do so through this form on the alumni website. We're looking forward to hearing what you've been up to over the past year!
We are also currently looking for Year Group Representatives for matriculation years: 1992, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2017, 2018, and 2019. If you would like to help keep your year group connected to Christ's as a Year Group Representative, please email Molly Becker, our Alumni Communications Officer.
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