People

Inaugural Lecture

Graham Stanton, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, has given his inaugural lecture at the Divinty School.

Entitled 'Jesus and Gospel', the lecture was the last big occasion in the school's present building, before the new faculty building opens in September. An official opening ceremony will be held in November.

Three holders of the Lady Margaret Professorship were present at the lecture. They are (l-r) Professor Graham Stanton, Professor Charles Moule, who held the chair from 1951-1976, and Professor Morna Hooker, who was Lady Margaret Professor from 1976-1998.

University Honours

Professor Laurie Hall, of the Herchel Smith Laboratory for Medicinal Chemistry, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Bristol University. The award ceremony took place on 10 July 2000.

Two University academics have been elected recipients of Humboldt Research Awards. Dr Mark Warner, University Reader in Physics and Professor Roger Paulin, of the Department of German were recognised by the Alexander Von Humboldt-Stiftung for their contribution to research and teaching in their respective fields.

Also in the Department of German, Dr Christopher Young, was awarded a year's Fellowship to study in Germany, and Dr Nicholas Boyle, Head of the Department, was awarded the Goethe Medal - previous recipients in the UK have included Sir Ernst Gombrich and Sir Karl Popper.

And in the Department of Earth Sciences, Professor Nick Shackleton, has been elected a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Professors Appointed

A new Professor of Stroke Medicine will be joining the School of Clinical Medicine. Jean-Claude Baron, of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, will take up his post on 1 November 2000.

In the Department of Plant Sciences, Howard Griffiths has been elected Professor of Plant Ecology. Professor Griffiths will also be head of the Physiological Ecology Group.

Birthday Honours

Four Cambridge University academics were recognised in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Donald Lynden Bell, Professor of Astrophysics, received a CBE for services to astronomy; Peter Carolin, Professor of Architecture, received a CBE for services to architecture and Willem Buiter, Professor of International Macro economics from 1994 to May 2000, received a CBE for services to economics.

Brenda Jennison, Lecturer in Physics Education, was awarded an MBE for services in this field.

British Academy Fellows

Six University academics were among 35 people recently elected fellows of the Royal Academy.

They were: Dr Stefan Collini, of the Faculty of English; Professor James Crawford, of the Faculty of Law; Professor John Gray, of Homerton College; Dr Philip Hardie, of the Faculty of Classics; Professor Simon Keynes, Department of Anglo Saxon, Norse and Celtic and Dr Peter Kornicki, of the Faculty of Oriental Studies.

The British Academy was founded by royal charter in 1901 as the national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It serves the same functions as the Royal Society performs in relation to science.

Happy Birthday!

One of the oldest recipients of a University pension reached her 100th birthday last month. Gertrude Utteridge, who lives in Oakington with her daughter Hazel Evans, had a surprise birthday celebration at her home to mark the occasion.

Sue Curryer, Head of Pensions and David Blackadder, Chairman of the Pensions Management Committee, visited Gertrude on the day to present flowers and an engraved glass on behalf of the University.

Mrs Utteridge is the widow of Jack Utteridge, who was employed as a Maintenance Engineer in the Department of Zoology until his retirement in 1966. Mr Utteridge died in 1967 and the University has provided Mrs Utteridge with a widow's pension ever since.

Putting EM on the map

A new press officer has joined the University's staff working to promote building developments within the University.

Kate Morris worked previously for the civil engineering consultants Mott Macdonald, where she was a landscape architect. Her work involved creating areas of habitat following engineering works, and urban landscape design, creating park areas in towns. She said: "EM are working on lots of exciting projects at the moment. The West Cambridge site is now well underway and we have just announced the new Park and Cycle Scheme, which is the first of its kind in Britain. I'll be working to keep everyone updated as this site progresses and inform people of the services offered by EM."

Elsie May Widdowson

One of Britain's most prominent nutrition scientists has died, aged 93.

Elsie Widdowson worked for many years at the University, firstly at the MRC Dunn Nutrition Laboratory, and later at the Department of Investigative Medicine. Among her many achievements, she will be remembered for her work documenting the composition of all human foods - a mammoth task, which she worked on with her colleague Dr Robert McCance.

Dr Chris Bates, Head of Micronutrient Status Research at MRC Nutrition Research, remembers Elsie for her commitment to her work. "She worked tirelessly to promote the acceptance and encouragement of women in science, and the importance of training young scientists. She is remembered with affection by her friends, colleagues and acquaintanced," he said.

A lasting memorial to Elsie will be the Elsie Widdowson Laboratory, which is due to be finished later this year, and which will re-house the MRC centre for Human Nutrition Research.

Business award

Professor Sandra Dawson, Director of the Judge Institute, was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Keele. Professor Dawson was made Doctor of Science, honoris causa, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to management education and research.

Last year Professor Dawson was also elected a Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute (FCGI) in recognition of her outstanding professional and personal achievement.

Wellcome Trust Governor

A Cambridge scientist is one of three new Governors appointed to the Wellcome Trust.

Jean Thomas, who has been Professor of Macromolecular Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge since 1991, will take up the post in October. Professor Thomas's research interests include the study of chromatin structure, gene activation and repression and biophysical and biochemical studies of proteins and protein-DNA interactions.