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Hughes Hall

A milepost like the 125th anniversary of our College is a moment for sober and grateful reflection, looking back on all that we owe those who have brought Hughes Hall to what we enjoy today, and looking forward, conscious of the responsibility that we hold for future generations.

To borrow the magnificent words of the University’s annual Commemoration of Benefactors, ‘we owe thanks to those who through their generosity have protected, enriched and enlarged our studies; and all those others, yet more numerous, who have brought honour to the [College ] – some by their learning or by their discoveries in science, some by their service to the [College,] and some by uneventful constancy in public or private life’.

We think of all these people – founders, academics, students and staff – who have been part of the history of our College, names known and unknown.

Every day of my life in College I have reason to think with gratitude of the initiative and hard work of those who have gone before. Of those who created the buildings that we enjoy and the many traditions of our College, those who built up our present Fellowship, with all its rich diversity of intelligence and learning, and those who nurtured the special quality of atmosphere which makes Hughes Hall so uniquely and delightfully what it is. All the benefits that we enjoy have been built up, layer upon layer, through the dedicated and

persevering work of generations, dating right back to that small idealistic group who launched the College in 1885.

It has not been easy. There have

been several points in its history when the College was on the edge of extinction, buffeted by the vagaries of ever changing public policy on the education of teachers, and always operating on the leanest of financial footings. But survive it did, through the sheer determination of its Members. I and the present generation of Fellows, staff and students have the great good fortune to have inherited a proud and diverse community, one that faces the future with confidence and high ambition.

Every one of the seven Principals and six past Presidents added their own legacy. Through the work of each generation the College progressed steadily – sometimes painfully slowly – along its long road, from a tiny fragile private institution to its present fine standing as a full and respected College of the University of Cambridge.

I have much personal reason to be grateful for the dedication of all those past generations. I mention in particular the huge debt we owe to my predecessor, Professor Peter Richards. It was his audacious vision for the College and his sheer determination that brought us our magnificent new Fenner’s Building. It is Fenner’s which has made possible much of the growth and the multifaceted activity that we enjoy today. And it was he too who brought us to that final crucial step to achieving our Royal Charter, setting the seal on Hughes Hall’s ‘perpetual succession’ as a College of this great University.

Elizabeth Hughes might be astonished if she could revisit Wollaston Road today and see what her College has grown into. She would be very proud.

With good wishes to all our College Membership,

Celebrating a Century and a Quarter– a message from the President

Celebrating 125 years

Professor Peter Richards and

Fellows cut the turf for Fenner’s

The President, Sarah Squire

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Elizabeth Hughes was a practical visionary, a woman who turned into action her idea of introducing teacher training to an elite university. Following a teaching career at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, she arrived at Newnham College in 1881 as a mature student, and had no sooner completed her degree than she began her great experiment. In 1885 she rented two adjacent houses in Merton Street from the Principal of Newnham College. One of the first fourteen students at ‘Crofton Cottages’, Molly Thomas, remembered that the grand-sounding Cambridge Training College (CTC) was no more than ‘two tiny houses [which] had been made to communicate by the removal of party walls. There was nothing at all between the door and the pavement. Stairs were so narrow that we had to

squeeze to pass one another. Sanitary arrangements were of the most primitive, and a bathroom, of course, was unheard of … The academic staff consisted solely of Miss Hughes herself, plus there was a house-keeper, and a maid of all work; sometimes the students had to help cleaning the knives.’

But in ten short years the indefatigable Miss Hughes had managed to establish a permanent building at its present site beside Fenner’s, and also a reputation for preparing the high

calibre professionally-trained teachers that were needed for the girls’ secondary schools of the period. She acted as Principal, teacher and fundraiser all in one, and unsurprisingly retired somewhat worn out in 1899.

Her interest in the College never flagged, even as she travelled round the globe visiting higher education establishments in America, Japan, China, Malaysia and Indonesia. She continued to open up the world to CTC students and alumnae in letters ‘To My Old Students’ in the Old Students’ Gild Newsletters, and established international connections that still bear fruit today. Hughes Hall is international in its outlook, and welcomes students from all over the world.

Some significant changes occurred because of shifts in the status of women in the University. In 1948, women were finally admitted into full membership of the University; in 1949 the College was renamed Hughes Hall, and women at CTC now had formal access to the Department of Education. During the 1960s the Principal, Margaret Wileman, opened up the College to students studying a broad spectrum of subjects.

By 1973, when four women’s colleges existed in Cambridge, Hughes Hall decided the time was right to admit male students. In 2006, Hughes Hall finally became a full college of the University. Elizabeth Hughes’s vision

of what the College should offer was the sense of membership of a worthy community, with a high and noble function in which every member can take part, and at the same time not so vast in extent as to reduce the individual to insignificance. This remains Hughes Hall’s sense of itself today. It began with fourteen students; it now has around 500, but its ethos is still that of its extraordinary founder.

Dr Pam Hirsch, Author of Teacher Training at Cambridge: the Initiatives of Oscar Browning

and Elizabeth Hughes (Woburn Press, 2004)

A historical perspective

A matriculation group in the 1940s

A small selection of favourite memories post 1945

A procession of young men armed with bunches of flowers on their way to visit those of us who were lucky enough to have rooms with windows overlooking Fenner’s …

Barbara Graebe (née Barker), 1948, Education

When the Cam froze in February 1954, my friends … and I walked on the ice all the way from Silver Street to Magdalene Street and back again. At St John’s College someone was playing a piano, resting on two planks!

Cynthia Wardley (née Ridgway), 1953, Education

We had a splendid Christmas meal, with crackers. I wonder if other colleges got Bechamel sauce, and had gooseberries bottled, so we could have pies throughout the winter.

Muriel Gurbutt, 1969, Education

I enjoyed the ‘Formal’ dining – there was such a mix of postgrads from many parts of the world, with different and enriching opinions.

Philip WO Massey, 1991, PGCE in Secondary English

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Hughes Hall – past, present and future

Elizabeth Hughes and students outside Crofton Cottages 1885

The President, Sir Desmond Lee, conducting a supervision in the 1970s

Students hard at work in the new Library

Dr Josef Alawneh, PhD student in Neuroscience, with the scanner he uses in his research into predictors to identify stroke patients at risk

of deterioration

A Hat Club presentation on extending the World Wide Web

These photographs capture the spirit of Hughes Hall past, present and future: Miss Hughes with the first students outside Crofton Cottages, a tutorial in the 1970s in what is now the Combination Room, a poster for one of the Hat Club presentations, a researcher into strokes and the scanner he uses for his research, and current students studying for their exams in the new Library.

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Renowned throughout Cambridge … Adrian Leonard, MCR President 2008–2009, BA in History

Even the hardest academic task-masters realise there’s more to life than books and labs. Living in College provides this extra dimension, through a vibrant social scene that fosters friendships and fun. At the most fundamental level it is found in communal dining – whether at regular cafeteria mealtimes, casual dinner encounters in College Members’ kitchens, over a sandwich from the bar, or at Hughes’s famous Formal Halls, renowned across the University for exceptional quality. When the lunch trays are cleared, Hughesians retire to newspapers, coffee and mid-day conversation in the comfy Peter Richard’s Room, but in the evening the MCR (a sort of student union/club room) is the focal point of leisure. There friends gather for drinks, billiards, a little telly, and, occasionally, serious debate. It’s also the scene for organised movie nights, poker games, bar quizzes, and one of the finest single-malt collections at any Cambridge college. Uniquely, Hughes MCR holds Tea and Cakes twice a week, where friends can take a break from their studies to socialise, scoff dessert, and meet someone new.

Letting off steam with your neighbours happens three or four times a term, when the MCR is transformed into a dance hall for Hughes bops – the bone-buzzing parties which are the main reason students go to university. The parties culminate with the Hughes May Ball, held each year in May Week. It’s a black-tie all-nighter with streams of spectacular entertainment, food, drinks, and the chance to say farewell to collegiate colleagues moving on, and see-you-later to those coming back for more.

The Margaret Wileman Music Society provides a showcase for trained talent, and informal bands form every year. Students also get together for tango lessons, aerobics, darts, theatre shows, and – sometimes – just to study. Socialising, whether musical, sporting, or just idle, is the glue that holds the College together, and transforms us from ordinary students into Hughesians.

College life offers sport, too: the Hughes Hall Boat Club is remarkably successful, but the College also plays at everything from cricket to ping pong, competitively but also just for fun.

Student memoriesNouar Qutob, MCR President 2009–2010, PhD in Population Genetics

Hughes Hall is the home of a very diverse and friendly community. As you enter the College gates, you come into a world of at least 51 nationalities. You step into the dining hall

to come across people from the Middle East, Africa, Australia, Europe, Asia and America. Once you mix with the students, you get fascinated by how the differences in backgrounds meld to create one community that is working towards a common goal: all thirsty learners, longing for a good education and preparing to become leaders in their own societies. And so, you engage in conversations about science, art, history, medicine, business and education. The evening is then prolonged in a pleasant manner with social events.

Hughes Hall has become my safe nest and a place of many memorable laughs. I am

graduating this year knowing that I have a friend in nearly every part of the world and a home on Wollaston Road.

The memories of Stratis Georgilas (LLM in Law, 1993) and Burhan Javaid (BA in Economics, 2005) show what a positive impact Hughes Hall had on their lives in Cambridge and beyond.

Stratis, now a successful Attorney-at-Law in Athens, formed ‘everlasting friendships’. He particularly remembers ‘the social life enjoyed: the MCR, the Friday and Saturday night parties, the frequently held ethnic garden parties, the boat races, the Ball and, indeed, the longstanding quality of Formal Hall’.

Burhan, who now works as an economic advisor to the government of Pakistan, reflects that: ‘Cambridge really did turn my life around, both socially and intellectually. I had a

wonderful time here playing cricket for the Blues in my first year, and then struggling with economics over the next two. I shall always proudly say that I am a part of Cambridge University, but on top of that, I shall also say that I am an inseparable part of Hughes Hall’.

College Life – student perspectives

A well earned Bumps victory

May Ball revels

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Governing Body on the 125th anniversary of the founding of the College

Hughes Hall’s postgraduates, Post-Doctoral Research Associates and Fellows are producing cutting-edge and thrilling research across the sciences, humanities, social sciences, education, law, medicine and business. Among the fascinating questions currently being posed are: what do lava flows and eruptions in Ethiopia tell us about processes deep in the earth’s crust? How might employees in multinational companies sabotage the global value flow? What is the role of interactive white boards in supporting collaborative learning? How might statistics best be used in court? Which genes protect against DNA damage? How do bacterial pathogens, such as salmonella, interact with the immune system?

Some findings have important implications for society in the twenty-first century. A project in nanotechnology aims to fabricate biosensors capable of growing and developing living cells. Investigation into the role of dietary silicon has relevance for human nutrition. Other enquiries hope to make a positive impact on the treatment of diseases including Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Among the groundbreaking results, research into ferromagnets under extreme non-equilibrium conditions may pave the way for new types of logic device.

Although research at Hughes today spans all disciplines, Education deserves special mention since it was once the sole purpose of the Cambridge Training College, and still concerns one-fifth of Hughes Hall’s students (PGCE, MEd, MPhil or PhD). One of its current projects examines how best to make mathematics and the physical sciences more exciting at school. The Ogden Trust, itself based at Hughes Hall, explores new ways to promote this, with awards currently for MEds, and next year for PGCEs and teachers on sabbatical.

The student-run Hat Club is a fortnightly forum for presenting ongoing research. ‘Hats-on’ presentations from students and Fellows range widely, this year from Italian rock art to Bob Dylan and politics. ‘Hats-off ’ speakers from outside Hughes have included Professor Simon Croft on drugs for neglected diseases and Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Gurdon on stem cells.

In celebration of our 125th Anniversary, students also organised our first ever Annual Academic Evening, with a wide variety

of subjects presented: advanced carbon nanotube fibres, biomarker discovery, carbon capture and storage, infection and diabetes, the British Empire and tea, US immigration, school assessment, and developments in nanotechnology. Students and Fellows learnt much outside their own fields in fascinating academic exchanges.

Hughes Hall enjoys a growing number of annual lectures. The recent Kathleen Hughes Memorial Lectures focussed on mediaeval Ireland, delivered by Dr Colmán Etchingham and Professor Marie Therese Flanagan. By contrast, the last two City Lectures addressed topical financial issues. Dr Philip Augar criticised reckless growth and uncontrolled ambition in the city and Sir David Wright offered a defence of the banking system. Professor Timothy Cox presented the Zimmern Medical Lecture and Professor Sir Robin Auld spoke at the inaugural Charnley Law Dinner.

The Hughes Hall Centre for Biomedical Science in Society, led by its three College Lecturers, has organised regular talks and debates. Topics have included: risk and responsibility in public health policy; clinical ethics and global health; regulation of the DNA database; IVF, stem cells and reproduction; science and people’s safety; and prosecuting medical professionals. Among the distinguished guest speakers have been Baroness Onora O’Neill and Professors Sir Bob Hepple QC, Sarah Franklin, John Harris and John Spencer.

Keen networking takes place amongst alumni and current students. The College’s Business and Law Societies organise receptions and invite speakers to their dinners. Through these societies, life-long friendships and professional contacts are built and maintained.

Hughes Hall encourages and rewards excellence. We have just instituted one fully-funded scholarship (jointly with the Cambridge Overseas Trust), plus two scholarships and four bursaries for current students progressing to further degrees. These add to the William Charnley Law Fellowships, the Elizabeth Cherry Bursary, and the generous Edwin S H Leong and Doris Zimmern scholarships for Hong Kong University graduates. So our academic community benefits from expanding opportunities to flourish further.

Professor Mary Buckley, Fellow, Hughes Hall

Thriving and exciting academic life

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What is a College? … the legal definitionAs virtually all members of the College will now realise, Hughes recently became a full College of the University. Until March 2010 we were the most recently recognised of the Colleges of the University. Now Homerton College (founded 1976) has succeeded us as the junior College of the University. And yet we are celebrating the College’s 125th year. How can this be? What actually makes us ‘a College’?

Our Royal Charter answers this succinctly. In it the Queen commands that there be ‘for ever hereafter one body politic and corporate by the name and style of “The President and Fellows of Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge”’ which ‘by the same name shall have perpetual succession and a Common Seal with power to break, alter and make anew the said Seal from time to time at their will and pleasure’. Her Majesty then goes on to provide that ‘by the same name [the College] shall and may sue and be sued in the Courts and before all Justices of Us, Our Heirs and Successors’.

Here in a nutshell we have our answer. The College is now perpetual. It has an existence which is more than the sum of its parts and an existence beyond the lives of its present members. It has ‘perpetual succession’, that is it never dies; it has the right to use a seal and change it at will. Most important of all it has a legal persona of its own: it can sue, and be sued, in the courts. This is a far cry even from what was envisaged by the ten original signatories of the memorandum of the Association when the Cambridge Training College was first registered in 1893. In fact the University when agreeing to Hughes’s becoming a full College – and thus permitting us to petition the Queen for a charter of incorporation – established new criteria ‘for recognition as a collegiate institution in the University’ (see Reporter 2005–2006, p. 218). It first considered ‘the educational, disciplinary, and other arrangements in the College’ and deemed them satisfactory.

to all whom these presents shall come, greeting! The opening salvo of the Royal Charter

The President thanking the College Visitor, The Duke of Edinburgh, after he presented the Royal Charter

Both approved foundations and approved societies of the

University – statuses previously held by the College (1968–1984 and

1984–2006) – can have their recognition withdrawn without their consent if students are not properly looked after, but a College cannot. To do so would require amendment of a University statute, and under the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act 1923, the College’s consent would be required for this to occur. The University then considered our finances and resources and concluded – most importantly, since lack of resources had been what had frustrated an earlier application – that ‘although the College is financially viable on a year-to-year basis, it does not at present have the level of endowment resource to enable it to develop its academic activities to the same extent as other Colleges’. But despite this the University Council felt our recognition should not be impeded or delayed, and indeed, that our endeavours to secure

further resources would be assisted by our recognition as a College. The University was essentially saying that, in recognising us as a College, its reputational risk was minimal. It considered us a full member of the collegiate club, capable of standing on our own two feet and looking after our students. It was not – unfortunately – saying that our fundraising work was done. The College still does not possess the level of permanent endowment that the University thinks is appropriate to maintain the provision of education for students.

To conclude, it makes no difference of course what a College is actually called: whether a college styles itself ‘College’ is not the same as its legal status. What makes a College of the University is the inclusion of its name in the list of those maintained in Statute K.3.a of the University. It is a common mistake to think we should now be called ‘Hughes College’ or ‘Hughes Hall College’. The example of Trinity Hall, a College of the University for nearly 650 years, makes this point clear.

Dr Michael Franklin, Fellow and Praelector, Hughes Hall

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What is a College? The legal definition is made clear in the previous article, but this is not all. It is so much more than the sum of its parts – a flow of students changing year on year, a growing body of alumnae and alumni, its academic members and its staff. And of course, more enduring than any of these, two things that can outlive people – an underlying ethos and the physical bricks and mortar (or concrete and glass) within which College life is played out.

The Cambridge Training College for women moved on swiftly from its initial two terraced houses in Newnham to what has become known as the Margaret Wileman Building – named in honour of the Principal and President of the College from 1953 to 1973, who celebrates her 102nd birthday in the College’s 125th anniversary year.

Originally opened for Michaelmas term 1895, just ten years after the founding of the College, this building has been at the core of College life ever since – offering accommodation to generations of students and providing the administrative heart of the College. Its building was greatly facilitated by a legacy of £3000 (one third of the total building costs) from the Pfeiffer Bequest – the conditions of which also provided the impetus to establish the College with an appropriate legal status. The original William Morris dining room will soon once again become a centre of College life in its new incarnation as the Fellows’ Room.

Through a combination of good financial management, generous gifts from benefactors and supporters, and the determination and energy of its leadership, the College has continually developed its estate. Significant additions to the student accommodation were made with the creation of Chancellor’s Court (1992) and the Centenary Building (1997). The Fenner’s Building (2005) overlooking the ancient cricket ground added further very high quality accommodation and excellent dining/reception facilities.

Extensions to the Margaret Wileman Building provided seminar rooms and the Pavilion Room in 1989. More recently, a

major addition to the facilities of the College was achieved with the creation of the new Library (2009) with its modern IT and audio-visual facilities combined with archive facilities to house the growing collection of magnificent bibliophile materials kindly donated by Professor Masa Ohtake (Honorary Fellow)and others.

The estate continues to develop, reflecting the varying needs of College members. A major renovation of the Wollaston Lodges is planned for later this year to bring their rooms up to modern standards. Plans are also under consideration for the establishment of further accommodation and facilities to provide for Research Fellows and Post-Doctoral Research Associates – the future academic lifeblood of the College – as well as modern office space. These plans are dependent, as all developments have been since that original Pfeiffer Bequest, on securing the keystone funding that facilitates the change.

Throughout all these physical changes, the underlying spirit of pioneering endeavour and the objective of making a real difference in the world continue to inform life at Hughes Hall – as it has done since the first days of classes given in a couple of terraced houses by the College’s founding and dynamic Principal, Elizabeth Hughes.

Jonathan Taylor, Fellow and Development Director, Hughes Hall

More than bricks and mortar …

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Hughes Hall has seen multiple periods of innovation during its 125 years, undergoing notable transformations in response to the needs and ambitions of its members and a changing environment. The Fellowship of the twenty-first century is no exception: building on our achievements to date, we envisage a College that sustains and promotes all its members as they seek to engage productively with the modern world.

Central to the ethos of Hughes is the ideal of access for all to Cambridge University, based firmly on merit and commitment. As a College for mature students, our researchers and scholars bring a wide experience of life to their work and to each other: many are seeking new opportunities and directions, building on previous successes; others have come to us by less conventional routes, having proven their commitment and abilities in adult education; many arrive having achieved success in their home universities overseas. People are at the heart of education and research: they bring their imagination and ideas, and Cambridge networks help them to develop and innovate. Here at Hughes we aim explicitly to support access, opportunity and lifelong learning.

We retain a focus on professional disciplines, not least in recognition of our roots, and promote Cambridge as an exciting place to develop professionally and to build long lasting global networks. In addition, we wish to see an increased focus on PhD-level research, which is the bedrock of scholarship and innovation in our society. Doctoral students are very important members of College, bringing to others their focus and experience of the intense effort required to make progress in research.

But neither man nor woman can live on enthusiasm alone. And in 2010, our students no longer survive on toast either. Yet for many who have the certificates, the ideas, the longing and the enthusiasm, the greatest hurdle is the money: they must pay not only for fees, but also for rent, food, books and travel. To ensure that as many talented people as possible have these opportunities, we seek to develop a strong system of scholarships and bursaries. We also need to provide good student rooms at reasonable prices, to make life affordable in this expensive city. These two initiatives will enable us to increase the level of competition for a place at Hughes, allowing us to select excellent students who will contribute to our vision of the future.

In building a cohesive community it is important to realise that a College is more than a place to eat and sleep. It is a wonderful place for cross-disciplinary work, and Hughes’s focus on scholarship in the modern world is exemplified by our College Lecturers working on the legal, social and philosophical implications of bio-medical science. We have a vision to expand the college-based integrative research focus across multiple relevant disciplines, to create a dynamic

workplace that actively fosters its senior members and its students. This vision brings many new challenges to the Fellowship, to ensure we create an environment with enough space for all – Fellows, Directors of Studies, Senior Members and Associates, staff and students to work, sleep, eat and talk, with all the facilities needed to support modern life and work. To ensure that these new opportunities are more than a flash-in-the-pan, we must create our vision on a foundation of financial stability, and this is now a major focus of the Fellowship.

The University of Cambridge is a special place: its huge patchwork of colleges, faculties, departments, institutions, centres and foundations brings in people from many backgrounds and with varying ambitions, and allows innovation to arise, often in unexpected ways. Hughes Hall has a special niche in this checkerboard, with our focus on access and our aim to nurture research and scholarship that will bring innovation and novel solutions to bear on the real challenges of the twenty-first century. We hope we have persuaded you, Hughes alumni and friends, of the great merit of our vision and of the value we place on your participation in it.

Dr Sara Melville, Vice President, Hughes Hall

Editor Annemarie Young, Supporting Editor Dr Elma Brenner Design by Andy Wilson (andy@andywilson.biz)Contact us with your news at The Development Office, Hughes Hall, Cambridge CB1 2EW; by email at development@hughes.cam.ac.uk

Photographs courtesy: M Wang, Dr Qin Hu and Sir Cam, Jonathan Taylor, and the Hughes Hall ArchivePrinted in England

The Future

Casting a fresh light on tradition

This beautiful image was projected onto King’s College during the spectacular finale of the University’s 800th anniversary

celebrations. The original image was produced by Dr Qin Hu, Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Hughes. It shows the nucleation process of aluminium oxide monomers in an aluminium sheet.

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