June is officially ‘Pride Month’, which the University community normally celebrates with the annual Pride St Andrews Parade.
St Andrews in the News
June 2020
Welcome to the June edition of St Andrews in the News.
We hope you enjoy everything we have to offer this month from a video clip featuring a Bobby Jones Scholarship student who chose to stay in St Andrews, to an interview of the outgoing Sabbatical Officers by final year student Daisy Sewell. We also have news about Saints Talk – a new series of online lectures – the regular alumni and student stories and experiences, as well as information about how you can start learning a new language. Please contact us if you would like to contribute your own story, video or podcast to share with our online community.
Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, Professor Sally Mapstone, has apologised on behalf of Scotland’s first University for past failures to value and elevate Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students and scholars. Read more
According to The Complete University Guide 2021 published on Tuesday 9 June 2020 the University of St Andrews is the top University in Scotland and one of the top three in the UK. Read more
Help us welcome the Class of 2020 to the alumni community
Calling all graduates!
In the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves, we need your help to welcome the Class of 2020 to our worldwide alumni community.
Send congratulations, words of advice or encouragement, an inspirational quote (or all of these!) via video, email (including a photo if possible) or an audio clip with your name, subject and year of graduation. We will then collate these messages for each subject and share them online on the relevant day for the students graduating in your subject(s).
Please help make their special day memorable by sending your message to alumni@st-andrews.ac.uk. If you need technical guidance to create a video message, please contact our Social Media Officer.
As part of the University of Sanctuary Status awarded to St Andrews, the first two Sanctuary Scholarships designed to support undergraduate and postgraduate applicants seeking sanctuary in the UK have recently been awarded to students arriving in September.
Read more
(Please note this photograph was taken before lockdown)
The deadline for applications for this year’s Green Gown Awards 2020 has been extended to 12 noon on 9 September 2020.
If you have established a sustainability initiative or enterprise, or have an idea for an award application, please contact the Environment Team at St Andrews in the first instance for advice and support regarding your application.
General Council News
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Summer meeting of the General Council has been cancelled. Papers are available on the General Council minutes page.
The Winter meeting of the General Council meeting is currently scheduled for Saturday 28 November 2020.
If you finished your course 15 months ago, you will be contacted soon and asked to complete the Graduate Outcomes survey. This helps to provide information about where you are in your career and to inspire the next generation of students about their future careers.
When you are completing the survey, please give as much detailed and accurate information as possible – especially about your job title and duties.
Remember that the Careers Centre is still here to help you to progress in your early graduate career with all sorts of advice and CV checks. Visit our alumni careers web page for inspiration and support as a recent St Andrews graduate.
You can also Visit our dedicated careers and alumni networking platform to keep up to date with the latest news from the Careers Centre and to find out more about how you can volunteer your time to help our student community.
SAINTS IN THE NEWS
Saints in the News
Our alumni, staff and supporters are among those making the news locally, nationally and internationally: see below a selection of our recent ‘Saints in the News’. Let us know at alumni@st-andrews.ac.uk if you spot any more!
Professor Sir Ian Boyd – a key Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) member, former Chief Scientific Adviser at DEFRA and creator of the Scottish Oceans Institute at St Andrews – answered questions recently on BBC Sounds.
Dr Fiona Hill (MA 1989) has reflected ‘on her journey from County Durham to Washington’ in the Guardian.
Stephen Reicher – Professor of Psychology at the University and a member of the Sage subcommittee advising on behavioural science – wrote an opinion piece published in the Guardian.
Pneumagen Ltd – the University spin-out – has had positive results in laboratory tests against Covid-19. The technology came from the research of Professor Garry Taylor FRSE – Professor of Molecular Biophysics and former Deputy Principal – and Dr Helen Connaris in the Biomedical Research Complex.
To date – thanks to your generosity – we have secured over £620,000. Our University community never ceases to amaze.
We know that the pandemic has affected many people’s finances adversely and we therefore do not ask for your support lightly. However, these are extraordinary times and any donation you can make – regardless of size – is crucial to many of our students.
If you would like to make a donation at this time, it would be very much appreciated. Thank you – from the bottom of our hearts.
We are delighted to announce that the first awards have been made to Kilrenny, Anstruther and Cellardyke Community Council, Community Action St Andrews (CASA), the St Andrews Preservation Trust and the City of St Andrews Pipe Band. Read more
Thanks to you, we have smashed our target, but PLEASE keep on passing the splash until graduation week to celebrate your time here, help students who are following in your footsteps and support the University Community Fund!
If you would like to make a donation at this time, it would be very much appreciated.
STAY CONNECTED: ONLINE EVENTS
Saints Talk
Welcome to Saints Talk – our new series of online lectures. Join us for the second lecture in in the series: the Neurobiology of Alzheimer’s Disease by Professor Frank Gunn-Moore on Tuesday 30 June 2020 at 5pm (BST) streaming on our YouTube channel.
Dementia is an umbrella term for many different types of neurodegeneration of the brain. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common and makes up to 60% of cases. Each year, the global cost of dementia is over $817bn. By 2050 it is predicted that there will be 130 million cases worldwide.
In this short presentation Professor Frank Gunn-Moore will describe some of the interdisciplinary research that his group and others are currently undertaking within Biology, Chemistry and Physics to understand what dementia is, why it is only humans who get it and what the possibilities of new treatments are.
In case you missed the first lecture – Museums in the University of St Andrews: past, present and future by Dr Catherine Eagleton, Director of Museums - you can watch it on YouTube.
Saint Connect is our exclusive platform for University of St Andrews alumni, students and parents. We are delighted to announce the jobs board is now fully operational, with over 650 listed on the site. You can also use Saint Connect to reconnect with former classmates and use the trusted University of St Andrews environment to expand your professional network.
You can also keep St Andrews in your pocket with a brand-new app: Apple Store (download Graduway Community app, then search University of St Andrews), Google Play Store.
US Career Events
Join us for Careers in US Government - the final virtual career event in our recent series. There will be time for a Q&A session. Click the link below to register your place via Saint Connect and find out more about the event.
Seaside Laboratory
Monday 8 June was #WorldOceansDay and 2020 is Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters – join us from the comfort of home as we set sail on a brief virtual voyage with a new blog post on the University’s incredible heritage of teaching, learning and doing in the so-called “Seaside Laboratory”. Follow the blog for new and archive articles on St Andrews, our heritage and highlights.
Scottish Art
Our ongoing focus on the Harry & Margery Boswell collection has seen features on the water-based artists we hold in our collection, the work of film maker and photographer, David Peat and artist Toby Paterson, whose work reflects on the visual experience offered over time through the architecture of Post-War Britain. Check out images and insights on our Instagram account.
The University has been running evening classes in an assortment of European and Asian languages for nearly 40 years. From the new semester (2020-2021) we are running them online so we can make them accessible to a global audience. A trial run this spring comprised a class of students from Beijing, Rome and Auchtermuchty!
Everyone over 16 can apply – you don’t have to be a matriculated student. Courses cost £120 for 10 lessons.
For details on the languages and levels available, prices and how to enrol please go to our web page.
The (George) Buchanan Project (led by Professor Mary Orr with support from the University’s Undergraduate Research Assistant Scheme) aims to reflect the central importance of Modern Languages at St Andrews – past, present and future – and to showcase potential and inspiring career pathways for current Modern Languages undergraduates.
Please contribute to the project by sending photographs and memories of your time here (including from your year abroad) and/or your career profile to Katharine Lovatt at kl96@st-andrews.ac.uk
We have had a great response so far to our Alumni Playlist, which already has 240 songs!
Indulge in some nostalgia by going to our Alumni Playlist on Spotify and adding the song that transports you back to your days at St Andrews. Remember to let us know what makes it special to you.
SAINTS AT HOME
We are continuing to ask graduates at home all over the world about (amongst other things) their favourite St Andrews memories and their guilty pleasures. You can take a sneak peak at the first contribution by Naomi Boon (MSc 2019). If you would like to take part email audrey.dyce@st-andrews.ac.uk for a full list of questions!
Lots of you have also been sharing your #IndoorSaints experiences with us through blogs and videos. We hope you enjoy this selection from Claire Barnes – a Bobby Jones Scholar and Dugald Bruce-Lockhart (MA 1990) who describes how closed squash courts at Butts Wynd led to him becoming a published author. Huge thanks to Dugald, who hosted our first ever ‘Meet the Author’ live event on Facebook last week to talk about The Lizard. If you missed it, you can watch again (insert link)
Daisy Sewell – a final year Development intern interviewed the 2019/20 Sabbatical Officers back in February for the first episode of Daisy Meets, and Dr Gladys Kalema Zikusoka – the winner of this year’s St Andrews Prize for the Environment - describes the strategic programmes and structures that have brought her ‘one health’ model both recognition and validation – in particular because of its positive management of Covid-19.
If you would like to share a blog, video or podcast, please let us know by emailing us at alumni@st-andrews.ac.uk.
Alumni and Club events have been cancelled for the time being, so why not use this time to reconnect with former classmates? Get in touch and we will be happy to pass on messages and promote any Club events you are holding. Look out for our schedule of online events for alumni and friends across the world!
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