The college is delighted to announce that it has elected Lord Deben, better known as John Selwyn Gummer, as an honorary fellow.

The topping out ceremony took place on November 4th for the Bartlam library and the Quarry Whitehouse auditorium. That means the builders have reached the top of the structure and it is close to completion. The project has cost £12.6m, and the new building is expected to open in the second half of 2021.

It’s a Selwyn tradition to invite our musical freshers to give a recital at the start of the academic year. We went ahead with an event in Hall on Sunday October 25th with social distancing measures in place – and, as you’ll see from the video, additional cleaning measures too.

Four new fellows were installed in a ceremony in the college chapel on Tuesday October 6th. The installation was led by the master, Roger Mosey, and it was attended by a smaller number of senior members than usual because of the health restrictions. But it had all the traditional features with the fellows making their declaration of loyalty to Selwyn; signing the fellows’ book; and then being guided to their stalls in the chapel.  

The college has welcomed its new postgraduate and undergraduate students, and we wish them all a long and happy association with Selwyn.

Recent alumna Annabel Steadman has won a record-breaking deal for a series of children’s books. Reports say that a fierce bidding war led to a sum in seven figures for the novels, with film rights going for a similarly high valuation.

Congratulations to Selwyn fellow and director of studies in Physics Dr Deepak Venkateshvaran, who has been awarded a prestigious Royal Society university research fellowship.

At Selwyn we are very much looking forward to greeting our new freshers this autumn. We are expecting this to be the most socially diverse cohort in the college’s history, with our percentage state school students projected to reach a new high of 79%.