Alumni and friends met the Master, Roger Mosey, and development director Mike Nicholson at a reception and dinner in San Francisco on Tuesday July 14th. Selwynites are well represented in California in jobs ranging from finance and the high-tech industries to advising the British government on climate change.

Next in the diary: Selwyn choir events in Seattle (July 15th), Victoria (July 18th) and Vancouver (July 21st) - each accompanied by receptions for all Cambridge alumni in those cities.

 

The College welcomed back alumni for its annual Commemoration of Benefactors service and dinner on Friday July 3^rd. This marks our thanksgiving for the people who founded the College in 1882 and our appreciation for those who have supported it over the past 133 years. The toast at the dinner was proposed by Sir Simon Hughes, the former Liberal Democrat MP and Justice Minister, who became an undergraduate member of Selwyn in 1970. Sir Simon was president of the JCR in his time at the College, and he went on to win 8 elections as the MP for Bermondsey.

Also at the event were two people showing the strength and longevity of the Selwyn community. They were Tom Dixon, who came up to the College in 1943; and our MCR president Josh Maher, who arrived in 2013. That 70-year gap makes the photograph (below) one that was seven decades in the making.

 

There are more pictures from Commem and from the College Garden Party on our Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/selalum/

 

Two Selwynites appeared on BBC Radio 3 this week. On Monday Clare Walker Gore spoke on ‘Free
Thinking’ about disability in the works of Trollope. Clare is one of the Radio 3 New Generation
Thinkers, and will be broadcasting on the network throughout the next year. You can hear the
programme via the BBC iPlayer:
href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b060zmjs">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b060zmjs

In Thursday’s edition of the programme, Selwyn Fellow Patrick Baert discussed French thought
- based on his new book about Jean-Paul Sartre and Existentialism. Again, it is available to listen to
online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b060zryk

Selwyn College is delighted to announce that Dr Mike Sewell will become its Senior Tutor in
succession to Dr James Keeler. Dr Sewell, who is a long-standing Fellow of Selwyn, is currently
Director of Admissions for the Cambridge Colleges and a University lecturer at the Institute of
Continuing Education. He will take up his new role at the start of the calendar year 2016.

The Master of Selwyn, Roger Mosey, said: ‘Mike has a deep attachment to Selwyn and to its academic
standards and pastoral care. He also has huge experience in the University and a commitment to
bringing the brightest people to Cambridge whatever their background and financial means. I am
thrilled that he will be applying his energy and ideas to the role of Senior Tutor.’

Mike Sewell commented: ‘I am honoured to be appointed to this role and look forward to working with
colleagues and students to ensure that Selwyn goes from strength to strength. James Keeler will be
very hard act to follow and I want to pay tribute to him for all that he has done for the
College.’

Dr Sewell read History at Cambridge (Christ’s College) before undertaking a PhD on Anglo-American
relations 1870-1898. He was successively Mellon Research Fellow in US History in the Faculty of
History and Keasbey Research Fellow in American Studies at Selwyn College before his appointment in
1990 as University Lecturer, Academic Director for History and International Relations at what is
now the Institute of Continuing Education. Dr Sewell’s main areas of academic interest are the
history of US foreign relations and the international history of the Cold War. He has been a Tutor
to both undergraduates and postgraduates and a Director of Studies at Selwyn College. Since 2003,
Dr Sewell has been Admissions Tutor for Arts and Social Science subjects at Selwyn. He was Chairman
of the Intercollegiate Admissions Forum from 2004 to 2012.

Two books are being published by Selwyn authors this week. Wednesday July 1^st is the date for an
account by the Master, Roger Mosey, of his time in broadcasting. ‘Getting Out Alive: News, Sport
and Politics at the BBC’ also includes a chapter about Selwyn and Cambridge. All the
author’s
proceeds from the book will be donated to supporting less well-off students in their studies here.
You can read more about the book by clicking on this link:

https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/getting-out-alive

 

On Friday July 3^rd there will be the publication of a book by Selwyn Fellow Professor Patrick
Baert, entitled ‘The Existentialist Moment: The rise of Sartre as a public intellectual’. It traces
Jean-Paul Sartre’s rise to fame after the trauma in France of the Second World War. Details can be
found at
http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745685397.

Buying books from Amazon via this link makes a further contribution to College funds:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/?&tag=selwyncollege-21&camp=1694&creative=6702&linkCode=ur1&adid=01MW675QSZSP0V527X4A&&ref-refURL=

Selwyn students were awarded their degrees in the Senate House on Friday June 27th. The College congratulates all those who graduated this year, and wishes them well in their careers or further studies. It was the last General Admission for Praelector David Chivers, who is shown below leaving the Senate House – to the cheers of Fellows and students assembled outside.

 

Earlier, the families and friends of the graduands had gathered in Old Court to wish them well.

For many more photographs of the day, please have a look at our Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/selalum/sets/72157654729361829

Selwyn brought Cambridge’s May Ball season to a close on Saturday June 20th with a spectacular event across the College grounds. Around 1600 people, including current students, alumni and guests from other colleges, enjoyed a night of music, food and fireworks – with a Ferris wheel in Old Court proving to be one of the biggest attractions. The photo below, by student Nicky Collins, shows the moment just before 11pm when the firework display took place.

More images can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/selalum/sets/72157654917723995

Selwyn PhD student Clare Walker-Gore has been named as one of the BBC's ten New Generation Thinkers for 2015 in recognition of her work on disability in Victorian Literature. Clare, who went to school in Wakefield in West Yorkshire, first came to Selwyn as an undergraduate in 2007; and we’re delighted that her academic efforts here have been recognised. Clare is now preparing for her first broadcast on Radio 3 in early July, and she will contribute to the ‘Free Thinking’ programme throughout the coming twelve months. Read more about all the New Generation Thinkers on the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/r3-new-gen-thinkers

 

Selwyn Fellow Ken Coutts (SE 1968) has co-authored a report on the effect of
liberal market policies introduced after the election of Margaret Thatcher
in 1979. It was widely featured in the newspapers, with much interest in the
argument that the UK’s economic performance was better before the reforms:

 

And Selwyn’s Professor Colin Humphreys has a public lecture on Monday June
15th about Gallium Nitride LEDs: how they can save energy, purify water,
improve our health - and be manufactured in the UK. It’s at 7.30pm in
Churchill College, with more information here:

http://www.csar.org.uk/programs2/syn/2014-15/15062015.pdf

The Cambridge May Bumps - the most important inter-collegiate rowing event of the year - took place
from Wednesday June 10th to Saturday June 14th. Overall, it was a disappointing week for the Selwyn
crews: the College finished next to the bottom of the table with a net Pegasus Cup score of -28.
The bright spot was a good performance from the M1 boat, who started at the top of Division 2 and
were promoted on the first day - and then went on to improve their position in the rest of the
week. You can check all the Selwyn results at

Our photo shows the successful Selwyn M1 crew. They are from bow, with the year they started at the
College: Nigel Coburn 2012, Max Sherman 2014, Marcos Gallego Llorente 2013, Rob Galbenu 2013, James
Perry 2013, Charlie Cullen 2013, Charlie Nye 2012, Felix Newman 2013, and cox Will McDermott 2012.