The University of Bath’s 2012 summer degree award ceremonies take place next week, with more than 2,300 students expected to attend at the city’s Abbey.
The ten ceremonies will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (3, 4, & 5 July), with awards made to ten honorary graduates for outstanding achievements spanning the fields of science and medicine, sport, engineering, business, the voluntary sector and policy-making.
Students from the Faculty of Engineering & Design, School of Management, Faculty of Humanities & Social Science and Faculty of Science will all be receiving their degrees.
The ceremonies, presided over by the University’s Chancellor, Lord Tugendhat, will all be preceded by a public procession of some of the University’s senior officers and academics.
The first ceremony at 10am on Tuesday 3 July will be attended by the Mayor of Bath, Councillor Andrew Furse, and the Chairman of Bath & North East Somerset Council, Councillor Rob Appleyard.
The processions will begin at the Guildhall, go into the High Street, turn right into Cheap Street, and left down Farrs Passage into the Abbey Churchyard. They will return after the ceremonies past Rebecca’s Fountain and into the High Street.
These roads will be closed to traffic for about six minutes during the processions, which will occur at approximately 9.55am, 11.00am (return), 12.25pm, 1.30pm (return), 2.55pm and 4.00pm (return) on all three days, and on Thursday an extra ceremony will have processions at 5.25pm and 6.30pm (return).
Bath Abbey will be closed to visitors during the day from Monday 2 July to Thursday 5 July, but will open in the evening from 5pm to 8pm (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). The Abbey shop will open as usual from 10am to 5.30pm with late night opening until 8pm (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). Tower Tours will run on the hour from 10am to 6pm on Monday, and at 5pm, 6pm and 7pm (Tuesday and Wednesday). The Abbey and Tower will be closed to visitors on Thursday but will resume normal visiting hours on Friday 6 July.
Honorary graduates are:
- David Embleton – who will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Science on Tuesday (10am). David started his career writing software for Marconi Radar Systems and Logica, before setting up IPL software house in Bath. The company is one of Bath’s most successful businesses and now employs around 270 staff, with a turnover of around £28 million. He has been Pro-Chancellor at the University, helping to develop commercialisation of the University’s work and supporting spin-out companies. He is co-founder of Eden Ventures, an early-stage technology investment company that has funded more than 30 businesses since 2004.
- Howard Nicholson – who will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on Tuesday (12.30pm). Howard has been University Librarian at the University of Bath since September 1992. He started his career working as an Assistant Librarian at the University of Sussex and then worked as a Sub-Librarian at the London School of Economics. He has led the library at Bath through a period of momentous change in its function and role. His vision led to an investment of £6.5 million in a library extension, seeing the Learning Centre fitted out with an extra 500 computers to embrace e-learning. He jointly pioneered the country’s first 24-hour university library at Bath.
- Ian Sutherland – who will receive an honorary degree of Master of Arts on Tuesday (3pm). Following the death of a homeless man on the streets of Bath in 1987, Ian was one of a number of individuals and churches who came together to set up a temporary night shelter in the city. He joined the organisation as a volunteer, with no previous experience in the field. He became heavily involved in a fundraising campaign for a dedicated night shelter, and in 1993 Julian House was opened. Ian became the charity’s first director and has worked tirelessly to guide the charity to become the leading provider of services to homeless men and women in Bath & North East Somerset.
- Professor Jim Norton – who will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on Wednesday (10am). Professor Norton has had an impressive career as an independent director, policy adviser and public speaker. He is involved with many organisations including the Board of the UK Parliament’s Office of Science & Technology (POST) as an external member. He is also a Non-Executive Director of F&C Capital & Income Investment Trust plc, where he chairs the Audit and Management Engagement Committee. In addition, he is a Visiting Professor of Electronic Engineering at Sheffield University where he also provides guest lectures at the Management School.
- Lord Bernard Ribeiro – who will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering on Thursday (12.30pm). Lord Ribeiro was a Consultant General Surgeon with an interest in urology and colorectal surgery at Basildon Hospital from 1979 to 2008. He pioneered the use of minimally invasive surgery. From 2005 to 2008 he was the President of the Royal College of Surgeons and made significant contributions to surgical training, culminating in the introduction of the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme. In 2004 he was awarded the CBE for his ‘immeasurable’ services to medicine, and in December 2008 he was appointed Knight Bachelor in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for his services to medicine.
- Professor Datuk Mohamed Salleh – who will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Science on Wednesday (12.30pm). Professor Salleh is an eminent Malaysian academic of international standing. He completed his PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Bath in 1980 and began his career as a lecturer in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the National University of Malaysia (UKM). Following promotion to Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs in the Faculty of Medicine he championed the creation of biomedical sciences-related programmes in Malaysia and set up the first Faculty of Allied Health Sciences in Malaysia at UKM. He went on to become the University’s Vice-Chancellor and retired in 2006. He is the recipient of a ‘Panglima Setia Mahkota’– Malaysia’s second highest award, in recognition of his contributions to education development and society.
- Christopher Holmes MBE – who will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on Wednesday (3pm). After losing his sight overnight at the age of 14 Chris went on to become Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmer, winning six gold medals at the Barcelona Games in 1992 and a further three at Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. Following the Barcelona Games he was awarded an MBE for services to British sport, aged only 20. He read politics at the University of Cambridge and until recently was a commercial lawyer at a leading City practice. In addition he served as a Disability Rights Commissioner for five and a half years. Chris was an ambassador to the successful London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games bid and is now Director of Paralympic Integration for LOCOG (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games).
- Antonio Horta-Osório – who will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on Thursday (10am). Antonio was appointed Group Chief Executive of Lloyds Bank in 2011, charged with transforming one of the world’s leading banks at the notably young age of 48. Previously he was the Chief Executive of Santander UK, directing the bank’s rapid expansion. He joined the Santander Banking Group in 1993, leading its growth in Latin America, as Chairman of Santander Totta and prior to that, CEO of Banco Santander Brazil. In 2004 he was appointed a Non-Executive Director of the Court of the Bank of England. He holds an AMP (Advanced Management Program) from Harvard and an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) in France, one of the leading business schools in the world. He was recently listed as one of its 50 alumni who have most ‘changed the world’.
- Professor Dr Christiane Nusslein-Volhard – who will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine on Thursday (3pm). Professor Nusslein-Volhard is an eminent geneticist and recognised as one of the most influential scientists of the 20th Century. Her work underpins our modern understanding of the genetic basis of animal and human development, and consequently of developmental diseases such as birth defects and cancer. She is Director of the Max Planck Institute of Developmental Biology at Tϋbingen, Germany, and Honorary Professor at the University of Tϋbingen. She has received numerous international honours and prizes, most notably sharing the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1995. Recognising the difficulties experienced by women scientists in maintaining their careers, she established the Christiane Nusslein-Volhard Foundation to support Women in Science.
- Roger Pedder – who will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on Thursday (5.30pm). Roger is one of the UK’s leading authorities on successful family businesses and on turning around ailing retail companies. He started his career on a graduate training scheme at Clarks Shoes. In the 1980s he took Halfords from a company of loss-making high street shops to out-of-town stores with high profits. He founded Pet City in 1989. As Chairman of Robert Dyas Holdings, he helped to transform the company from a £4 million loss to a business generating £8 million profit. In 1993 Roger became Chairman of Clarks, developing the business to become the fourth largest shoe company in the world. Since his retirement in 2006, Roger has had a leading role in the support of family businesses. He has been Chairman of University’s School of Management Advisory Board, Chairman of the University Estates Committee and Honorary Treasurer.