University of Exeter celebrates summer graduation

The Rt Hon Lord Adonis and the Rt Hon Sir John Goldring will be taking to the stage in the Great Hall at the Streatham Campus on Monday 13 July, the first day of the week-long series of ceremonies. Lord Adonis was part of Gordon Brown’s cabinet as Secretary of State for Transport, having previously served as Minister of State for Education. Sir John Goldring is an Exeter alumnus, retired Lord Justice of Appeal and now sits as Coroner.

On Tuesday 14 July we welcome Professor Ralph Wilcox, Provost and Executive Vice President at the University of South Florida, the eighth largest university in the United States. Abi Morgan, playwright and screenwriter of films and drama such as The Iron lady, The Hour and Sex Traffic, will also receive her award on Tuesday. Both Prof Wilcox and Abi Morgan are Exeter alumni.

On Wednesday 15 July Biosciences graduands will have Professor Dame Anne Glover DBE in attendance at their ceremony and Sport and Health Sciences will be joined by athlete Jo Pavey, who was recently recognised with an MBE for services to athletics in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. Prof Glover is Vice-Principal External Affairs & Dean for Europe at the University of Aberdeen. She was previously the first ever Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland.  Later in the day, Mandy McBain MBE who spent 25 years in the British Armed Forces and now works for Stonewall, and Richard Atkins, Principal at Exeter College, will receive their doctorates in the 11.45am and the 3.00pm ceremonies respectively.

On Thursday 16 July, Professor Dame Julia King DBE, FREng, Vice-Chancellor of Aston University, Sir Andrew Witty CEO of GlaxoSmithKline and Chancellor of Nottingham University, and Nobel Prize winner Alvin Roth, Professor of Economics at Stanford University will be honoured for their contributions in their respective fields.

On the last day of graduation week in Streatham, the Business School welcomes Graham Cole CBE FRAeS, Chairman of AgustaWestland Ltd, and Dame Alison Carnwath DBE, Non-Executive Chair of Land Securities Group plc and member of the Business School Advisory Board as its Honorary Graduates. In the afternoon, the two Medical Schools will honour Professor Sir John Bell GBE, FRS who is the Regius Chair of Medicine at Oxford University and an internationally respected scientist and clinician.

The celebrations continue in Truro Cathedral on Monday when the Penryn Campus greets Professor Stephen T Holgate CBE who is the MRC Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton and Dr Anthony Batchelor, representing the Camborne School of Mines (CSM) Trust which will be inducted into the College of Benefactors.

Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE DL, the University’s Chancellor commented: “This year will be my final Summer graduation as Chancellor, so I am particularly pleased to see the wonderful list of distinguished guest that will be joining me for the ceremonies. Of course, the most important people are the students and I’m sure they will remember both their graduation and their whole time at Exeter as a special period in their lives, as they venture out in to the world to make a difference.”

The ceremonies will be streamed live from our Graduation website. A full timetable of ceremonies can be viewed on our dates and schedules page.