Alumni who graduated in 1969 have been invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their graduation at a special golden graduation ceremony in Canterbury Cathedral on Friday 19 July 2019 at 10.30.

The Development Office started the golden graduations last year – thought to be the first such event at a UK university – to celebrate the lifetime relationship the University has with its alumni.

The arrangements for the day will see our graduates from 1969 process into the Cathedral with our graduands, robed in graduation gowns with the appropriate faculty hood from the degree. They will receive a golden graduation certificate in the same way as this year’s graduands receive their degree certificate – conferred by the Chancellor in front of your guests.

The occasion connects alumni with our newest graduates, and it was an impressive sight to see students from the 1960s process into Canterbury Cathedral with our newest graduates last year.

We do not hold current contact information for all who graduated in 1969. If you are in touch with an former students or staff from this year please ask them to contact Bryony Ayling in the Development Office by email events@kent.ac.uk.

The Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies hosted an all day celebration of Classics on 3 April 2019, running two sets of workshops for members of the University of the Third Age (U3A), as well as talks for applicants, an afternoon showcasing postgraduate and staff research in the Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies, a reception, and a performance of an ancient Greek comedy, Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, by undergraduates in the evening.

The workshops, run by Dr Rosie Wyles, offered members of the U3A an introduction to Greek comedy and explored the issues raised by Aristophanes’ Lysistrata for ancient and modern audiences. Participants had the opportunity to see the play in action by dropping into the dress rehearsal in the afternoon or staying to watch the performance in the evening. In feedback, participants said that they had ‘thoroughly enjoyed’ all aspects of the day and that after attending the workshop, they found that their understanding and appreciation of the performance was much greater.

The performance of Lysistrata in the evening received riotous – and well-deserved – applause. Dr Rosie Wyles said ‘The production was entirely the work of  undergraduates and they produced a fast-paced, brilliantly acted, slick production which was hilarious. They certainly did the ancient playwright justice – it was superb to see them bring the comedy to life’.

The Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies is grateful to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies and the Institute for Classical Studies, London for their generous support of the workshops and play.

On Wednesday 20 March, the Success Accelerator Programme brought 15 talented first-year students to London to experience the world of business by taking part in a mini-hackathon. They were put to the test, using their creativity and skills to analyse and find a solution to a business problem.

The Success Accelerator Programme, which is sponsored by the Kent Opportunity Fund, aims to inspire students at Kent to achieve a career in the City. The programme includes students from the School of Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, and Actuarial Science and Law. Currently, there are 14 alumni mentors, all professionals dedicated to improving outcomes for those students looking to achieve their own version of success by gaining employment in London. These mentors work in partnership with the University of Kent to support students with mentoring and work experience that will serve as a springboard for their future careers.

The mini-hackathon gave students a flavour of the working world and exposed them to some key concepts of Financial Technology (FinTech). Students worked in teams as “consultants” to think of a solution to a problem using FinTech and Alumni mentors acted as senior partners, there to empower them. They created a professional pitch deck and presented their concepts to industry professionals and graduate employers, who were board members; judging their work to what would be considered in the real world! The consultants delivered strong pitches and provided great answers when responding to questions from the board, who were very impressed with their proposed solutions.

This was a fantastic event, which gave our first-year students a great insight into FinTech and a career in the City. We look forward to seeing what else our mentees are involved in during the programme, later on, this year!

The Department of Modern Languages was delighted to welcome Dr José Ramón Calvo Ferrer from the Universidad de Alicante, Spain, who visited the University during the final week of the spring term through the Erasmus Staff Mobility scheme.

José Ramón gave a two-hour revision seminar and further drop-in tutorials for final-year Hispanic Studies students visited The Maplesden Noakes School in Maidstone, one of the University of Kent’s Partner Schools, to deliver interactive workshops to GCSE students on grammar and the festivals and traditions of Spain. He is pictured with language teachers at Maplesden Noakes School.

Later in the week he visited Fort Pitt Grammar School in Chatham to deliver sessions to GCSE and A-Level students.

We look forward to welcoming José Ramón back to the University during the next academic year.

This Easter, Kent Bunny will be delivering chocolate eggs to Medway hospital children’s ward. We are asking you to help us do this by donating eggs for us to deliver. You can do this by:

💻Going to our Amazon Wishlist and select one of our eggs to purchase.

This will be sent directly to us for Kent Bunny to deliver. https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/5FJ3TK8DELGA/

🏢 Or buying chocolate eggs and dropping them off to us on the Canterbury campus.

Come to Development Office, University of Kent

Room G17, Rutherford Annexe

Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NX, UK

As the University mascot, Kent Bunny likes spreading cheer around the University and wider community and he would love your help to do this!

Natalia Sobrevilla Perea, Professor of Latin American history for the Department of Modern Languages, has recently appeared on the BBC’s Writing History programme in an episode entitled ‘Abolishing the army’.

The programme, presented by Mike Lanchin, considers the example of Costa Rica dissolving its Armed Forces after a brief civil war in 1948. After a brief civil war in March-April 1948, the new president of Costa Rica, Jose Figueres, took the audacious step of dissolving the Armed Forces. Since then Costa Rica has been the only Latin American nation without a standing army. Listeners heard from 94-year-old Enrique Obregon, who served in the military before its dissolution.

On the programme, Natalia commented that: ‘The narrative was that the military was not needed, that the more effective way would be through internal policing. That was a very radical move. [Costa Rica] didn’t really have a very big army to begin with, so it was easier than it would have been in other places… and it was couched in this language of inclusion, modernisation and democracy.’

Dr Jo Stoner, Research Associate in the Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies, has published a new book entitled The Cultural Lives of Domestic Objects in Late Antiquity (Brill, 2019).

In her book, Jo investigates the role of domestic material culture in Late Antiquity. Using archaeological, visual and textual evidence from across the Roman Empire, the personal meanings of late antique possessions are revealed through reference to theoretical approaches including ‘object biography’. Heirlooms, souvenirs, and gift objects are discussed in terms of sentimental value, before the book culminates in a case study reassessing baskets as an artefact type. This volume succeeds in demonstrating personal scales of value for artefacts, moving away from the focus on economic and social status that dominate studies in this field. It thus represents a new interpretation of domestic material culture from Late Antiquity, revealing how objects transformed houses into homes during this period.

This book is based upon Jo’s PhD thesis, produced at the University of Kent, as part of the research project The Visualisation of the Late Antique City (2011–2014), funded by the Leverhulme Trust, for which Luke Lavan was Principal investigator and Ellen Swift Co-investigator.