Dear Alumna,

After what has been for many a sombre month, we hope that you, like us, are seeing the green shoots of spring. The UK is gradually coming out of lockdown, and it’s a pleasure to see our students gathering in groups in the College gardens. It’ll be a while before we can hold our face-to-face events. Nonetheless, our online events programme has plenty to engage your mind (Ottoline Leyser on what keeps society divided) and senses (Anne Denholm’s all-female composer harp concert) so do enjoy the videos included in this month's newsletter.

Our students, Fellows and alumnae are as always, looking to the future. This month, you can read about two of the many volunteering endeavours alumnae have undertaken, helping with vaccination and catch-up tutoring programmes. We marked Green Week with the planting of our first tree as part of our Global Tree Planting Project. First year classicist Dominika created a video diary sharing some of the happy moments for her as a Newnham student despite lockdown and students Shien and Charlotte asked some of the men of Cambridge what men should do to challenge sexual harassment. And, as always, we have events for you to book, catch up on and news from our community in College and around the world.

With warmest wishes, 

- The Roll & Development Office

Newnham alumna and Director of Studies Prof Ruth Cameron (NC 1985) has been honoured with one of this year’s 12 Suffrage Science awards, in recognition of her work in biomaterials. | Carole Angier's (NC 1969) book Speak, Silence: In Search of W G Sebald, will be published by Bloomsbury in August. | Ali Smith's (NC 1985) book, Summer, was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. | Research led by Newnham Senior Member Adam Pellegrini suggests forests' long-term capacity to store carbon is declining in regions with extreme annual fires. | Rachael Ashton (NC 2007) was part of the 'Born in Lockdown' ebook project to create an account of motherhood at this historic time. | Miriam Margolyes (NC 1960) Almost Australian won 'Best Documentary/Factual series' at the inaugural Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) Awards. | Dr Shahina Ghazanfar (NC 1978) has been awarded the Linnean Medal 2021 in the field of Botany. Alumna Agnes Arber (NC 1899) is another of the few women to have been awarded this medal. | The role of Newnham's first Principal, Anne Jemima Clough was explored by ICE as laying the foundations for the continuing adult education the institute provides today. | On Saturday 20 March, students attended a Wikipedia workshop on Zoom, to equip them with the skills to edit and add entries for women, who are hugely underrepresented on Wikipedia, as part of #Newnham150. | Alumna Lady Justice Vivien Rose (NC 1979) will join the Supreme Court as a Justice in April. | Alumna Alexandra Davies (NC 2008) is the General Manager of the globally renowned professional choir Tenebrae and would like to invite alumnae to enjoy the dazzling array of concerts, almost all free to view, available to watch until early May.

The official Cambridge 75th Women's Blue Boat crew for The Gemini Boat Race 2021 was announced and included three Newnham students returning to the crew, Caoimhe Dempsey, Sarah Portsmouth and Adriana Perez Rotondo. Cambridge currently lead the results tally in this race by 44 to 30.

You can enjoy the build-up to and The Boat Race 2021 live from Sunday April 4 15:00-17:00 BST on BBC One with Clare Balding (NC 1990) as it takes place as a closed event on the River Ouse at Ely. The Reserve Races will take place later in 2021.

We will be welcoming friends and Honourary Fellows Sandi Toksvig and Marin Alsop in conversation virtually at 16:00 BST on 1 April followed by a Q&A. Please book here - booking closes at noon 1 April so book fast. Please note the change of time to 16:00 BST if you have already booked.

Commemoration 2021 - a reminder for those who matriculated in the years 1951, 1961, 1971, 1996 & 2011 - you are invited to celebrate virtually with us on Saturday 10 April. Please see the full programme and booking details here.

All Roll members are warmly welcomed at the annual Roll AGM, taking place via Zoom on April 11 14:00 BST. Please see details and book here.

The second of our Anniversary Lectures will be delivered by Prof Rae Langton on 30 April 18:00 BST. She will interrogate the role that free speech plays in a modern democracy. Please book here. Prof Rae Langton is a philosopher, with a particular interest in speech, speech acts and social justice.

Volunteer Vaccinator - Dr Anna Watkins (NC 2001)

I’m currently living on a farm in the Cotswold with my husband and two boys, who I have been homeschooling this winter. I usually spend my time mentoring and coaching, with some independent consulting and speaking engagements. 

I've found volunteering in the vaccination centre totally great. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling frustrated during the pandemic that I didn't have the skills to be more useful, so it's great to finally be doing something practical. The people coming in are a real mixture of those who are a bit worried about needles, to those who are delighted to have a chat, to those who are emotional about the big moment and those who are chatting excitedly about booking holidays. It feels like a privilege to be part of the team and I'm looking forward to my next regular shifts. 

Volunteer Tutor - Mary-Grace Browning (NC 1963)

"In June last year, at the suggestion of a Head Teacher, I volunteered for the tutoring programme being set up by the MAT (Multi Academy Trust) I work for, under the government guidelines for the 'left behind'. I finally met my first students last month and I now have 9 aged 10-16 from 3 schools whom I am helping with Maths and English. Tutoring comes in 15 session blocks and for me these first blocks are all online. I am hoping the next set can be face to face as these students really need the sort of support that can't be satisfactorily delivered on a screen: several of them have lost confidence to the point that they will not show their faces and two of them will not speak either - just write in the chat box!

I realise how nurses and doctors felt when they had to jump through hoops to volunteer to help with testing and vaccination and the same process is followed for this tutoring but do, please, all consider it as you are needed. The number of students who are struggling with basic subjects is mind-blowingly large."

You can find out more about the National Tutoring Programme and how to get involved here.

Newnham College is currently involved in the ClickCambridge collaborative online outreach programme. Alongside other colleges, we are supporting a Year 10 stream (for UK-domiciled Black/mixed Black students) and a Year 12 stream (for UK-domiciled Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Arab (BPA)/mixed BPA students). This week, Year 12s are attending subject taster sessions involving current postgraduate students and academics, and in April Year 10 will presenting their own independent research projects. To find out more about the programme, visit the Newnham College website or email Newnham’s Schools Liaison Officer at slo@newn.cam.ac.uk.

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, and the wise stewardship of past years, the College has built up a financial endowment whose income allows us to continue our teaching and research, and to support students from all backgrounds.
 
We know that it’s important to alumnae that our investments are in line with our broader objectives, and we do this by investing in companies with responsible Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) polices.
 
For many years, Newnham has not permitted direct investment in companies selling arms, tobacco, gambling, and pornography. We avoid investing in companies abusing human or labour rights, and companies with policies based on racial or sexual discrimination.
 
We do not permit direct investment in companies involved with the production of fossil fuels. We are now moving away from indirect investment in fossil fuels, and have adopted the same target of full divestment by 2030 as the Cambridge University Endowment Fund, one of the funds in which we invest.
 
For the ESG section of our wider statement of investment principles, please see here. 

The Roll and Development office welcomed a new team member - our new Development Officer, Rosalyn Hart. Her focus in the team will be developing the Regular Giving programme and managing the annual Telephone Campaign.

She said, “I especially enjoy working on Telephone Campaigns because bringing together a calling team gives me a wonderful opportunity to interact with current students and together we are able to learn such interesting updates from our alumnae around the world.”

The 2021 Telephone Campaign will be taking place this autumn. If you would like to talk to Ros you can email her: rosalyn.hart@newn.cam.ac.uk or get in touch by telephone at +44 (0)1223 338213.

As we have now entered our celebratory 150th Anniversary years, we want to ensure that we are offering you the right opportunities to reconnect with each other and the College through events, mailings and our annual Telephone Campaign. We have commissioned a company, Buffalo FC Ltd, to construct a questionnaire and send it on our behalf to you near the end of April. If you wish to opt out, please email us at roll@newn.cam.ac.uk.

If you would like to contact the Roll & Development Office you can always email the Roll & Development Office at roll@newn.cam.ac.uk, and follow us on our Twitter and Instagram pages. We always love to hear of news, big or small, from our alumnae, so please send your updates our way! 

Our Development Director, Sarah Carthew, is always happy to speak to alumnae and can be reached directly by phone at 07464203246.