Thousands of graduates and visitors from around the world are preparing to descend on Southampton and Winchester as the University of Southampton celebrates its 2019 summer graduation ceremonies (17-26 July).
Over the eight days, the University will host 45 ceremonies across three venues – the Turner Sims concert hall and Nuffield Theatre on Southampton’s Highfield Campus, and Winchester Cathedral.
Then and Now
This year, the University is asking its graduates and alumni to take part in its nostalgic ‘Then and Now’ challenge via social media. Using the hashtag on Twitter and other channels, this year’s graduates are asked to share photos of themselves from their first year and one from their graduation day, saying how their lives have changed during the intervening years.
For those who have already graduated, the University is asking for photos from their graduation day together with a follow-up photo of themselves now whilst also reflecting on their life’s journey since they were students.
Summer Graduation 2019
Amongst those presiding over this year’s Summer ceremonies are Pro-Chancellors and Southampton graduates Jon Sopel, the BBC’s North America Editor; Colin Smith, former Director and Group President of Rolls-Royce and Chair of UK Industry Aerospace Growth Partnership; and Dame Veronica Sutherland, diplomat and former ambassador to the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger and the Republic of Ireland. Fellow Pro-Chancellor Gill Rider, former Director General in the Cabinet Office, President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and former Chair of the University of Southampton Council, will also preside.
Amongst the 2019 Honorary Graduates are world-renowned anthropologist and primatologist Dr Jane Goodall; the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Rt Hon Helen Clark; Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Tyler of Enfield; investment manager and media commentator Justin Urquhart Stewart and leading oceanographer Sir Anthony Seymour Laughton.
This year, ceremonies for the University’s Winchester School of Art will be held in Winchester Cathedral for the first time in many years. The fourth group to complete their studies via the University of Southampton Malaysia will also be graduating. These students spend the first two years of their studies at the University’s campus in Malaysia before transferring to Southampton for a further two years of study to finish their degrees.
Honorary Degree recipients – Summer 2019
Southampton will also present honorary degrees to leading figures in the fields of anthropology, oceanography, investment and finance, UK and global politics, and social policy:
Jane Goodall (Honorary Doctor of Science) – Dr Goodall is a world-renowned primatologist and anthropologist, and considered to be the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees. She is best known for her continual study, initiated in 1960, of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Park in Tanzania. A UN Messenger of Peace, she is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and the Roots & Shoots programme, working and speaking extensively around the world to raise much-needed awareness on conservation and animal welfare issues.
Sir Anthony Seymour Laughton (Honorary Doctor of Science) – Sir Anthony is an oceanographer whose research has made a major contribution to our understanding of plate tectonics and seafloor spreading, pioneering the sonar-based research of ocean floors with the Geologic Long Range Inclined Asdic (GLORIA) in the 1960s. His findings have also been important in establishing the basis for claims, under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to parts of ocean floor and thus to any underlying resources.
Justin Urquhart Stewart (Honorary Doctor of Letters) – Mr Stewart is a British investment manager and media commentator who is the co-founder and Head of Corporate Development at the investment fund 7IM (Seven Investment Management), created to deliver radical common sense in an industry where that quality is hard to find. Having studied law at the University of Southampton, he initially trained as a barrister before moving into international corporate and trade finance and was involved in the development of ‘Big Bang’, the then government’s programme to deregulate the financial markets.
Rt Hon Helen Clark (Honorary Doctor of Letters) – Ms Clark was Prime Minister of New Zealand for three successive terms from 1999 to 2008. She was the first woman to become Prime Minister following a general election in New Zealand and the second woman to serve as Prime Minister. Throughout her tenure, she engaged widely in policy development and advocacy across the international affairs, economic, social, environmental and cultural spheres.
Claire Tyler (Honorary Doctor of Letters) – a Law and Politics graduate of the University of Southampton, Ms Tyler has gone on to sit in the House of Lords as Baroness Tyler of Enfield. She is the Lead Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Mental Health in the Lords and is currently a member of the Lords Select Committee on Intergenerational Fairness. She also chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility and is Vice Chair of five other All-Party Groups in the social policy field.
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