St John's College Alumni eNewsletter - May 2025
Robert Crow, the College’s Development Director, is leaving St John’s this month after seven years in post.
As you may be aware, Robert has a young family and has decided that he would like to take up a role that will enable him to spend more time with his children in the coming years. Given the College's new goals, the Masterplan and the fundraising strategy to support it, he felt this would be the most appropriate time to step down and to enable someone else to lead the Development team on this part of St John's journey.
Robert joined St John’s in May 2018 and has led the Development team in its fundraising and alumni relations programme. During that time, and with your generous support, significant donations have been secured for new academic posts and research, student scholarships, and for Inspire, our pioneering access and outreach programme, for which the College is very grateful. The College thanks Robert warmly for all he has achieved and wishes him all the best for the future.
Kristina McClendon, Deputy Development Director (Philanthropy), will act as Interim Development Director. Kristina joined St John’s last November from Magdalen College School where she was Deputy Development Director for four years. She can be contacted on kristina.mcclendon@sjc.ox.ac.uk.
St John's Physicists Celebrate Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics 2025
Congratulations to Dr Georg Viehhauser and Professor Tony Weidberg, for being honoured with the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, awarded to the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Dr Georg and Professor Weidberg were responsible for the construction of critical components of the ATLAS detector and are deeply involved in preparing ATLAS for its next chapter.
SJC Women's Network Online Talk: What Three St John's Graduates Did After Their Geography Degree
In this one-hour online event and Q&A on Thursday 22 May at 7pm, three St John’s College geography students (who became long-term friends during the 1990s) will share with us how they envisioned their futures when they matriculated and how they went on to develop their different careers and combine these with having children. This is a free event open to all alumni, faculty and students. Further information can be found here.
TW 2024 is here!
TW is the annual College magazine, named after our Founder, Sir Thomas White. The magazine celebrates all of College life, detailing the latest news from St John's and our alumni community. In this 2024 edition, you can read about the historic libraries opening, the Pollution Pods initiative, the Oxford Kafka Festival and much more. Alumni news for the next edition is always welcome. If you have news you would like to share with other alumni, please do contact us.
Founder's Lecture 2025
This year's Founder's Lecture, taking place on Tuesday 13 May at 5pm, will be delivered by Professor Sarah Knott (Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair of Women's History), on 'Care in the Fifties: A Story of Women and Psychoanalysis'. Register for your place here. This is a free event and you are welcome to bring guests.
Aesthetic Education: Thinking With Others, a two-day interdisciplinary colloquium
All are welcome to attend this two-day conference, 29 - 30 May, convened by Professor Patrick Hayes and Professor Nicholas Gaskill, taking place at St John's College. This colloquium aims to generate dialogue between scholars with different areas of expertise —from English and modern languages, philosophy, political theory, and sociology— on the subject of aesthetic education. This is a free event and you can register for a place via Eventbrite.
Alumni News and Publications
Rolling, Action ... Paint! Featuring Quilla Constance (Fine Art, 1998)
Painting and film work by Quilla Constance will form part of a group exhibition at the Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Norway, from 3 May to 21 September 2025. All the details of the exhibition can be found here.
Sole Exhibition: Nuits Blanches by Kate Montgomery (Fine Art, 1985)
Long & Ryle are delighted to announce this forthcoming solo exhibition by Kate Montgomery. A private view will be held on Wednesday 25 June 6pm - 8pm and the exhibition will run from 26 June to 25 July 2025. Kate's artwork can be viewed on the gallery website.
The Four Georges: An Awfully British Kind of Monarchy, 1714-1830
A new book by Jeremy Black (Modern History, 1978) will be released on 15 June 2025 by Amerberly Books. This details 'how a distinctively British form of monarchical government emerged 1714-1830 while the crowned heads of Europe faced serious, often insuperable crises'.
Boat Club Naming Event
In April, the College celebrated the naming of a new racing boat in honour of the Late Dr David Lee (Medieval and Modern Languages, 1961), recognising the great contributions he made for over 40 years to the College and the Boat Club. The new boat has been made possible by alumni and supporters donating to the Boat Club's Alumni Fund.
The ceremony commenced in the afternoon at the St John's College Boat House, where several alumni rowed on the river along with current students and present captains of the SJC Boat Club. A drinks and canapé reception was then held in Canterbury Quad, with the family of Dr David Lee christening the boat.
The Rawlinson Society Lunch
The Rawlinson Society exists to recognise all those who have informed St John’s that they have kindly remembered the College in their will. St John’s holds an annual event to thank members for supporting St John’s in this way.
On Tuesday 15 April, we welcomed back St John's alumni and their guests for the annual Rawlinson Society Lunch, hosted by the President. It was a wonderful occasion, both reuniting old friends as well as fostering the creation of new ones. The lunch was also an opportunity to hear from the President about all the latest news from St John's, what is planned for the future of the College and to thank alumni for leaving a gift in their will to the College.
If you are interested in joining the Rawlinson Society please contact Sophie Parkinson (Development Manager – Philanthropy) or the Alumni Office.
'Friends of the 50s' Lunch
For the past two decades, many St John’s alumni who matriculated in the 1950s have held an annual ‘Friends of the Fifties’ lunch meeting in London. Last November, twenty-two such alumni met at the Savile Club in London.
Providing there is sufficient support, it is proposed that the next Friends of the Fifties lunch will be held on Wednesday 19 November 2025, again at the Savile Club, 69 Brook Street, London W1K 4ER.
Any alumnus who matriculated in the 1950s and who would be interested in attending should contact Henry Amar, whose e-mail is hamar@rhamar.com for further details.
Alumni Events
Tuesday 13 May 2025
SJC Women's Network Online Event
Thursday 22 May 2025
Friday 27 June 2025
Friday 4 July 2025
Torrance Society Medical Reunion 2025
Friday 3 October 2025
Alumni can check availability, book and pay for rooms within Alumni House online. The booking system can be found on the Alumni Benefits page of our website.
To make a booking, you will need to enter a promotional code to identify yourself as an alumnus/a and this can be found in the monthly e-newsletter:
Promotional code for 2025: 1555SJC
FAQ’s
Please click here to find answers to frequently asked questions, along with further details about the Alumni Guest Rooms. Any further questions please email us.