Jonathan Blackie (Chair of Governors of St Chad’s College) has today announced that Dr Margaret Masson has been appointed to the post of Principal, with effect from 1st March.
Dr Masson is currently Vice-Principal and Senior Tutor of the College and has been Acting Principal since the death of The Revd Canon Dr Joe Cassidy last March.
Margaret will now lead the College through a significant phase of change. St Chad’s College will need to react and adapt as Durham University revises, develops and implements its own strategy.
A Scot brought up in Zambia who lectured in English in the USA for a number of years, Margaret was a Board member and then Vice Chair of Trustees of Traidcraft, the fair trade organisation, between 1995 and 2012; she served as member of the Leech Research Management Committee from 2001 – 2014. She is on the Board of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, serves as a Bishops’ Reviewer for Ministerial Training for the Church of England, and co-organises the Neville’s Cross EcoFest. She speaks and writes mainly in the area of Literature and Theology.
Margaret said: “I am delighted to be appointed to this role. I look forward to building on the brilliant legacy of the late Joe Cassidy and leading the College into what promises to be an exciting new period of opportunity.”
Jonathan Blackie, Chair of Governors for St Chad’s College, said he was delighted to welcome Margaret as the new Principal of the College. “Margaret brings exceptional skills to the position, she understands the collegiate nature of the university, and her appointment has been widely welcomed by both staff and students”
Michaelmas term was an incredible time for College Charities Committee. Not only did it see the election of our new charities representatives at the J.C.R. meeting, but also saw consistently excellent turnouts at an array of events.
We are delighted that we were able to raise just over £1200 towards our elected charity of the term, the County Durham Foodbank. We hope this will help them to continue the tireless work they do for the local Durham community.
November was an enormously busy time for the Charities Committee, who organised the range of Movember events. Kicking off the month, the Cross Country Club participated in the Newcastle “MoRun” which included a 5 and 10 km run on Sunday 8th November. We followed this up with a Movember Formal which proved very popular. Among our guests was Durham’s very own Movember Representative, Nora Romek. We would like to thank everyone who helped make it such a success. A special congratulations also to Gary Cox, and to Lizzie Walkey, who were crowned MoBro, and MoSista, respectively, and helped to raise an enormous amount of donations for this great charity.
College MoRunners
St. Chad’s Advent Raffle, which ran between Sunday 29th November and Sunday 6th December, was also a triumphant success. Raising well over £50, we would like to thank all of those who bought raffle tickets, in addition to those businesses, and committees, who kindly donated gifts.
With the theme being Alice in Wonderland, St. Chad’s Hope Ball was undoubtedly one of the biggest successes of the term – and provided the last chance of the year for Chadsians to hop aboard The Princey-B. We raised just over £1000 with a tiny budget – testament to the hard work of so many Chadsians. Chazz Band played a fabulous medley of swing hits, Senior Man James, and Greg, provided their second-to-none photography services, and fellow Chadsians helped with the themed decorations, which made the atmosphere so special. All of this was complimented by bespoke cocktails made by the Bar Committee.
Hope Ball 2015Hope Ball 2015
Although the Bar Committee were exceptionally busy last term, the two bar quizzes which they hosted were record breaking, and raised a considerable amount of money – £85.00. We are incredibly grateful for all of their help!
Christmas Eve was the final event in this busy. Raising just over £100, an inevitable screening of ‘Love Actually’ provided an excellent gateway into the festive spirit – and was accompanied by a cup of hot chocolate – with Baileys as a natural additional option.
The committee also pioneered an Anthony Nolan Recruitment Day on 25th November. Despite being the smallest College and the Anthony Nolan crew only staying for a few hours, Chad’s proudly had the best turnout of any other Durham College, underlining the character of countless Chadsians.
Reflecting on Michaelmas Term, Charities Committee Secretary, Jack Angers said that Michaelmas was a “very long and successful term”, particularly citing Hope Ball as a “huge success”, and the creation of the Cross-Common Room Charities Committee as a promising opportunity to “increase co-operation” within the College to achieve our goals of making a contribution to the world of charity – a mighty success for a small college.
Charities Committee Exec 2015/16
Report by Craig Bateman, Charity Representative, on behalf of St. Chad’s College Charities Committee.
Welcome to the new St Chad’s College website and .ac.uk domain!
The brand new stchads.ac.uk replaces our old website which was over ten years old and in need of an overhaul.
At the forefront of creating this new website was a desire to create a more attractive and user friendly online home for St. Chad’s, in some ways reflecting our unofficial motto: “vibrant and personal”.
The new website is broadly split into the following six sections:
Aboutprovides a general overview of college, including our history and profiles of the staff, tutors and fellows that help make Chad’s what it is.
The Collegesections includes information about our three commons rooms, Chad’s Chaplaincy program and an overview of our college library, the largest of its kind in Durham.
Admissionscontains information for prospective students, both undergraduates and postgraduates alike. Be sure to check out “Why Choose Chad’s” for a perspective of who we, as a community, are.
Chad’s is home to a research institute, Policy & Practice, committed to the promotion of Social Justice in the United Kingdom and beyond. Information about its expertise, publications and projects are available under the Researchsection.
Membership of Chad’s doesn’t end once your time at University ends and alumni are encouraged to keep in touch with College. The Alumnisection contains information about alumni events, both in Durham and elsewhere, news and ways in which alumni can contribute to College.
Finally, the Commercial section includes information about Chad’s Bed & Breakfast accommodation and using College’s grounds for retreats, conferences and weddings.
We hope that you enjoy using the new website and, whatever your reason for visiting, you find it informative and easy to use.
Congratulations to eight Chadsians who completed the Great North Run and raised £2,619 in aid of a children’s charity, Coco (www.coco.org.uk), based in Newcastle upon Tyne and working on projects in Uganda. The charity was co-founded by Steve Cram, who broke the world 1500m, 2000m and mile running records in the Summer of 1985. Well done, Jack Angers, Will Gilliland, James Pointon, Rachael Worthington, Jack Stodhart, Emily Wootton, Sam Rawcliffe and Maddie Harris – and for getting a mention by Paula Radcliffe on BBC1.
St Chad’s College is pleased to announce the appointment of three new Visiting Fellows.
Professor James Piscatori has worked at several universities in the UK, Australia and the United States. He was, until recently, Professor and Head of Department in Durham University’s School of Government and International Affairs. He has also been Senior Fellow at two research institutions — the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and has served on several international collaborative committees such as the Committee for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies of the Social Science Research Council, and was co-editor of a series on Muslim Politics for Princeton University Press. Professor Piscatori’s work has centred on two themes: Islam and international relations; and Islamic political thought, particularly as it relates to democratisation in Middle Eastern societies. Area focus has been principally, but not exclusively, on the Arab states of the Gulf. Recently, he has been working on pan-Islamism and Islamic transnationalism, and specifically investigating the contemporary meaning of the ummah (community of the faith).
Adam Wurr is a Chad’s alumnus who has served in HM Diplomatic Service since 1995. His positions have included serving as First Secretary and Charge D’Affaires in the British Embassy in Beirut and First Secretary in the British High Commission in Abuja, Nigeria. Adam has been appointed Visiting Fellow at Durham University’s School of Government and International Affairs.
Bishop Graham Kings has recently been appointed Mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion, a role established by the Archbishop of Canterbury to research, stimulate, connect and publish works of theology in the Anglican Communion, with particular focus on insights from Africa, Asia and Latin America, in their ecumenical contexts. Graham Kings is based in London, visits Durham University, as an Honorary Fellow, and travels in the Communion. He convenes a series of seminars in Anglican Communion Studies for theologians, particularly in Africa, Asia and Latin America.Graham Kings was Bishop of Sherborne; founding Director of the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide; Vice Principal of St Andrew’s College, Kabare, Kenya (as a CMS Mission Partner). He studied at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Utrecht. He is a published poet, and has written for The Times and The Guardian, and books on theology of mission, Kenyan liturgies and theology and art. He is an Honorary Fellow in Durham University’s Theology department.
