Monday 15 July 2013

Congratulations to all our graduands from the following Faculties, who are receiving their degrees today:

Morning ceremonies @11am

• Computer Science
• Centre for Scientific Computing
• Institute of Education
• Institute for Employment Research
• Physics

Afternoon ceremonies @ 3pm

• History
• Comparative American Studies
• French
• German
• Italian
• Theatre Studies

We hope you have a wonderful day!

We would also like to pass on our congratulations to Professor Leslie Valiant, Professor Jan de Vries and Mr Dominic Cooke, our Honorary Graduands, and to our Outstanding Student Contribution Awards winners: Siraj Datoo, French with International Studies, and Sophie Potter, Italian.

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Today's Honorary Graduands

Leslie Valiant, Honorary Doctor of Science (11am) Leslie Valiant was educated at King's College, Cambridge; Imperial College, London; and at the University of Warwick, where he received his PhD in computer science in 1974. He is currently T. Jefferson Coolidge Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1982. His work has ranged over several areas of theoretical computer science, particularly complexity theory, learning, and parallel computation. He also has interests in computational neuroscience, evolution and artificial intelligence. Leslie is the author of two books, Circuits of the Mind, and Probably Approximately Correct. He received the Nevanlinna Prize at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1986, the Knuth Award in 1997, the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science EATCS Award in 2008, and the 2010 A. M. Turing Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (London) and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA).

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Jan de Vries, Honorary Doctor of Letters (3pm) Jan de Vries studied at Columbia University and Yale, where he achieved his History PhD. At Yale, Jan studied with William Parker and Harry Miskimin. After working at Michigan State University, he joined the University of California at Berkeley, where he remains, holding the Sidney Hellman Ehrman Chair in European History and appointment in the Economics department. His research interests have included European agrarian history, historical demography and urbanisation, environmental and climate history, and, most recently, the history of consumer behaviour. He has written six books, and co-edited four. Jan is a past president of the Economic History Association and was editor of the Journal of Economic History. He has Woodrow Wilson and Guggenheim fellowships and has held visiting fellowships to the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, and All Souls College, Oxford. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the British Academy, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, and the Flemish Academy of Sciences of Belgium. He is the 2000 recipient of the A.H. Heineken Prize in History.

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Dominic Cooke Hon DLitt (Honorary Doctor of Letters) (3pm) Dominic Cooke is an actor and producer who studied at the University of Warwick. Dominic founded a production company which he ran for two years until he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as an Assistant Director. He joined London’s Royal Court Theatre as Associate Director in 1999 and then worked as Associate Director of the RSC between 2002 and 2006. Dominic took on the role of Artistic Director at the Royal Court Theatre in 2006. He joined at a time when the Theatre had been accused of ‘losing its way’, so he promised to refocus its efforts. And his work paid off. His departure earlier this year prompted a stream of positive publicity about what he had achieved. Dominic received Laurence Olivier awards for Best Director and Best Revival for The Crucible in 2007; TMA award for Arabian Nights in 2000; and a Fringe First award for Autogeddon in 1991.

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Outstanding Student Contribution Awards 2013 winners

Siraj Datoo, French with International Studies Siraj was nominated for his role as Co-Founder and Editor in Chief of The Student Journals (TSJ) and as a freelance journalist, specialising in articles on human rights and foreign policy and affairs. TSJ is an independent online publication which aims to bring together students from all UK universities to discuss and debate key issues. Its live coverage of student tuition fee protests was used by the national press and the journal was commended at the Guardian Student Media Awards in 2011. Siraj has also written about the experiences of Muslim students at university, participated in BBC World Service panel discussions on Muslim issues, and organised a conference for students wishing to enter journalism.

Sophie Potter, Italian Sophie was nominated by for her role as Student Calling Team Manager, whereby she is responsible for coordinating and motivating a team of 30 students to raise alumni donations for the University, and as President of World@Warwick, the University’s largest cultural society which aims to promote cultural understanding and integration. World@Warwick holds weekly language cafes and global evenings on campus and regular trips and national gatherings in collaboration with other societies to enable students of all nationalities to come together and share their cultural beliefs.