Share

Aberdeen University Graduation Stories, Wednesday July 6, 2011

Honorary graduand: Michael Gazzaniga, Professor of Psychology and Director for the SAGE Center for the Study of Mind, University of California Santa Barbara

Michael Gazzaniga is the Director of the Sage Center for the study of Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received a PhD from the California Institute of Technology, where he worked with Roger Sperry, and had primary responsibility for initiating human split-brain research. He has established Centers for Cognitive Neuroscience at Cornell Medical School, the University of California-Davis and at Dartmouth. He is the founding editor of the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute and the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. He was a member of the President's Council on Bioethics from 2001-2009. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. His new book is based on his 2009 Gifford Lectures Who’s in Charge? Free Will and the science of the brain.

Wednesday, July 6 at 3pm

Honorary graduand: Professor K Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India

Professor K Srinath Reddy, as President of the Public Health Foundation of India, is playing a major role in strengthening training, research and policy development in the area of Public Health in India. Formerly head of the Department of Cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Professor Reddy is a leading international authority in preventive cardiology. He has worked to promote cardiovascular health, tobacco control, chronic disease prevention and healthy living across the lifespan. Srinath Reddy has served on many WHO expert panels and chairs the Science and Policy Initiatives Committee of the World Heart Federation. He is presently chairing the High Level Expert Group constituted by the Government of India for developing a framework for Universal Health Coverage in India. Professor Reddy chairs the Core Advisory Group on Health and Human Rights for the National Human Rights Commission of India and is also a member of the National Science and Engineering Research Board of the Government of India. Recently appointed as the first Bernard Lown Visiting Professor of Cardiovascular Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, Srinath Reddy is also an adjunct professor of the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.

Teaching award: Dr Steve Tucker, Teaching fellow in the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen has been awarded the College of Life Sciences and Medicine Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Those who nominated Dr Tucker described him as “inspirational, motivating and highly respected”

Professor Mary Cotter, Director of Teaching & Learning in the College of Life Sciences & Medicine said “The nomination was in recognition of his ability to promote and encourage the highest standard of learning and to provide outstanding academic and non-academic support to students.”

His students describe him as “one of those people that go the extra mile to make a difference.”

Wednesday, July 6 at 3pm

There will be double graduation celebrations for one Kemnay family this week with mother and daughter Sara and Annie Denham both receiving their degrees from the University of Aberdeen.

Midwife and mum-of-two, Sara, will receive a Master’s of Science in Midwifery today (Wednesday) having watched Annie (22) don cap and gown on Monday when she graduated with an MA in Management Studies and Psychology.

Sara (52) was inspired to return to studying by Annie and son Charlie (24) who graduated from Aberdeen last year with a degree in law.

She said: “I saw how much my children enjoyed University so I decided to give it a try. The University midwifery program had an excellent reputation and I knew people in the department were brilliant so it seemed the obvious choice.”

Annie was quite shocked when mum announced she would be joining her at University. Sara says, “Annie was both horrified and supportive! It was actually great getting assignments to do at the same time. We understood how each of us worked and we would help each other with certain things – Annie would proof read my assignments and I’d proof read hers.”

Having help from her daughter proved invaluable for Sara who had to juggle two midwifery jobs while studying and being at university for the very first time in her life. However it’s not put her off and she’s now applying to do a PhD in Midwifery.

Annie added: “It was great to be at university at the same time as mum and we were able to go to the library together.”

Sara manages her hectic lifestyle by relaxing with her friends singing soprano in the Spectrum Singers choir in Kemnay.

“They’re a terrific group of ladies and it was great to get together and have a sing song and a bit of a therapy session!” she added.

Annie on the other hand turned to her favourite hobby of baking to relieve stress and is now in the process of starting up a wedding cakes and desert catering business and she is already getting orders for her personal speciality, a Madagascan berry vanilla cake with fruit and butter cream frosting.

She said: “I used to procrastinate and so at exam time and I would turn to baking so the house was full of cakes. I’ve continued to get requests for my cakes and my reputation for baking has spread by word of mouth so I decided to make a living out of my procrastination!”

Wednesday, July 6 at 3pm

Emmanuel ‘Chuxx’ Onyia (23) has hopped, skipped and jumped his way to success at the University of Aberdeen.

A four-time Scottish Universities Champion in the triple jump, the young athlete will be graduating today with a BSc in Sports and Exercise Science.

Emmanuel said: “The thing I love about the triple jump is the challenge. It requires speed, agility, balance and power. It’s not a sport you can learn in a year or two. It takes over 10,000 hours of training to get good at it.”

As the Scottish Champion Emmanuel has finished as a finalist on three occasions at the British Universities Championships and currently holds the University of Aberdeen triple jump record.

As an outstanding student athlete, Emmanuel received the University of Aberdeen Future Fund Sports Bursary.

“The great facilities at Aberdeen Sports Village played a big role in my experience,” he added. “With the help of the university’s Alumni Sports Bursary scheme, I managed to juggle training and competing with full time study and part-time work.

"The bursary has been absolutely brilliant. It gave me free ASV membership, access to physical therapists and allowed me to get some great training. The strength and conditioning staff - Donald Pirie and Jackie Davidson, and the university athletics coach - Eddie Mckenna - helped pair me with my current coach Bob Mason who’s already trained a commonwealth medallist. The bursary helps athletes compete on national and international level.”

In the near future Emmanuel intends on focusing on his athletics and will be training full time in preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where he hopes to represent Scotland.

Looking into the future after his athletics career, Emmanuel plans to work with children and hopes to focus on battling the childhood obesity epidemic.

“Childhood obesity is on the rise in Scotland, the UK and the world and that is something I’d like to change. I’ve seen from person experience how overweight children suffer and it would be nicer to get everyone healthier and fitter.”

Emmanuel is graduating with a BSc in Sports and Exercise Science on Wednesday July 6 2011 at 3pm.

Wednesday, July 6 at 3pm

When Abi Grove graduates today she will be among the first to graduate with new degree from the University and the first in her family to graduate.

Abi (22), from Harrogate graduates top of her class with an MSci Biomedical Sciences (Hons; Developmental Biology) with Industrial Placement degree.

The new degree allows students to upgrade their BSc to a master’s with the added bonus of a paid industrial placement to give the students valuable hands on experience.

Abi spent a year in Cambridge with the pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, working in the laboratories for one of the world’s leading pharmaceuticals.

She feels the placement really helped her as it gave her a taste of real work and more time to spend in a laboratory.

She said” I really enjoyed getting to spend a year working and gaining new experiences.

“I felt it really benefited my degree as it gave me extra experience in the lab and instilled in me a working routine which really helped when I came back to my studies.”

As Abi is the first in her family to come to University she really wanted to throw herself into student life, she was president of the volunteer-group the Dirty Weekenders, sat on the netball committee and the committee for deep sea diving, and drove the student mini-bus.

Her services to the student body were recognised when she received the Davidson Award for services to the student body.

Her parents, Gwyneth (53) and Martin Grove (67) and youngest brother Adam will watch her graduate, incredibly proud of the first graduate in their family in her new cap and gown.

Abi will enrol in the Teach First programme for graduates where she will take up a post in Mulberry Girls School in London.