News
Issue 19 April 2014 Chancellor’s Fund at the University of Glasgow
Welcome from the Chancellor Welcome to this edition of the Chancellor’s Fund newsletter, reporting on the grants made possible by your support of the fund.
Dr Tony Pollard examines a World War I trench map
The University of Glasgow’s Great War: A Centenary Project The Chancellor’s Fund has awarded the School of Humanities £30,000 to expand an interactive educational resource about the University community’s contribution in World War I. Over 760 alumni and staff died, and around 4,000 other members of the community served in the conflict. Dr Tony Pollard, Director of the University’s Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, said: ‘The Great War had a profound impact on the University and its people, and the Chancellor’s Fund grant will enable our contribution to the war effort to be further studied and communicated, particularly appropriate given the forthcoming centenary. Their remarkable stories demonstrate service and sacrifice both on the battlefield and at home.’ The project, which is a collaboration between the University’s Archive Services, the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology and the subject area of History, will undertake research to add to the 300 biographies currently contained in the Roll of Honour (www.glasgow.ac.uk/events/ww1), which includes the names of no fewer than three Victoria Cross winners.
It will also explore the vital contributions of University women who served in units such as the Royal Army Medical Corps. It is hoped that staff and students across the University and the wider public will contribute to the project, with the involvement of schools being an important aim. A new website will be launched later in 2014, containing timelines and maps and illustrating the progress of individuals and regiments through the war. Google Earth will be used to locate and plot the places where alumni originated from, and where they served and died. Social media, including a blog and Twitter, will be used to broadcast ‘real time’ history related to the Roll of Honour to a wide audience. The project team can be contacted at: rollofhonour@glasgow.ac.uk.
It seems very appropriate that in 2014 the Chancellor’s Fund will be supporting a project to commemorate the centenary of World War I. This significant grant of £30,000 will investigate the impact of the Great War on the University community and share the remarkable stories of those involved. Other grants continue to fulfil our main aim of enhancing the student learning experience: from providing accessible microscopes for life sciences students and funding to establish an industrial engineering scholarship scheme, to helping develop a teaching garden at our Dumfries Campus. I am also very pleased to share with you a report on a grant from 2013, which helped support the international conference Scotland and the Birth of Comics. I had the privilege of giving the opening plenary at this remarkable conference, which not only showcased the excellent research of the Stirling Maxwell Centre, but also attracted widespread positive media coverage for the University. Thank you to all our donors for helping to make these projects possible.
Professor Kenneth Calman Chancellor