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Graduation ceremonies return to Bloomsbury’s Senate House

This April’s graduation ceremony for students graduating from Birkbeck with postgraduate qualifications will return to the University of London’s Senate House in the heart of Bloomsbury.

Senate House

This April’s graduation ceremony for students graduating from Birkbeck with postgraduate qualifications will return to the University of London’s Senate House in the heart of Bloomsbury.  

Over a thousand graduating students drawn from across the College’s five Schools will be personally awarded their degrees by Professor David Latchman, Master of Birkbeck, as well as receiving warm congratulations from Baroness Joan Bakewell, President of the College.

This season’s ceremonies mark the first time for several years that graduating students will be celebrating their success in Senate House, with the venue for the six ceremonies – taking place from Monday, 18th April to Wednesday, 20th April – the Beveridge Hall, the largest hall in the iconic art deco building, completed in 1937.

As well as graduating students, three new Fellows will be formally recognised for their contribution to Birkbeck, with the College Orator, Professor Joanna Bourke, speaking about their lives and involvement with Birkbeck and its community of students and staff.

The Fellows at this April’s ceremonies will be:

  • Professor Dorothy Porter – distinguished historian of medicine and a former head of the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck, who is now based at the University of California 
  • The Hon. Laura Wolfson-Townsley – a Trustee of the Wolfson Foundation and Chairman of the Wolfson Family Charitable Trust. The Wolfson charities support and promote excellence and have a long tradition of funding for higher education.
  • Daniel Peltz – Chief Executive of London Freeholds Ltd., the specialist retail property investor, which he founded in 2002. A trustee of many charitable organisations, including the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Oxford University, The Anna Freud Centre, Childhood First, The City of London School Bursary Trust and the Artichoke Trust (click here for a full list of his appointments), Daniel gained an MA in Renaissance Studies at Birkbeck in 2009. He has shown significant commitment to the College, including providing funds for the creation of the Peltz Gallery and the Peltz postgraduate scholarships in the School of Arts. He is also a member of the Estates committee where he advises the governors on property matters.

For the first time, this April’s graduation ceremonies will also be live-streamed online, enabling family and friends across the world to share in the excitement of the occasion.

Commenting on this spring’s graduation ceremonies, Professor David Latchman, Master of Birkbeck, said:

“Each of our students graduating this spring has achieved something very special: acquiring a postgraduate qualification by studying in the evening, as well as balancing their daytime commitments, typically work and often family.

“The atmosphere at graduation reflects the special bond between students, who know what a fulfilling challenge studying at Birkbeck can be; and staff, who have enabled students to develop and grow over the course of their studies.

“It is especially fitting – as a constituent college of the University of London – that our graduation ceremony this month will return to Senate House, which is a suitably impressive venue to celebrate the achievement of all our students.”

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