University of Hull

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University of Hull


Established	as University College Hull 1927 as University of Hull 1954
Type	Public
Chancellor	Virginia Bottomley
Vice-Chancellor	David Drewry
Faculty	1,000
Staff	2,300
Students	16,000
Location	Hull and Scarborough, United Kingdom
Campus	Urban area
Course information	900 courses
Website	www.hull.ac.uk/

The Venn Building

The University of Hull, also known as Hull University, is an English university located in Hull (or Kingston upon Hull), a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It was founded in 1927. The main campus is located on Cottingham Road. Part of the campus is the home of the Hull York Medical School. The university also has a smaller campus in Scarborough.

The university was once the workplace of the poet Philip Larkin who worked as Librarian of the Brynmor Jones Library. It was also once the workplace of current poet laureate Andrew Motion and the film director Anthony Minghella.

Former Vice-Chancellors include Professor David Dilks FRHistS FRSL.

Lord Wilberforce, the noted House of Lords judge was Chancellor of the University from 1978 until 1994, and was known for his keen participation in the life of the University and the Law School, despite the position being entirely honorary. Robert Armstrong, former Cabinet Secretary, was Chancellor from 1994 to 2006. Virginia Bottomley was installed as the current Chancellor in April 2006.

1 History
2 Student life and activities
3 Notable academics
4 Notable alumni
5 Selected honorary degrees
6 In popular culture
7 External links

[edit] History

The foundation stone for University College Hull, as it was known in 1927, was laid by George VI, then the Duke of York, as an outpost of the University of London. A year later the first 14 departments, in pure sciences and the arts, opened with an attendance of 39 students. The college consisted of one building, the Venn building (named after the mathematician John Venn, who was born in Hull). It was built on land donated by Hull City Council and local benefactors Thomas Ferens and G F Grant.

In 1954, the college gained its hard fought for Royal Charter, giving it degree-awarding powers and constituting the third university in Yorkshire, and the 14th in England. The Brynmor Jones Library was constructed in 1960, with a tower block extension added in 1970. During the 1960s more academic buildings were added, with their height diminishing from the centre of the campus towards the perimeter, a barrier which the university was quickly outgrowing.

In 1979 Hull became the first university to be awarded the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement for the joint-development of the long-lasting materials that made liquid crystal displays possible. In 1972 George Gray and Ken Harrison created in the University Chemistry laboratories room-temperature stable liquid crystals, which were an immediate success in the electronics industry and consumer products.

In 2000, the University decided to buy the site of University College Scarborough. Out of this emerged the University of Hull Scarborough Campus. In 2003, the University purchased the adjacent buildings of the University of Lincoln; the site now houses the Hull York Medical School, and recently-completed construction has led to the Business School relocating to these three buildings - Wharfe, Derwent, and Esk - which now form the West Campus of the university as of the academic year beginning in 2005.

[edit] Student life and activities

Hull University Union (HUU) has a reputation of being the best student union in UK. It was voted "Best Student Union" by students poll in 2004. The Student Union compromises of a £3.6 million nightclub called Asylum, the "John McCarthy" bar and a newly built "Sanctuary" for students. There is also Union shop, a bookshop, cafes, laundrette, snooker room and offices for its many up and running clubs. They also have a monthly student newspaper Hullfire as well as its student radio station Jam 1575. It also hosts many societies and sports clubs including Hull's branch of the national charity, Revelation Rock-Gospel Choirs.

Student accommodation is based on campus as well as off campus. The on campus accommodation is based along Cranbrook Avenue, Auckland Avenue, Cottingham Road and Taylor Court. Taylor Court flats, which are located on the campus, are single en suite self-catering flats and can accommodate 288 students. Student housing is based primarily around the university campus itself, as well as around the Newland Avenue and Beverley Road areas of the city. Off campus areas are Cottingham, with Thwaite Hall, and Needler Hall which are the traditional halls, as well as "The Lawns". This is a complex featuring the traditional Ferens Hall as well as six smaller halls (Lambert, Nicholson, Morgan, Downs, Reckitt and Grant) comprised of five blocks each with a main focal "Lawns Centre" for meals and socialising. The complex houses just over 1,000 students, and was designed by the renowned Scottish architectural firm of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia. Interestingly, original plans for The Lawns made provision for 12 halls however only six were built. Cleminson Hall, situated opposite Thwaite was also part of the accommodation setup, but closed several years ago.

[edit] Notable academics

George William Gray, instrumental in developing the materials which made liquid crystal displays possible (1946-1990), awarded Kyoto Prize and Leverhulme Medal of the Royal Society
Chris Langton, developed an early detection system for osteoporosis utilising ultrasonic waves[1]
Philip Norton, Baron Norton of Louth, Professor of Politics
Noel O'Sullivan, Professor of Politics, specialist in political theory
Stuart Palmer, responsible for major breakthroughs in the field of Ultrasound Bone Densitometry[2]
Bhikhu Parekh, Baron Parekh, Professor of Politics, specialist on the theory of multiculturalism (1964-2000)
John Saville, Professor of History, major Marxist Historian.

[edit] Notable alumni

See University of Hull Alumni

[edit] Selected honorary degrees

Sir Liam Donaldson (government medical advisor)
John Robinson (ex-Chairman of University Council)
Baroness Fritchie
Sir Digby Jones (ex-CBI boss)
Pierluigi Collina (football referee)
Dame Tanni Grey Thompson (paralympic athlete)
John Hurt (actor)
Ian Rankin (author)
Bill Bryson (travel writer)
Chris Lunn (Political activist)

[edit] In popular culture

The University of Hull was referred to in the popular BBC comedy Blackadder Goes Forth in the episode General Hospital.

Blackadder hunts down a German spy operating in a British military hospital in the Great War and informs his superior with the following dialogue:

Captain Blackadder: And then the final, irrefutable proof. Remember, you mentioned a clever boyfriend...

Nurse Mary: Yes.

Captain Blackadder: I then leapt on the opportunity to test you. I asked if he'd been to one of the great universities, Oxford, Cambridge, or Hull.

Nurse Mary: Well?

Captain Blackadder: You failed to spot that only two of those are great Universities.

Nurse Mary: Swine!

General Melchett: That's right! Oxford's a complete dump!

The joke is historically inaccurate as University College Hull was founded in 1927 (nine years after the First World War) and only became the University of Hull when granted a Royal Charter in 1954. However, the humour of Blackadder is well-known for its anachronistic references. The joke here is that Stephen Fry, playing Melchett, attended Cambridge (as did Hugh Laurie, another cast member), Rowan Atkinson, playing Blackadder, had attended Oxford University (as did Tim McInnerny, another cast member) while writer Richard Curtis's sister studied drama at Hull (1983-86).