Pembroke Strategy Forum 2019 @ Ditchley House

Earlier this year, a generous, anonymous benefactor underwrote a strategy session that would help Pembroke College, Oxford craft bold plans for the decades ahead.

On a weekend in early May, more than 50 Pembrokians from around the world assembled at historic Ditchley Park for the Pembroke College Strategy Forum.  Participants were invited to put their heads together to assess the current state of college, help envision its future and begin to lay fundraising and operational plans to help Pembroke realize that future.

Alumni leaders, volunteers, fundraisers and donors spanning generations of Pembrokians were in attendance.   Tom Herman and Bradley Peacock were on hand to represent the Pembroke College Foundation of North America and pledge its support of the effort.

Wonderful, informative presentations were made by many of the College’s key leaders —

Pembroke’s Visionary Work On Admissions + ACCESS  — Academic Director, Nancy Braithwaite and Director of Access Peter Claus discussed admissions at Pembroke and explained how Pembroke’s revolutionary ACCESS efforts have led the University to undertake an aggressive effort to recruit disadvantaged students from across the UK in the years ahead.

Pembroke’s Student Experience Today –- Both JCR President, Roshan Shah and MCR President Louis Morris gave a heartfelt and often humorous presentation that painted a true picture of what makes the student experience at Pembroke so unique.

Early Career Academics — Americans Dr. Blake Ewing and Dr. Patrick Houlihan spoke about their work and the challenges (financial and otherwise) of recruiting the best early-career academics to Oxford, and Pembroke in particular.  Being “international”, they also shed light on how the looming Brexit is proving to be a real challenge both for EU scholars imbedded in Oxford today and potential early-career academics who are increasingly uncomfortable about the uncertainty that a post in Oxford might afford.

Pembroke’s Fellows –Dr. Roberto Salguero-Gomez and Dr. Lynda Mugglestone shared a bit about their fascinating work of late — specifically how Roberto is using drones in Africa to monitor migratory patterns and how Lynda in exploring how WWI transformed the English language (www.wordsinwartime@wordpress.com).  Both stressed the importance of looking beyond the tutorial and helping Pembroke’s dons find the time and funding that will enable them to continue to do breakthrough scholarly work that sets Pembroke apart.

Engaging Alumni – Jack Kinnersley (2011), Sian Morgan Macfarlane (1993) and Matthew Kirby (1987) sat on a panel that was focused on better understanding the strengths and shortcomings of the alumni experience.  Over the course of Q&A, they also shared their thoughts about how life-stage might impact philanthropy—all the while suggesting that finding new means of engaging Pembroke’s alumni will be an essential part of the College’s sustained success.

The Selection of a New Master – While lamenting Lynne’s pending retirement with the rest of us, Vicegerent, Professor Owen Darbishire shared his thoughts on the search for a new Master for Pembroke College, Oxford and the assumptions, considerations and challenges currently guiding the committee’s efforts.

Pembroke’s Economic Reality & Helping Ourselves  — Bursar Jeremy Bennett outlined a brief history of Pembroke’s finances and the current, sustaining strength of our balance sheet.   He conveyed that while financially stable, things are and will remain to be “tight”—so judicious management will be key.  On that note, Jeremy stressed the pressing need to grow Pembroke’s endowment significantly in the next few years—suggesting that it is one of, if not the most key strategic considerations at important point in Pembroke’s history.  Jeremy conveyed a bit about the College’s investment strategy and its alignment with that of Oxford University overall.  Jeremy then outlined a number of potential building projects currently under consideration— from enhancements to the GAB, to a new library in the heart of college and beyond.  Finally, Jeremy stressed unequivocally the importance of philanthropy to help make these dreams into a reality for Pembroke in the years ahead.

Pembroke’s Future – Finally, Dame Lynne Brindley, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford led a fascinating and candid conversation about Pembroke today and the exciting plans for the Pembroke of the future.  The Master made an exciting, compelling case for one of College’s boldest projects to date – namely a complete transformation of McGowin library building — literally in the very heart of Pembroke.

The Oxford University Strategy – To provide a broader context for our envisioning, brainstorming and planning for Pembroke 2030, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson, briefly joined us at Ditchley House to share a bit about the current state of the University, the challenges on the horizon and the plans for the future – plans that include a new graduate college.

In between briefings and brainstorming sessions Pembroke’s fellows kept the Ditchley participants engaged and excited by sharing their work on intriguing subjects ranging from –

• “Rock Stars of the Jihad” by Dr. Lis Kendall
• “Nutrinos – The Reason We Are Here” by Dr. Alfonzs Weber
• “How Americans Write Their Constitutions” by Dr. Nicholas Cole
• “Cats, Cows & Communities” by Dr. Amy Dickman
• “Tolkien’s Pembroke” by Dr. Andy Orchard

The Ditchley weekend was a great success for participants and Pembroke included.   Importantly, it demonstrated that much has been accomplished by and for Pembroke in the last decade—and there’s still so much to do in the years ahead.

It is a thrilling time for Pembroke and also a key, liminal point in its history.  Finding the funding to help build the new library and support the scholarship of everyone from deserving yet disenfranchised, potential Pembrokians to graduate students, aspiring fellows and Pembroke’s distinguished dons will be essential — and it will be exciting to see how Pembrokians of all generations step up to help.

If you are interested in donating your time and/or “treasure” to help Pembroke take this bold leap forward— please let us know!  We’d love your help.