Van Mildert College

Van Mildert College
Durham University

Motto	Sic vos non vobis Thus do ye, Not for yourselves
Colours
Named after	Bishop William Van Mildert
Established	1965
Principal	Prof. David Harper
Senior Tutor	Petra Points & Karen Wesson
JCR President	Patrick McConnell
MCR President	Martin Brader
SCR President	Prof. Pat Allatt
Undergraduates	1042
Postgraduates	83
Website	Van Mildert College
JCR Website	Van Mildert JCR
Boat Club Website	Van Mildert Boat Club
Campus	Durham City
Location of Van Mildert College within DurhamCoordinates: 54°45′46″N 1°34′51″W / 54.762778°N 1.580833°W / 54.762778; -1.580833

Van Mildert College, commonly known as Mildert, is a college of the University of Durham in England. Founded in 1965, it takes its name from William Van Mildert, Prince-Bishop of Durham from 1826 to 1836 and a leading figure in the University's 1832 foundation.

Van Mildert College occupies grounds of eight acres (32,000 m²) alongside South Road and is centred around a large lake. The college's accommodation and communal facilities are modern and spacious, and includes an adjacent conference centre which is regularly used by external organisations.

History & Buildings

Van Mildert College in 1995

Van Mildert College was established in 1965. Women postgraduate students were first admitted in 1967, studying certificates in education. While female undergraduates were first admitted to the college in 1972, making it the first Durham college to become co-educational.

The accommodation blocks are named Tyne, Tees, Middleton, Derwent, Wear, Tunstall and Deerness, the latter two of which are fully en suite. They are all situated within the college grounds and the university is in the process of refurbishing each of the buildings in turn. In total the College can provide 550 single rooms for its members.

The college's Dining Hall is one of the largest in the UK^{[citation needed]}. It measures 30.8m by 13.2m and can seat approximately 350 members at formal dinners^[1]. The dining hall is used for a variety of functions over the academic year and plays a central role in the lives of livers in (students who live on the college site) as it is where college meals and formals are held. The hall also acts as a venue for drama productions, use as a sports hall and in 2010 was one of the main locations for the Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival^[2] . The portrait of William Van Mildert, whom the college is named after, hangs at one end of Van Mildert dining hall, along with portraits of the former Principals and Masters of the college.

Common Rooms

The student body is divided into three "Common Rooms". The Junior Common Room (JCR) is for undergraduates in the college. The JCR elects an Executive Committee which ensures the successful running of the JCR, in conjunction with the College Officers. The Middle Common Room (MCR) is the organisation for Postgraduate students, while College Officers, fellows and tutors are members of the Senior Common Room (SCR).

Although undergraduates constitute the majority of the student population of the college, the postgraduate community benefit from a refurbished Middle Common Room, separate accommodation in Deerness block where all rooms are en-suite and have access to kitchen facilities due to the fact that postgraduate students are often resident in college outside of normal term times. Postgraduate members of the college are also members of the JCR and therefore are entitled to make use of all the JCR facilities.

Library

The College library is well equipped with over 12,000 books & journals and along with St John's College Archives is the only other College library in Durham to be listed in The National Archives^[3]. Opposite the library is the newly refurbished Kent Room, which is where the library's fiction collection is kept. The library is run by a part-time librarian and the library committee of the JCR, which also provides much of the funding to maintain the library. The library has recently undergone a process of automating its catalogue of books.

Bar & Junior Common Room

Van Mildert has a bar which is extensively used by members of the college, as well as by students from other colleges. In recent years, the college bar has won the 'University Bar' category of the Best Bar None^[4] awards for Durham City for the 2008-09 and 2010-11 academic years^{[citation needed]}. The Junior Common Room, or JCR lounge, is used for holding JCR meetings and many of the social events that are organised by the JCR. For example bops, discos after formal dinners, band nights and amateur theatre productions. Both rooms have large plasma screen TVs which are used to show major sporting fixtures during the academic term.

The College has a host of other social facilities, most notably a music/recording suite with drums, grand piano and recording equipment. The College also has a gym, computer room, shop, tennis court and a full-size snooker table.

College Traditions

JCR President 2004-05 Paul Brunger does The Kazu

Arms

The college arms are blazoned as "Gules two Scythe blades in saltire in chief the Cross of St Cuthbert Argent And for the Crest On a Wreath of the Colours in front of a Castle of three Towers Sable a silver penannular brooch proper the ends charged with Gilded Crosses of St Cuthbert." The scythes and the red field are taken from Bishop Van Mildert's episcopal arms; the cross of St Cuthbert is a common emblem of Durham City and University. The college generally uses only the shield of its arms for most purposes.

Academic Dress

At Van Mildert the undergraduate academic gown is not required to be worn to formal events nor at Matriculation, instead formal dress is used. In addition, students wear black tie attire at the end of term balls.

Formals

Formals usually take place fortnightly during the academic term on either a Tuesday or Thursday evening. As with all colleges there are a number of traditions at Formals, such as pennying. Students are required to wear formal dress for formal dinners except when it is a black tie event. At the end of the dining hall a High Table consisting of members of the SCR and guests is present at every formal, the Master's entrance signifying the official opening and closing of the formal meal.

The Kazu

The Kazu is a ceremony performed by the winning candidate after executive officer elections by ballot box in the JCR. A Kazu is a celebratory action which requires the winning candidate of every election to kick a full can of Coca Cola down the stairs in the foyer, throw it over their head three times and then opening the can over his/her head. The JCR Constitution notes that it "may be done wearing clothes".

Doing It For The Bishop

The adventurous motto by which students of Van Mildert College live, having an enjoyable experience of College in honour of founding Bishop Van Mildert himself.

College officers and fellows

The Master

Professor Patrick O'Meara is the current Master of the College and is due to retire in September 2011.

List of Past Masters & Principals

• Dr. Arthur Prowse (1964-1972)
• Dr. Paul Kent (1972-1982)
• Arnold Bradshaw (1983-1988)
• Dr. Judy Turner (1989-1999)
• Prof. Ian Taylor (1999-2000)
• George Patterson (2000-2004)
• Prof. Patrick O'Meara (2004–2011)
• David Harper (2011-future)^[5]

College Fellows

The College has two fellowships for visitng scholars; the Arthur Prowse Fellowship, named after the College's first Master, and the Arnold Bradshaw Fellowship. The fellowships are typically awarded for one academic term in conjunction with the Institute of Advanced Study with the fellow residing in the College and becoming a member of the SCR. Recent fellows have included Adi Ophir and Mikhail Epstein.

Notable alumni

Van Mildert alumni are active through organisations and events, such as the Van Mildert association, which cater for the more than 7,500 living alumni. ^[6]

• George Alagiah - Broadcaster
• John Barrow - Cosmologist, winner of the 2006 Templeton Prize and Fellow of the Royal Society
• Jonathan Edwards - Olympic gold medal-winning and current World Record-holding triple jumper
• David Walton - Economist and member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee
• Martin Wharton - Lord Bishop of Newcastle
• Sally Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Huyton - British Labour Party politician, former Minister of State for Women and Board Member of the Olympic Delivery Authority
• John B. Williams - Electronic music producer and DJ
• Jesse Honey - Winner of BBC Mastermind 2010

Gallery

• 

  Mildert in the snow

• 

  Van Mildert College in 1995.

• 

  Van Mildert Lake

• 

  Snow across Tees Lawn

• 

  Van Mildert lake from Wear Block.

References

1. ^ Van Mildert College Official website: Meeting Rooms
2. ^ Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival 2010 website
3. ^ The National Archives | Search the archives | ARCHON Directory | Repository Details
4. ^ Durham University News: Best Bar None Awards
5. ^ Van Mildert College official website: New Master of Van Mildert College Announced
6. ^ "The Durham Difference". Durham University. http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/DARO/TheDurhamDifference.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-03. 

External links

• Van Mildert College official website
• Van Mildert College JCR student organisation
• Van Mildert MCR website
• Van Mildert Boat Club (VMBC)
• Mildert B unofficial alumni cricket club
• Van Mildert Association, Mildert's alumni association
• Van Mildert PA Committee, a student run committee of the college which provides technical equipment