In April, St Hugh’s Principal, Lady Elish Angiolini, accompanied by Bruce Lawrence, Director of Development and Jenny Wood, Head of Alumni Relations & Stewardship met with our alumni community based in New York.
Lady Elish was delighted to be able to present two “Distinguished Friends of St Hugh’s” certificates to some of our most valued supporters. The presentation of these certificates had been delayed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Firstly, Lady Elish presented an award to Jackie Mitchell (Modern Languages, 1968) and Edward Schneider, of Keble College, at a special tea in New York City. Following this, she presented the award to Ilse Kagan (Modern Languages, 1946) at a wonderful lunch hosted by Ilse in her home in Long Island.
During the trip to New York, Oxford University hosted a drinks reception at the University Club in honour of its New Vice-Chancellor, Irene Tracey, which was attended by a large group of St Hugh’s alumni. After the drinks reception, Lady Elish hosted a dinner at a nearby restaurant for St Hugh’s alumni. It was an excellent gathering of alumni and friends from various years, ranging from Graciella Bareng who graduated in 2021 through to Mary Meyer who graduated in 1950. We were also joined by Chris Turner (Archaeology & Anthropology, 2008), who is a stand-up comedian working in New York. Chris was heading off to perform straight after the dinner – we very much admired his dedication in attending the St Hugh’s Dinner! You can see a clip of Chris performing here: https://vimeo.com/613719827/2a4bc54977.
Lady Elish is planning to be back in America soon, and would be delighted to meet with more alumni while she is there. If you live around the East Coast of the United States and would like to hear about her upcoming visit, please contact the Development Office at development.office@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk.
