December 5, 2016, by Liz Cass

Athletes and baronesses to join Nottingham graduands

Olympic medallists and Baronesses will be the guests of honour at The University of Nottingham’s Winter Graduation ceremonies next week.

The ceremonies will take place between Tuesday 13 December and Friday 16 December and this year will take place in the newly opened David Ross Sports Village.

Hundreds of students will gather alongside a number of well-known faces who are set to be conferred with honorary degrees. These include Colin Herridge, the Director of Planet Education Ltd, Baroness Tina Stowell MBE, David Florence, Olympic medallist in Canoe Slalom, and Julia King DBE, the Baroness Brown of Cambridge.

Colin Herridge is a University of Nottingham alumnus in economics and social history. He manages Planet Education – an organisation that aims to give young people access to high quality PE and sport tuition.

Tina Stowell, a former Chilwell Comprehensive pupil and once head of corporate affairs at the BBC, became a Life Peer as Baroness Stowell of Beeston and was introduced in the House of Lords in 2011.

Earlier this year David Florence, a University of Nottingham alumnus in mathematical physics, became the first British Canoe Slalom athlete to be selected for three successive Olympic Games. He won silver medals in Beijing and London before taking his third in Rio.

Julia King is a House of Lords cross bencher and former Vice-Chancellor of Aston University. In 2012 she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to higher education and technology.

British high jumper Isobel Pooley will be returning to the University and will be addressing graduates as the alumni speaker. She tweeted a photograph of her own graduation photo today saying: “Finally disciplined myself to sit down and write my address for the @UniofNottingham graduation ceremony.”

The graduation ceremonies will be streamed live via video.

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