Honorary degrees 2009
26 October 2009
Southampton Solent University is honouring achievements in the maritime industry, sport, business, the arts, and technology with its honorary degree awards 2009.
Recipients will include Olympic gold medallist and Solent University graduate Paul Goodison, Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, Southampton Football Club legend Terry Paine, internationally renowned author Kathy Lette and renowned British actress Celia Imrie.
The awards will be made during the University's Graduation ceremonies, which take place from 2-6 November at Southampton Guildhall.
Those receiving honorary degrees include (in alphabetical order):
Chris Corbould (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Technology)
Chris Corbould is Britain’s leading special effects exponent with over 40 film credits to his name. He was an Oscar nominee in 2009 as head of visual effects for The Dark Knight (Batman), is a six time BAFTA nominee and has two international Press Academy Golden Satellite Awards and three Visual Effects Society Awards. He has supervised special effects on films such as Shadowlands, Goldeneye, The Ghost and the Darkness, Tomorrow Never Dies, Firestorm, The Mummy and The World is Not Enough, 102 Dalmations, Tomb Raider One and Two, Die Another Day, Batman Begins and Casino Royale.
David Dearsley (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Maritime Studies)
David Dearsley has made an outstanding contribution to the international maritime industry. As Secretary General of the International Maritime Employers’ Committee - an organisation that represents in excess of 100 companies operating more than 5,500 ships and employing over 145,000 seafarers of all nationalities - he has been heavily influential in maritime industrial relations. He has also been Secretary to the Ship Owners Group at the International Labour Organisation and Secretary to the two bodies responsible for conducting pay negotiations with the International Transport Federation, the Joint Negotiating Group and the international Bargaining Forum. David has also been an enthusiastic supporter of the University’s Warsash Maritime Academy, assisting with innovative research and course delivery.
Paul Goodison (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Sport)
Paul Goodison – who graduated from Solent University in 1999 with a BSc (Hons) in Maritime studies - is currently the world number one Laser sailor, an Olympic Gold Medallist, and World and European champion. Paul started sailing at four years of age and has enjoyed an outstanding string of successes since turning professional in 1996. His first major triumph came in the 2000 Laser European Championships where he won Silver. In 2004 he represented his country in the Athens Olympic Games where he narrowly missed a Bronze Medal. In the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing Paul won Gold in the Laser Class and is now working towards further success in London 2012.
Celia Imrie (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts)
Celia Imrie is a renowned British actress who has just finished filming on the latest St Trinians film, The Legend of Fritton's Gold, and the award winning BBC series Cranford. Her very many film credits include Bridget Jones's Diary, Calendar Girls, Highlander, Hilary and Jackie, Nanny McPhee, and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
She came to prominence in the 1970s with TV appearances in Dinnerladies and Victoria Wood as Seen on TV, and has most recently starred as Diana in three series of After You've Gone for the BBC and as Gloria Millington in three series of Kingdom for ITV. Most recently in the West End as Dame Sybil Thorndike in Plague Over England, she won an Olivier Award for her performance as Miss Babs in Trevor Nunn's West End musical version of the Victoria Wood sketch series Acorn Antiques and The Clarence Derwent Award for The Sea directed by Sam Mendes at The National Theatre. Her one woman play Unsuspecting Susan received critical acclaim both in London and New York and she is currently appearing in the exciting new play Mixed Up North.
Born in Guildford, Celia is also a resident of the Isle of Wight.
Kathy Lette (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts)
Kathy Lette is an internationally renowned author who first achieved success as a teenager with the novel Puberty Blues, which was turned into a major motion picture by Oscar-winning director Bruce Beresford. Her subsequent novels have been translated into 17 foreign languages and published in more than 100 countries. Early titles are Girls' Night Out (1988), The Llama Parlour (1991), Foetal Attraction (1993), and Mad Cows (1996), which featured on the big screen starring Anna Friel and Joanna Lumley. Later novels include Altar Ego (1998), Nip'nTuck (2000), Dead Sexy (2003), How To Kill Your Husband - and other handy household hints (2006), and To Love, Honour and Betray (2008).
Kathy is also a playwright, TV broadcaster, spokesperson for the Australian Cancer Council and is on the board of Superwoman - a financial service for women.
Carol Marlow (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Business)
Carol Marlow is Managing Director of P&O Cruises, Britain’s largest cruise line, a brand of Carnival UK and sister brand to Cunard Line. A first class honours graduate in Economics and Business Economics, Carol has been in the travel and leisure industry for over 20 years. Following a varied early career in tour operating, hotels and entertainment, she entered the cruise sector in 1997 as Managing Director of Swan Hellenic Cruises. In 1999 she moved to P&O Cruises as Sales & Marketing Director before becoming UK Director for Princess Cruises and, in 2004, Director for Cunard Line in Europe, Middle East and Africa. In November 2005 Carol was appointed President and Managing Director of Cunard Line worldwide, a position she held until July 2009 when she took up her current role with P&O Cruises.
Scott Mills (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts)
Scott Mills (pictured) is best known for The Scott Mills Show on BBC Radio 1 which attracts over six million listeners each week. His career began at the early age of 16 at local Hampshire commercial radio station Power FM where he was the youngest permanent presenter on mainstream commercial radio. He subsequently moved to GWR FM, Piccadilly 103 in Manchester and Heart 106.2, before joining the BBC in 1998 to present The Early Breakfast Show.
In addition to his radio work, Scott has a number of TV credits to his name including cameo appearances in popular series Skins and Hollyoaks (Channel 4), Casualty (BBC1) and The Bill (ITV). He has also presented The National Lottery, the National TV Awards and most recently two of his own shows on Living TV featuring the actor David Hasselhof.
Brian Orrell OBE (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Maritime Studies)
Brian Orrell was until recently General Secretary of Nautilus UK, the trade union and professional organisation representing over 18,500 masters, officers and cadets serving in the UK and international fleets and in maritime related industries ashore. He is an ex-marine engineer officer, an honours law graduate, Chairman of the European Transport Workers Federation (ETF), EU Maritime Committee and of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) Seafarers Section. In September 2008 he was elected to the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) for the eighth consecutive year. During his 34 as a union official he has worked tirelessly on behalf of seafarers and has been hugely influential in national and international negotiations on seafarer’s rights and welfare. In 2007 he was honoured with an OBE for his services to seafarers and in 2008 was given the Lloyds List Lifetime Achievement Award.
Terry Paine MBE (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Sport)
Terry Paine was an outstanding football player who made a club record-breaking 713 league appearances for Southampton FC and 111 for Hereford United FC. He won 19 international caps for England, was part of the1966 World Cup squad and was awarded the MBE for his services to football in 1977. Off the pitch, he enjoyed a three-year period as a Southampton Borough Councillor. After retiring as a player Terry focused on coaching and spent a period as manager of the non-league Cheltenham Town. During the 1980s he was based in Johannesburg coaching the Wits University Football Club before returning to the UK in 1988 to work at Coventry. Terry is now a successful sports presenter in South Africa and contributed significantly to the country’s successful 2010 World Cup bid.
Dr Martin Stopford (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Maritime Studies)
Dr Martin Stopford is Managing Director of Clarkson Research Services Ltd, providers of intelligence on the shipping and offshore industries and Executive Director of Clarkson plc. He leads a team of researchers and analysts at offices in London and Shanghai who maintain a range of shipping intelligence products critical to the maritime sector. A graduate of Oxford University, he has a doctorate in International Economics from London University and lectures worldwide on a diverse range of maritime industry topics. He is an acknowledged expert in shipping economics and marketing analysis. His book Maritime Economics was first published in 1987 and remains the shipping industry’s most comprehensive text and reference source.
Alex Thomson (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Sport)
Alex Thomson is one of the major international yachting and holder of two world records. At the age of 25 he became the youngest skipper to ever win a round the world yacht race, the 1998-99 clipper Race. In 2000 he won the Round Britain and Ireland Race in a record breaking time of 10 days, which still stands. In 2003 he set a new 24 hour world speed sailing record for solo mono-hulls, which he broke again in 2007. He aims to become the first Briton to win the world’s toughest sailing challenge, the 26,000 mile non-stop Vendee Globe. Founder of Alex Thomson Racing, Alex lives in Gosport where he supports a range of community projects and gives regular talks to Solent University students.
Glyn Tonge (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of the University)
Glyn Tonge has played an important role in the creation and development of Southampton Solent University. He became an Independent Governor in 1997 and has served as Chairman of the Board from 2000-2009 and as Pro-Chancellor of the University since 2005. Glyn has had a distinguished career in the field of biotechnology, healthcare and investment banking. He is currently a Partner and Director of Bluewater Capital Partners Pty Ltd, a private investment bank. He serves on a number of government committees, advising on research and investment in the biological sciences, and is a director of a number of public and private companies in the UK and Australia. He is a founder member of Grange Park Opera in Hampshire and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institution in 2004. He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of World Traders, a Freeman of the City of London, a member of The Athenaeum and Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Institute of Biology.
Martin Whitmarsh (Receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Technology)
Martin Whitmarsh is the Chief Operating Officer of the McLaren Group and Team Principal of the Formula One team, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.
Martin’s family home was in the New Forest and he graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1980. His first job was at British Aerospace (BAE Systems) where he reached the position of Manufacturing Director in charge of the Hawk and Harrier airframe construction. In 1989 he joined McLaren Racing as Head of Operations. In 1997 he was promoted to Managing Director with responsibility for managing the Formula 1 operation, including partners and sponsors and in April 2004 he took on the role of Chief Executive Officer. Martin then became Chief Operating Officer in 2005 and Team Principal in 2009. He is based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey.
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