Imperial College Centenary - getting involved
Tuesday 06 Jun 2006
1907 - 2007 - 100 years of Imperial
The last 100 years
8 July 2007 is the College’s 100th birthday and the date commemorates “100 years of living science” since the drawing together of the three 19th century consituent Colleges -the Royal School of Mines, the Royal College of Science and the City and Guilds College - to form Imperial College.
The last hundred years has seen the College expand from a Science college of 600 students (and no females!) to 11,500 students, teaching Engineering, Medicine, Science, Technology and Business, with 8 campuses across London and the South East.
The Future
With Imperial leaving the University of London, the College will become a university in its own right. Coupled with ambitious redevelopments of the campuses, Imperial has an exciting future ahead.
Centenary Campaign
As part of the Centenary celebrations, there’s a massive fundraising campaign being run by College. It aims to raise funds for a number of flagship projects, including the Union Building redevelopment, Centenary Scholarships for students, Redevelopment of the Library, redevelopments at Hammersmith campus, new buildings on Exhibition Road, Envision 2010 (Engineering) and a Centre for Risk Management at the Business School.
The College’s Office of Alumni & Development is leading the fundraising campaign and is planning a number of fundraising events at the College as well as internationally to raise awareness of Imperial’s celebrations.
Union Building
The Union Building has been adopted as one of the Centenary projects demonstrating its importance to the College and meaning that part of the fundraising campaign will be for it. Together with the £1.2 million College have put into the project already, and the £1.1million from the Union, the fundraising campaign will seek to find the rest of the money required along with help from College.
As part of the campaign, Trevor Phillips, the UK Government’s Commissioner for Racial Equality and an ex-President of the Union, came on board this Easter as an ambassador for the Union’s fundraising activities.
"Some of the best moments in my life happened in and around the Beit Quad and in the Union Building - from becoming President of the Union, to my first brush with the media.. to learning how to drink a yard of ale, through to stuff that no-one but me and the others involved need to know about. The redevelopment won't just be an asset to the College. It will be essential to both preserving and updating the best in student life". Trevor Phillips OBE
What will happen during the Centenary?
During the year there’ll be lots of events going on including Guest Lectures, Exhibitions, birthday celebrations and the opening of a number of College developments, including the new Southside Halls of Residence. Student events will be incorporated, such as the New Year’s parade to kick off the centenary year in style. An events programme will be published in the Autumn of 2006 and will be available to all students.
There will also be memorabilia available to celebrate the year, available in the Union Stationary Shop and online, as well as a celebratory DVD and a book mapping the history of the College by Dr Hannah Gay.
A free gift will also be given to all students as a memorabilia of this special occasion for students.
How YOU or your CLUB or SOCIETY can get involved
Thanks to those who have already given ideas for events and memorabilia, many of which have been incorporated into plans by the Centenary Project Team.
If your Club or Society will be having an event next year which you’d like to incorporate in the College’s 100th birthday celebrations or in the fundraising for the student projects, contact centenary@imperial.ac.uk and president@imperial.ac.uk. Centenary events will be publicised through the Centenary website, which will be launched later this term, and you will be able to use the newly developed Centenary logo and strapline - you may even get the Rector and other famous college alumni giving the opening speech at your event! Further information about holding centenary events will be published on the centenary website shortly.
How Alumni can get involved
As part of the College’s centenary campaign, alumni will be asked to consider making a gift to one of three areas: student support, the library and the Imperial College Union refurbishment. Donations from alumni, staff and friends are extremely important to the College and it’s encouraging to see the increase in support each year. Over the last three years, more than 1,500 alumni have made more than 4,000 gifts amounting to over £325,000 to the Student Opportunities Fund, a College-wide scholarship fund designed to support students who may not otherwise be able to afford to take up their course at Imperial.
For more information about any of the College’s fundraising activities, please contact the office of Alumni and Development (supporting@imperial.ac.uk).