Honorary graduates 2010
Doctor of Science (DSc), Sir David Attenborough
A Darwin for our times, a supreme communicator about the natural world
A scientist and broadcasting professional, David Attenborough has perfected the power of television to inform people about life on Earth, and to spread appreciation of its diversity and value. He grew up on the campus of University College, Leicester (now the University), where his father was principal. He read geology and zoology at Cambridge. He joined the BBC as a trainee in 1952 and soon made a mark presenting Zoo Quest, both in the studio and in its pioneering films on animals in the wild. More recently he ensured his place in broadcasting history with the comprehensive Life series, made across 20 years, celebrating animals, plant life and environments from the Arctic to tropical jungles. With his books, radio talks and personal appearances, his career presents a fresh way of seeing the human species in the wider global context. His extensive honours and awards include the Order of Merit.
Doctor of Letters (DLitt), Billy Connolly
Multi-talented stage and screen performer
A teller of stories, true or imaginary, Billy Connolly delivers them with unparalleled, improbable and indefinable charm. Comedian, actor, raconteur, presenter, commentator - and even a sat nav voice - he can be uncomfortably funny, but he gets away with it. Glasgow-born Billy had a difficult childhood, in a close-knit but chaotic and tough Glasgow community, abandoned by his mother and abused by his father. Billy became a shipyard welder and served in the Territorial Army. He bought a banjo and gathered a following on the folk and comedy circuits before television unveiled him to broader audiences in 1975. Soon an international star and seasoned actor, his stage and screen work includes the BAFTA-nominated role of John Brown in the film Mrs Brown. His documentary on Canada earned a nomination for a National Television Award. Acknowledging his own early hardship, he supports many efforts to help others, such as the charity fund of his beloved Celtic Football Club.
Doctor of Letters (DLitt), Dame Judi Dench
Supremely gifted and versatile actor
In Britain the arts are unique in producing men and women who gain the status of 'national treasure'. Dame Judi Dench is definitely among them. More formally, she is currently the only actress who is a Companion of Honour. Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Lady Macbeth, Queens Elizabeth and Victoria, Lady Bracknell, James Bond's boss M, the ageing novelist Iris Murdoch, - and more - represent an extraordinary range of roles in the theatre, films and television. Across five decades, she has captured them with tremendous but subtle emotional power, from bleak tragedy to light comedy. In the 1960s Sir Peter Hall invited the young Judi Dench to be among the founding company of the Royal Shakespeare Company and she helped to inaugurate the new Nottingham Playhouse, under director John Neville. She has won a score of awards for stage and screen performances, including an Oscar, a Tony, seven Oliviers and 10 BAFTAs. She is a Freeman of her native city of York.
Doctor of Laws (LLD), The Rt. Hon. Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC
A barrister of international renown and a legal and constitutional reformer
Lord Falconer's career includes more than 25 years as a commercial barrister and a decade as a member of the UK government. He is Senior Counsel with the international legal firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He served in the Blair government from 1997 to 2007. As Lord Chancellor and Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, he led moves to bring about historic changes in the administration of justice. As a result, he took up the new post of Secretary of State for Justice, bringing together courts, prisons and justice policy for the first time. Charles Falconer was educated at Edinburgh Academy, Trinity College, Glenalmond and Queens' College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1974 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1991. After the 1997 general election, he was awarded a life peerage on being made Solicitor General. He and his wife, also a barrister, have a home in Nottinghamshire.
Doctor of Social Science (DSoc Sci), Dr Geoff Mulgan
Major influence on contemporary thinking in public policy development
For more than 20 years, author, lecturer, researcher, broadcaster and adviser Geoff Mulgan has influenced thinking and policymaking on issues such as health, education, justice, communication, the creative use of the web and many other areas of political, academic and public affairs. He helped to set up the think-tank Demos, and is currently director of the Young Foundation, which engages with charities, business, local and national government in Britain and abroad. He is a champion of social enterprise and the power of civil society organisations. After Westminster School and Oxford University he took a PhD in telecommunications at the University of Westminster and was a Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the early 1990s he was an adviser to Gordon Brown and more recently among part-time advisers to the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. At NTU he has collaborated with academic staff and given public policy seminars.
Doctor of Education (DEd), Michael Rosen
Writer, performer and teacher and a towering influence on children's reading
Teachers, parents and, above all, children have a million reasons to admire and thank Michael Rosen for his writing, performances and talks. He has been a giant of children's literature for four decades. His poems, stories, scripts and other work have inspired children to read, write, perform, explore and develop their interests and talents as they grow up. After attending Watford Boys' Grammar School, and embarking briefly on medical training, Michael went to read English at Wadham College, Oxford. He joined the BBC as a graduate trainee, but since 1972 Michael has worked as a freelance writer and lecturer. He was one of the first poets to tour UK schools and has also made visits to schools around the world. As an author, or collator of anthologies, he has produced more than 140 books. He was the fifth UK Children's Laureate (2007-09), and has been a guest lecturer at NTU.
Doctor of Art (DArt), Robert Stephen Rubin
A champion for global business ethics
A law graduate of University College, London, who trained as a barrister, Stephen Rubin has been an agile and creative player in a business career spanning more than four decades. Since 1969 he has been chairman of the Pentland group. It used to be simply a shoe business and was one of the first UK companies to manufacture from Asia. Under Stephen's shrewd leadership it acquired other interests, including in 1981 a small US business called Reebok which was sold on 10 years later as a giant brand. Pentland is now the UK's leading family-owned global brand management business in the sportswear and footwear sector. He has been a constant promoter of corporate responsibility, conscious of human rights and eliminating child-labour and other exploitation. He has served as World President of the Textiles Institute and won several awards from sportswear industries. He was awarded an OBE in 2002 for his work in business and human rights.
Doctor of Letters (DLitt), Dr James Smith, Mrs Marina Smith and Dr Stephen Smith
A mother and two sons who founded a centre for remembrance of the Holocaust
A rare triple award for a remarkable family. Stephen Smith is Executive Director of the Shoah Foundation, of Los Angeles, and a member of the Inter-governmental Taskforce on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF). In 1995 he and his brother James co-founded the UK Holocaust Centre at Laxton in Nottinghamshire, and their mother Marina was its first education director. As schoolboys, James and Stephen had visited Israel with their parents and began to realise that the Holocaust was more than a Jewish concern. As adults they further engaged with the issues and decided to create a centre for remembrance, reflection, education and training for professionals. They also co-founded the Aegis Trust, which campaigns against crimes against humanity and genocide. The Holocaust Centre engages with pupils, teachers and researchers at all levels of education to raise awareness of not only the Holocaust of the Second World War, but more recent genocides such as those in Armenia, Cambodia and Rwanda.
Doctor of Social Science (DSoc Sci), Peter Wright
Prison governor recognised for leadership and progress in the criminal justice system
Peter Wright, Governor of HMP Nottingham, joined the Home Office as a politics graduate from Exeter University in 1974 and reached the grade of senior executive officer before moving across into the Prison Service in 1988. He is known for his enthusiastic and progressive approach to the housing, care and resettlement of offenders. He has held senior posts at several institutions, including governorships at Stafford and Whatton prisons. He has fostered links between the professional and academic sectors, for example, a partnership between NTU and the Sex Offender Treatment Programme at HMP Whatton, to develop innovations for wider application. HMP Nottingham is expanding to become a community prison for longer term inmates, and Peter Wright is keen to involve academic researchers, charities and other organisations from the area in its broader work. Collaboration helps both to increase public confidence in the criminal justice system and reduce the risk of people re-offending.
