By Christina Smith (UCL Bartlett 2012)

It may have taken place on the coldest night of the season, but the third installment of the New York Annual Party was a successful event with a record-number of alumni in attendance. Held at the British Consulate in Manhattan, the event was sold-out and the host, Nick Astbury, the Deputy Consul General and a UCL alumnus, was happy to point out that UCL beat out Imperial for number of attendees at its reception, which was held at the consulate just a few days prior.

This year’s party was an opportunity to welcome in and hear from the new UCL President and Provost, Professor Michael Arthur. The new provost used the occasion to talk about some of UCL’s recent accomplishments, including its 4^th place position in the QS World University Rankings, pointing out again that we beat Imperial (and also Oxford). He didn’t just use the event to tout UCL’s achievements however, he urged alumni to give back to UCL, not solely through financial support but by connecting with other alumni in the New York area, spreading the UCL name far and wide, and providing graduates with internship and job opportunities.

The reception was just one of a number of events for those living across the pond to engage and network with other UCL alumni, with a cohort of eager volunteers who lead the charge of helping to plan events to keep alumni active and connecting. You can view some photos of the party in our Flickr gallery.

Further information:

If you are interested in becoming an alumni volunteer and organising alumni activity in New York please email Miriam Waters, Alumni Relations Manager.

New York alumni webpage

New York alumni facebook page

Online Career Mentoring Network

This blog is written by Don Levett

UCL’s new Alumni LGBT group launched with its first event last Wednesday. The drinks reception attracted over 120 former students, whose times at UCL spanned five decades.

The group was particularly fortunate to welcome both UCL Chair of Council Sir Stephen Wall – who gave a speech on diversity that also covered his personal journey as a diplomat, a career where homosexuality was long forbidden – and Booker Prize-winning author Alan Hollinghurst, who taught at UCL back in the 1980s.

Set up to help friends get back in contact as well as make new connections, the group aims to run several socials every year. It also plans to raise a scholarship fund to help LGBT students from vulnerable contexts to attend UCL, particularly those from countries where homosexuality or alternative approaches to gender are discriminated against. This initiative is supported by the university.

Much of the inaugural event’s awareness was spread by word of mouth, and the organisers are particularly keen to increase the network’s diversity. Over coming events they would like reach alumni who were not necessarily open about their sexuality during their time at university, or who perhaps did not know many others who shared it.

If you’d like to attend future events or get involved, or have any friends from your time at UCL who’d you think might be interested, please drop the group a line on lgbt.alumni@uclmail.net, or join the UCL LGBT Alumni Facebook Group.