University of Wales, Bangor

The University of Wales, Bangor (Welsh: Prifysgol Cymru, Bangor) is a constituent institution of the University of Wales based in the city of Bangor in the county of Gwynedd in North Wales, United Kingdom. The university occupies a substantial proportion of the city and also has some departments in Wrexham. One of the university's key selling-points is its location between Snowdonia and the island of Anglesey.

1 Other names
2 History
3 The Principals (now Vice Chancellors)
4 Famous alumni and staff
5 Departments
6 Halls of residence
7 Private halls of residence
8 Further Reading
9 See also
10 External links

[edit] Other names

UWB has been known at various times as the University College of North Wales (UCNW, in Welsh Coleg Prifysgol Gogledd Cymru) and University College, Bangor (UCB, Coleg y Brifysgol, Bangor) – not to be confused with the University College of Bangor (UCB), which is a campus of the University of Maine at Augusta. It is often referred to as Bangor University.

[edit] History

The university was founded as the University College of North Wales in October 1884 as the result of a campaign for better HE provision in Wales, and was incorporated by charter a year later, in 1885.

The university was originally based in an old coaching inn called the Penrhyn Arms (which housed its 58 students and 12 teaching staff), but in 1911 it moved to a much larger new building which is now the old part of the Main Arts Building (M) (see image below). This building was designed by Henry Hare and opened by King Edward VII.

Its students received degrees from the University of London until 1893 when UWB became a founding constituent institution of the federal University of Wales.

In 1898, the red-bricked Rathbone Accommodation Halls were built. They are named after Lady Rathbone, one of the early patrons of the University.

In 1967, UWB was the venue for the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's lectures in Transcendental Meditation, at which The Beatles learnt of the death of their manager, Brian Epstein.

In 1996, Coleg Normal was merged with the university, which now has over 9000 students, as well as a franchise cooperation with Athens Metropolitan College located in Athens, Greece.

Main Arts and other UWB buildings from Bangor Mountain

[edit] The Principals (now Vice Chancellors)

The university has had a total of 6 principals/vice chancellors and they are as follows:

Harry Reichel - Principal 1884-1927

David Emrys Evans - Principal 1927-1958

Sir Charles Evans - Principal 1958-1984

Eric Sunderland - Principal (vice chancellor) 1984-1995

Professor Roy Evans - Vice chancellor 1995-2004

Professor Merfyn Jones - Vice chancellor 2004-present

[edit] Famous alumni and staff

Lord Richard Attenborough - actor is an honorary fellow.

Frances Barber - the film and stage actor, is a graduate and honorary fellow, and has conducted acting workshops at UWB.

Danny Boyle - the film director and producer of various cult films, including Trainspotting, studied his B.A. at UWB in the English department.

Professor Samuel L. Braunstein - a well-known quantum physicist, worked there, researching subjects such as quantum computation and quantum teleportation, from 1997 until he moved to the University of York in the summer of 2004.

Tony Conran - poet and translator. Was Reader in English and Tutor until 1983. Conran has a large number of books in print and has been a published poet since the 1950's. Edited and translated the standard text of Welsh poetry in translation, 'Welsh Verse' (1967/1986).

Professor Sir Gordon Conway FRS - the United Kingdom's Department of International Development's first chief scientific adviser and Professor of international development at Imperial College, London, previously President of the Rockefeller Foundation, USA, and Vice Chancellor of the University of Sussex. Studied zoology (graduated 1959).

Professor David Crystal OBE- a well-known linguist and author, is an honorary professor of Linguistics (and part-time lecturer) at UWB.

A.H. Dodd - historian

Bill Fay - singer/musician and recording artist. Studied Electronics in 1960s.

Tony Gillam - musician and writer. Studied English and French.

Tim Haines - the producer of the BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs studied at UWB.

Mark Hughes- Football manager, (formerly of Wales and now of Blackburn Rovers) is an honorary fellow.

Glenys Kinnock - politician, is an honorary fellow

William Mathias - composer, was professor of music

Ambassador Britton Spio-Garbrah - Ghanaian diplomat and educationist and father of Ghanaian politician and CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization Ekwow Spio-Garbrah

Sir John Meurig Thomas - chemist

Sir John Morris-Jones - welsh grammarian

Professor Ron Pethig - Carried out significant research in developing improved methods of cancer detection and treatment.

Professor Kennedy Orton - Physical Organic Chemist, leading ground-breaking work and making the Bangor Chemistry Department one of the most important in the UK in the years after the 1st World War (Chem. Soc. Reviews (1998) 27, 355 - 366). The main lecture theatre in the Chemistry Department at Bangor is now named after him.

Derek Ratcliffe - botanist, zoologist and nature conservationist, did his PhD at Bangor.

John Sessions - actor, studied English (original name John Marshall)

R.S. Thomas - poet

Professor Derick Thomson - Scottish Gaelic poet, publisher, academic and writer. Studied Celtic.

Carol Vorderman - TV presenter is an honorary fellow (though she did not study at Bangor)

Philip Pullman - author is an honorary fellow (though he did not study at Bangor)

Roger Whittaker - musician, studied Marine Biology

[edit] Departments

The University of Wales, Bangor has a long tradition of academic excellence which continues to this day. Over half of the academic departments at Bangor received an 'Excellent' rating for the quality of teaching, and the University's performance in the latest Research Assessment Exercise confirms their status as a world-class research institution. This is further highlighted by their recent success in doubling the number of research contracts won, bringing Bangor's research contract income to £20M.

As of 2005 the University of Wales, Bangor is broken down into 4 faculties. These are then broken down into smaller departments and schools.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences: Business and Regional Development, Communication and Media, ELCOS (English Language Courses for Overseas Students), School of English, History and Welsh History, Linguistics & English Language, Modern Languages, Music, Social Sciences and Law, Theology and Religious Studies, Welsh.

Faculty of Science and Engineering: Agricultural & Forest Sciences, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Informatics (Electronics and Computer Science) Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ocean Sciences, Psychology, Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences.

Faculty of Education: Department of Lifelong Learning, Education.

Faculty of Health Studies: Nursing, Midwifery & Health Studies, Radiography.

[edit] Halls of residence

Accommodation is guaranteed for all single, undergraduate first year students at Bangor. There are over 2,000 rooms available in halls of residence, and all of the accommodation is within easy walking distance of the University, and includes some 800 en-suite study rooms.

The main types of accommodation are: Catered Accommodation, Self-Catered Accommodation, En-suite Accommodation and Shared Facilities Accommodation.

There are 4 residential sites:

Normal Site - situated on the shores of the Menai Strait next to the School of Education and School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences and the closest residences to the School of Ocean Sciences in Menai Bridge.

St. Mary's Site - situated on a hill overlooking the centre of Bangor, and very close to the Science Departments and School of Informatics. St. Mary's is also ideally situated for Bangor High Street's shops and nightlife.

College Road Site - located a stone's throw from the original Top College building in Upper Bangor, and departments such as Psychology, Music and the School of Business and Regional Development. This site also has two accommodation halls - the Welsh speaking John Morris Jones, and the English speaking Rathbone halls. Neuadd John Morris Jones started it's life in 1974 and has, along with its equivalent Neuadd Pantycelyn in Aberystwyth, became a hub of Welsh identity and Nationalism. It is also the main focal point of Welsh language activities of the University and is an integral part of UMCB, which is the Welsh Student Union, part of the main Student Union body. The hall itself is affectionately known as 'JMJ' to all its current students and alumni. John Morris Jones was named after the first professor of Welsh at the University.

Ffriddoedd Site - the largest accommodation site is in Upper Bangor about 10 minutes walk from Top College, the Science Site and city centre. This site includes a coffee shop, laundrette, bar and 6 en-suite buildings (Bryn Dinas, Cefn y Coed, Elidir, Y Borth, Tegfan, Glyder) all constructed in the mid 1990s. It also houses the Maes Glas sports hall, open to the community and students which received national lottery grant funding.

Neuadd Reichel opened in 1942 and was named after Sir Harry Rudolf Reichel, first principal of the university. A large extension was completed in 1950.

Plas Gwyn opened early 1960s.

Neuadd Emrys Evans opened approximately 1967.

New University halls are due to be constructed on the Ffriddeodd site in two phases. Phase One began in October 2006, and when completed will be two new buildings constructed on what used to be the playing fields. Phase Two will see the demolition of the derelict 1960s structures, and further new builds erected in their place. Residents' main objections regard the height of the structures following the previous building project in the mid 1990s which included Bryn Dinas, a 7 storey building which can be seen from several miles in all directions.

[edit] Private halls of residence

A private hall of residence called 'Neuadd Willis' (named after a well liked and respected architect) has been built (2006), encorporating the old listed British Hotel with a new build extension to the rear. This project is run by Watkin Jones (a local building firm) and Carlton North Wales Ltd and is not a University owned or managed hall. Local residents have mixed feelings about such developments, some feel it will ease pressure on the housing stock in the city, whilst others fear that it will create too much of a concentration of students in a given area.