Faculty | Guest Speakers : 1 2 3

Each summer we arrange a series of outstanding guest lecturers to join us in all of our programs. Some meet with the entire student body, others conduct special sessions in specific courses, but all of them add a unique dimension to the students' experience. Recent speakers have included:

Professor Andrew Motion. Professor Motion is the Poet Laureate of England, a post renowned for its former holders such as William Wordsworth, Lord Tennyson, and Ted Hughes. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London, and the author of acclaimed biographies and anthologies of poetry, including Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life (1994) and Keats (1998). Having edited an anthology of First World War poetry and published a fictional biography of John Keats both in 2003, his most recent publication is his autobiography, In the Blood: A Memoir of My Childhood, which is published in 2006. Our students are able to enjoy the Poet Laureate reading his poetry and discuss his poems with him.

Dr. Timothy Benbow. Dr. Benbow is on the faculty at the Department of Strategic Studies and International Affairs, Britannia Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. After studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Brasenose College, Oxford, Dr. Benbow went on to do an MPhil in International Relations and a doctorate. After Oxford, he was elected a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University before accepting his post at the Royal Naval College. He is an expert on strategic studies and East-West relations, which he has also taught at Oxford and at the Central European University in Prague.

Anthony Wedgewood Benn. One of the best known and most controversial figures in British politics, Tony Benn retired from Parliament in 2001 after fifty years in the chamber, making him the longest serving Labour MP in British history. He was a Cabinet minister for two Labour governments and was President of the Council of European Energy Ministers. A member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party for thirty-five years and former Chairman, Mr. Benn offers our students a fascinating perspective on British history and the relationship between Britain and the United States.

Tim Carroll. Director of Productions for New Kent Opera, Mr. Carroll is an honors graduate from Oxford, where he was also a prolific actor. He is the former Associate Director of Shakespeare’s Globe in London, was Associate Director of the Northcott Theatre in Exeter, and began his career at the English Shakespeare Company. He has directed many operas, most recently Tosca for the English Touring Opera in 2006, and countless Shakespeare productions – among them, several productions in Oxford, where he was a teacher on The Oxford Tradition for many years. Mr. Carroll is one of the most gifted and innovative directors working in London today and is able to give our students unique insights into all aspects of directing a Shakespeare production.

Geoff Klock. Mr. Klock is the author of How to Read Superhero Comics and Why, which was published in 2002. A doctoral student at Balliol College, Oxford University, his research concerns interpretations of the Romantic poets in the twentieth century – and his work upon representations of superheroes relies upon similar critical thinking. Also the winner of The Founder’s Day Award for Academic Excellence at New York University, where he obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, Mr. Klock provides a truly inspiring combination of popular culture and literary critique that never fails to encourage our students to think innovatively about new subjects.

Sir Tim Lankester. Currently the President of Corpus Christi College in Oxford, Sir Tim represented the United Kingdom for many years on the boards of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He was the Private Secretary at 10, Downing Street while James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher were Prime Ministers, and he has held senior positions at the Treasury, the Foreign Office, and the Department for Education. He welcomes our students to Corpus Christi with afternoon tea in the college garden.

Michael Scott Rohan. The author of the acclaimed six-book Winter of the World series and the Spiral saga, Mr. Scott Rohan is a prominent fantasy author. He studied at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University, where he began writing for SFinx and he later worked in publishing before devoting his time to writing novels and for such publications as The London Times, Music Magazine and Opera Now. He is also a keen paleontologist and anthropologist, and he enjoys assisting in local archeological digs. He was once part of an ill-fated expedition to find the Loch Ness Monster that failed to find any trace at all of the fabled beast. His fascination with fantasy inspires our students amidst Oxford’s unsurpassed literary heritage.

Don Winslow. Novelist, military historian, theatre director, screenwriter, actor, former private investigator, Mr. Winslow is also a founding faculty member of Oxbridge Academic Programs. Both in individual class workshops and a presentation before the group as a whole, Mr. Winslow reads excerpts from his ten novels (which include California Fire and Life, Cool Breeze on the Underground, and most recently, The Power of the Dog), discusses the art of writing experientially and offers his unique perspectives on transferring the written word from the page to the stage, the small screen, or the cinema. An animated speaker and a consistent favorite among the students, his presentation culminates with a candid question and answer session about being a career author and storyteller.

Dr. Nick Bampos. Dr. Bampos was unanimously elected to the esteemed position of Senior Tutor of Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, in October 2003. Born in Greece and educated in Australia, he completed both a BSc and a PhD at the University of Sydney before coming to Cambridge to study as a postdoctoral researcher over ten years ago. His talents were spotted quickly and he was elected a Fellow of Trinity Hall in 1999, though much of his time is devoted to research at the Department of Chemistry, where he studies molecular chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and teaches organic and inorganic chemistry to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Nick Hutchison. An actor, director, and lecturer, Mr. Hutchison has played lead roles in Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing. A graduate of Oxford, he has worked professionally with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and the Globe Theatre. His screen credits include The Bounty, Restoration, and most recently About a Boy. Mr. Hutchison also lectures for the Globe Theatre’s education program. With his interactive and entertaining workshop, he provides our students with a framework to understanding the cultural, historical, and political contexts that shaped Shakespeare’s plays.

Professor John Morrill. Professor Morrill is Professor of British and Irish History at Cambridge University and Deputy Director of the University’s Centre for Historical Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities. As a world authority on Oliver Cromwell, the 17thcentury regicide, he is published widely in both popular history of the period and in ground-breaking research into the English Civil War and its combatants’ religious psychology. His talk on Oliver Cromwell, one of Cambridge University’s most notorious alumni, is flushed with historical precision and entertaining insight, and our historians are able to visit Cromwell’s former house in Ely, just outside of Cambridge.

Ian de Massini and The Cambridge Voices. One of Britain’s most entertaining and theatrical choirs is directed by Ian de Massini and has garnered accolades around the world in recent years. Their innovative, energetic a cappella performance includes Gregorian chants and19thcenturyspirituals – an eclectic and uplifting repertoire. Though classically trained, they make choral music accessible to our students by performing a broad range of music spanning several centuries, and Mr. de Massini explains the significance and style of each piece. The private recital is one of the perennial cultural highlights of the summer.

Dr. Simon Mitton. Senior Fellow and Treasurer at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge University, Dr. Mitton is an Oxford graduate who earned his doctorate in high energy astrophysics. Outside of academia, he is a respected TV and radio presenter, nationwide columnist, and the author or coauthor of 12 books. He has also spent 22 years as Director of Science Publishing for Cambridge University Press and, with an abiding interest in public awareness of science, 30 years as an outreach teacher for the University. The International Astronomical Union named the asteroid previously known as Minor Planet 4027 for Mitton in recognition of his and his wife’s services to the public understanding of astronomy.