On Wednesday 9 November, we celebrated the achievements of our supporter community from the past 12 months at the Thank You Reception for donors and volunteers.
The university awarded four of our supporters for their outstanding contribution:
Alumni Inclusivity Award – Meike Imberg
Meike (BSc Sociology and Psychology, 2017) was President of Greenwich Students’ Union during her studies and is a longstanding supporter of the university often returning to give her time and expertise to university initiatives and events, most recently the Alumni LGBT+ Community earlier this year. Her dedication to inclusivity inspires our students with her Greenwich Portrait which is on display in the foyer of Stockwell St library.
Alumni Collaboration Award – Byron Cole
This summer, Byron (BSc Economics, 2008) received an Honorary Degree in recognition of his business acumen and outstanding work for both entrepreneurship and philanthropy. Since completing his studies with the university, he has returned to share his business expertise with the Generator volunteering as a judge on the panel for the Enterprise awards, supported students through mentoring, donated to the Covid-19 Student Appeal, and as a speaker at countless events.
Byron is also a Greenwich Portrait and in 2019, was involved in the GSU Black Excellence Portraits edition. Byron is always happy to help and come up with ways of supporting students to achieve and exceed expectations.
Positive Impact Award – Keith Tomlins
Greenwich alumni and staff member, Keith (PhD Natural Resources, 2010) takes a special place in the community having been a regular donor to the Greenwich Fund for over ten years. A longstanding contribution like this reflects a commitment to ensuring students can access higher education regardless of background or circumstance which helps us to provide an education without boundaries for our students.
Mentor of the Year Award – Ian Turner
Ian (BA Philosophy and Mathematics, 2007) has stayed close to his roots at the university and wanted to give something back. He is currently Head of Partner Solutions at Google and has worked closely with Greenwich Business School to involve Google in the Careers Mentoring programme which successfully runs on the Ask Alumni+ platform. So far over, 50 Greenwich students have benefited from 1:1 relationships with high quality mentors from Google.
A member of staff working on the programme has said: “His enthusiasm and passion for giving back is infectious and he has been both a mentor and mentor programme leader. To top it all, we were very honoured when he agreed to be our keynote speaker at the Mentoring Achievement Ceremony in June. We owe him a big debt of gratitude for everything he does, especially as our partnership is on a solid footing for even bigger things!”
Star of the Future Award – Bukola Bakinson
Bukola’s (BA Film & Television Production, 2021) film ‘No Comprendo’ has won various awards on the festival circuit this year. It is a documentary film that asks whether Britain’s criminal justice system works in today’s 21st century multicultural society and featured in the Sanctuary in Education event at the university.
Bukola is a recent graduate and 2022 Greenwich Portrait, her work in film is making significant waves and we are excited to see her continued success.
Recognising alumni
Throughout the year, many alumni donate and give their time and expertise to support the University of Greenwich and our students. Do you know of alumni who have contributed to the university? Please email alumni@gre.ac.uk so we can recognise and thank them.
