Graduation review Thursday 11 July 2019

The penultimate day of our summer graduation week boasted three ceremonies; graduands from Liverpool Business School celebrated in both the morning and afternoon, while graduands from the School of Humanities and Social Science enjoyed their ceremony with family and friends from 5pm.

During the morning ceremony, an Honorary Fellowship was presented to Mowgli founder Nisha Katona MBE, in recognition of her outstanding achievements in the food industry and as a champion for entrepreneurship.

Nisha praised the graduands telling them that you need three things for success – grace, intelligence and graft - and that they were all an embodiment of those qualities. She concluded by passing on her two main principles that one, the world does not owe you a living – find a gap in the market and two, every morning set your heart on things above the bottom line – to enrich lives or enlighten.

LJMU IT Services’ Business Analyst Michael Drummond celebrated receiving his Master of Business Administration with his family.

"I wanted to do the MBA to broaden my business knowledge more holistically. Much of my studying and assignments were linked to existing projects that I was working on in LJMU so that helped with my work/life balance, particularly with new-born twins being added in halfway through my course!

"Under the mentorship of Andrew Doyle and the continued enthusiasm of Director of IT Peter Ashton, I was sure that I had made the right decision in continuing my studies. The MBA has opened a number of opportunities for me both developmentally and in my approach to my existing work and I can only see the qualification having a positive impact on my future."

Michael is pictured with his partner Emma and nine month old twins.

Mature student Brendan Monaghan brought his family to Liverpool Cathedral to celebrate his graduation in Accounting and Finance and met with the Dean of Liverpool Business School, Tim Nichols, who congratulated Brendan for his success in twice winning student of the year award, followed by the Peter Toyne award and finally an ICAEW award.

Brendan was shocked and overwhelmed at hearing he had won this award and said, “I believe it has come through a ‘never give up’ attitude during personal struggles and a determination to succeed for my children's future. This awarded me with high marks whilst assisting my peers and ensuring I achieved what I knew I was capable of. I am still in shock to be perfectly honest though!”

“I have had lots of fantastic experiences during my time a LJMU; my most memorable experience has been meeting the incredible staff at LJMU that go far beyond the call of duty to support students in their studies and on a personal level has inspired me.”

Double celebrations were on the cards for Cameron Rossiter, graduating during the afternoon with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Business Management on his 21^st birthday. Cameron, whose parents are both alumni of LJMU, found that the Liverpool Business School at LJMU was the most fitting and welcoming of the open days he visited. He is now looking at post graduate courses at LJMU to further his studies and expand his career opportunities.

“The most memorable part of my journey was during an applied business module that gave me a real-world task to solve for the university. I met with and interviewed entrepreneurs who helped to create products and services such as Kerrygold butter, Baileys and the Signature Living brand and was given useful tips and advice for how to approach problems and clients in the future.”

Our final ceremony of the day saw Honorary Fellow Angela Samata introduce Janet Dugdale to the Fellowship in recognition of her advocacy and commitment to curating and celebrating Liverpool culture.

Upon accepting her Fellowship, Janet Dugdale congratulated the students present on their achievements and drew on her experience in Liverpool; a place rich in stories and story-telling to help inspire the students. She talked passionately about the strong sense of identity in the city they have called home in recent years and wished them every success in the future.

The School of Humanities and Social Science celebrated their graduands during the ceremony and a familiar face for the Corporate Communications team appeared when Charlotte Beadle, who recently completed a paid internship in the department, arrived to receive her Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Media, Culture and Communication.

Speaking about her three month internship, Charlotte says, “it taught me a lot within such a short space of time and was very beneficial as it gave me an insight as to what working in a corporate office is like. If I hadn’t had this internship I would feel very unprepared going into a post-grad job as I would not know what to expect.”

“I have had so many amazing memories from the past 3 years! I would say my most memorable LJMU experience was being invited to and attending the Chancellor’s reception in Middle Temple, London. It was great having a day enjoying London culture then having a night of networking with LJMU alumni and celebrating LJMU as an institution.”

Congratulations also go to Carly Speed, sessional Lecturer in Criminology, who completed a PhD that was awarded without corrections - investigating the deaths of patients detained under the Mental Health Act.

Carly explained:

"The PhD was a progression from studies undertaken for my BA degree and MRes degree also undertaken at LJMU. Teaching alongside studying has been rewarding, and I have been nominated twice for the LJMU Amazing Teacher award. Special thanks to Professor Joe Sim, Dr David Scott and Dr Victoria Cooper for their support.

“Publishing alongside studies has also been a rewarding experience, most notably seeing a number of my book chapters published and an article in an international peer-reviewed journal. I am now working towards publishing a book of the thesis and continuing to teach."