Every year, as part of our graduation ceremonies, University of the Arts London presents the awards of Honorary Doctor, Fellow and Master to recognise an individual’s achievement in their field. Previous Honorary fellows of the University include Sarah Burton, Anthony Caro, Hussein Chalayan, Dato’ Jimmy Choo, Jarvis Cocker, Terence Conran, Tom Eckersley, Colin Firth, John Galliano, Gilbert and George, Antony Gormley, Sarah Greenwood and Anish Kapoor.
This year LCC honored Tom Hulme, Rob Dickins and Alice Rawsthorn.
Three years after graduating with honours from Loughborough University, Rob Dickins was named managing director of Warner Bros Music Publishing. So began a distinguished 40-year career in which he signed such household names as Prince, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Chic, Cher, Enya and the Sex Pistols. In 1983, Dickins became the chairman of Warner Music UK, remaining in the role until December 1998. He was awarded a CBE for services to the music industry in 2002.
Born in Manchester in 1958, Alice Rawsthorn discovered design “by accident” while studying art history at the University of Cambridge. After 15 years as a journalist with the Times, she became the paper’s design critic. In 2001 she began a five-year tenure as the Design Museum’s director. Rawsthorn is a regular contributor to the BBC London, the Guardian and the International New York Times. Rawsthorn is a trustee of the Whitechapel Gallery and Arts Council England, an honorary senior fellow of the Royal College of Art and has served on the Turner Prize jury. She was awarded an OBE for services to design and the arts earlier this year.
Fusing his degree in physics from the University of Bristol with an MBA from Harvard Business School, Tom Hulme began his career by creating Magnom: a start-up based on a new design for magnetic filters, now used in Formula 1 cars, JCBs and central heating systems across the world. Hulme’s work has earned him a place in The Wired 100 annual survey of top digital ‘power brokers’, and London Evening Standard’s list of London’s 1,000 most influential people.