Alice Zeitlyn MBE

Areas of Interest

Charity, Health Care, Alumni

Honorary Award

Honorary fellow, 1993

Biography

Alice Zeitlyn began her relationship with our University in 1977 when she studied A Level English and History at Cambridgeshire College of Arts & Technology (CCAT). She continued her studies and graduated with an MA in Humanities and Social Studies in 1983 and in 1988 completed her MPhil. Her thesis, 'Mature Students in Higher Education' was used to support a great deal of further research on Access students. In additional to her own studies, Alice also gave considerable support to Nigel Taylor, a blind student at CCAT, helping him to gain a degree in History, and learning Braille herself in the process. She has since provided support to a number of visually handicapped students, and has taught about 75 people Braille in Cambridge over more than two decades. In 1980 she founded the B B Zeitlyn Psychotherapy Training Fund in memory of her husband who was killed in a road traffic accident. The Fund has now promoted the education and training of Psychotherapy students for over 25 years. Alice is also a trustee of COPE (Cambridgeshire Older People's Enterprise).

In 2008 Alice was honoured in the Queen's New Year List with an MBE for her service to the community in Cambridge.

In 1993 Alice Zeitlyn was awarded an Honorary Fellowship.

Citation

"Alice Zeitlyn has had a long-standing association with Anglia. This began in 1977 when she embarked as a mature student on an A Level course in English and History. She then moved on to the degree course in Humanities and Social Studies, graduating in English and History in 1983.

Between 1984 and 1988 Alice studied the progress of 40 mature students at CCAT over a period of 3 years. This research led to the award of an M Phil in 1988 and also was used by Alice to support Dr Gina Wisker's research on Access students, leading to a number of publications between 1988 and 1992.

But Alice's contribution to Anglia was not limited to her own academic achievements. She offered enormous support to Nigel Taylor, a blind student at CCAT, learning Braille herself in the process. Nigel's success in completing A-levels and a History degree was owed in no small part to the support that Alice provided to him and has continued to provide to other visually handicapped students since 1984.

She also provided very practical help for students in many other ways. She was one of the moving spirits in the campaign for the establishment of a crèche at CCAT and provided continuity in the long campaign which got the Nursery (C-Kitten as it was then called) off the ground.

After her husband's tragic death in a traffic accident, Alice used part of the money she was awarded in compensation to buy a house for student occupation - a house which is still managed by Anglia's Accommodation Office.

More recently, Alice established a fund to support the planning work for an MA course in Music Therapy. Subject to validation, this course, the only MA of its kind in the country, will admit its first students in October 1994."