Diana Paterson-Fox 2023-08-22 19:39:11 wrote:

The Centre for Environmental Technology was set up in 1976 to bring together teachers and research groups from College departments to offer and administer a one year MSc in Environmental Technology and further interdepartmental collaboration and research. It was the brain of the then Rector , Lord Flowers. The structure of the course is the same as now. A common core course , followed by a specialist option and then a specialist project. There were 7 options- Ecological Management, Environmental Physics, Land Use/Transport Planning and Management, Mineral Resources, Pollution, Pollution Control and Safety Engineering and Water Resources Management. All of the academic staff involved were members of the different departments in the College, There were two permanent staff , the Academic Secretary and Secretary. Professor John Sutton from Geology became Chairman and Dr Gordon Conway from Zoology became the Academic Director. I became the Academic Secretary . Gordon and I were tasked with setting the Centre up- from finding the space, to the timetables, to the recruitment of students. A day before the start of term with the our first intake in October 1977 , he and I could be found carrying desks into our new premises in 48 Princes Gardens. 24 students were our first intake in 1977, more than we dreamed of. The numbers grew each year. The rest is history. They were giddy days in the late 1970s at Imperial College and Gordon was a pioneer. Well done Gordon