From Stratford to Illinois it’s been another eventful week for LANS!

This week we’re hearing from Chloe Gooding who is currently at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chloe has joined the University choir and is involved with an upcoming production of Mamma Mia as an assistant hair and makeup artist. “I’m loving my classes, especially the ‘Fiction and History’ class which looks at the presentation of history in fiction and popular culture”.

Pumpkins on display

“In America they love fall, there are pumpkins and Halloween decorations everywhere already – even in the dining halls they have little collections of cute pumpkins on display”.

Halls of residence in Chicago

“My nightly walk back home from class or dinner!”.

Students in front of the bean sculpture in Chicago

“Made some really amazing friends! Here is us trying to get a stranger to take a photo of us next to the world famous Bean in Chicago (no I hadn’t heard of it either) he missed most of the bean out but I still love this photo”.

Food in Chicago

“FOOD. Food has been a massive part of my year abroad, I have had some of my best food experiences here!”.

The LANS Society have been busy planning a Halloween film night for all years to take a break from their studies and socialise with fellow LANS students. There are also some rumours of thrilling Christmas extravaganza ideas in the pipeline, so stay tuned! With the first LANS Soc Netball match on Sunday 21st October, our netballers have been training hard - results to be announced next week! If there are any First Years who would still like to join the Family Scheme please get in touch with Ros McDermott or Flo Jones. Finally, the LANS Society section on the website is now up and running accompanied by a Beatles style photoshoot (of course!). 

students recreating the cover of "Abbey Road" on a zebra crossing

We’ve been looking at ways of making our new LANS Hub feel like home! Over the next week we’ll be putting up artwork that was featured in an exhibition as part of the Arts and Sciences festival at the University in March, as well as notice boards to keep everyone up-to-date with the cultural programme, society events and opportunities on offer.

We’re inviting all students and staff the opportunity to have their work displayed in the LANS Hub! We’re open to all ideas so get creative! Send pictures of your work to Bronwen Roberts or Verity Parkin

Artwork decorating the new Liberal Arts and Science space

The Cultural Programme so far has seen LANS students attend performances including ‘Unspoken’ at the Birmingham Hippodrome, ‘Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story’ at Warwick Arts Centre, ‘Troilus and Cressida’ at the RSC and our LANS Distinguished Lecture by Prof Martin Willis entitled ‘What role do the humanities play in our scientific world?’. 

The distinguished lectures are termly flagship events of the Cultural Programme. The evening was a great success and saw students, staff and academics from across the University engaging in this interdisciplinary debate, both in the Q&A after the talk and over a drinks reception. Dr Verity Burke, a postdoctoral researcher based in the English Department, commented on the ‘agility, confidence and grasp of the material’ by LANS students at our LANS Distinguished Lecture which is now available to watch in full

A note from Gina Hunt on getting the part of Hermia in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’:

‘I’m super excited to be performing in Article 19’s production of William Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. After a monologue audition and a group callback I was offered the role of Hermia. It’s one of my favourites Shakespeare’s and the cast is so fun so I can’t wait to get started! Performances will be in the Deb Hall on the 6th, 7th and 8th December.’

Have you ever wondered where a LANS degree could take you? We’ve been in conversation with our growing cohort of LANS graduates to find out what life post-LANS entails. Our series of ‘Graduate Stories’ is ever growing from Francesca Root’s MPhil in Sociology at the University of Cambridge to Joshua Kearney’s return to Birmingham to complete a fully funded PhD. Find out the vast array of career opportunities that are made available to you with a degree in Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences

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