After an enriching academic career, alumna Rosalind Janssen (née Hall) came full circle when she returned to her old room in halls.
Rosalind Janssen (BA Ancient History and Archaeology, 1973) experienced a rush of memories when she stepped through the door of her old University accommodation more than 50 years after graduating.
While Rosalind spent all three years of her degree in University House, she had the opportunity in 2024 to revisit her room in first year, located on the first floor of the hall.
University House is now home to staff from the Birmingham Business School and Rosalind discovered that one of the academics now in her old room, Dr Liyun Zhang (a Research Fellow in Economics) had her desk in exactly the spot where her old bed was placed.
Rosalind said: ‘In 1970 I shared my room with two other students, which I wasn’t very happy about. But when I told this story to Dr Zhang (pictured below), she said that during her studies in China she was in a dormitory with five others. I felt really bad to have moaned about it!
‘I remember the two women with whom I shared the room very well. I could see the original pipes running along the floor, plus the fireplace, so it must have been very warm. The window overlooks the grounds and being so close to Old Joe, we always knew when to leave for lectures.’
Favoured by fortune
Rosalind’s degree saw her specialise in Egyptology, an interest of hers since the age of 8. It would prove the founding of her professional career working in academia and she is now writing up her PhD.
Things could have turned out differently for her, however, as she explained: ‘I was actually fortunate to be able to study Egyptology at all, as the University’s previous lecturer in the subject had died.
‘It was only in 1970 that Birmingham appointed John Ray (who would later become Professor) as a lecturer at the age of 24. If I had arrived a year earlier the course would not have been available.
‘I was surprised to be offered a place at all. There was a listed requirement for Latin and Greek A-levels, and I hadn’t studied either subject.’
This meant that for an exam in her second year, the paper was specially adapted for her. She also enjoyed a six-week field trip to Egypt, visiting key archaeological sites in Cairo, Alexandria and Luxor among others.
As part of her degree Rosalind was required to take a German for Archaeologists class, meaning she went to the recently opened Muirhead Tower (pictured here in 1969, close to completion*) once a week, experiencing the paternoster lifts in place at the time.
She added: ‘I remember joining other students to deliberately take the lift all the way to the top of the building, to see how the lift then went across and back down again. They went quickly and you had to jump to get on and off on the floor you wanted.’
Personal loss
While Rosalind has many affectionate memories of her time here, it was also a period in which her mother became seriously ill. Rosalind had been due to move into private accommodation in Selly Oak for her second year but instead stayed in University House.
She explained: ‘I needed to be near a telephone and there was one available to students in the hall. I was also going back home to London every weekend and was fortunate to have a parking space at the front of University House.’
Sadly, her mother died before Rosalind graduated. While today pastoral care is comprehensive at the University, there was no formal provision at that time. As she put it: ‘I will always remember one lecturer who was particularly kind to me, but otherwise I just got on with my studies.
‘I have kept a diary from a young age and in 1973 a lot of it says ‘I’m not happy in London and I’m going back to Birmingham to catch up with my friends’.
‘Despite losing my mother, I’ve got really, really fond memories of my degree, and it’s been lovely to come full circle and make regular return trips in the past few years.’
Those trips have been as part of her research for her PhD, as the Cadbury Research Library (CRL) is home for most of the material that she is researching.
The PhD was inspired by her returning in 2013 for her 40-year reunion, joining a tour of the library and discovering a collection of material from a missionary society in which her parents were heavily involved.
The kindness and support staff from the CRL have shown to her in turn led to her making a pledge in her will to support the library.
And after attending a reception for members of the Rowbotham Fellowship in February 2024, she was inspired to make a further pledge to student wellbeing to help those who suffer a parental bereavement during their studies.
She said: ‘The idea came to me like a flash of lightning, and I thought it would be a really good project.
‘Without my Birmingham degree, I would not have had the career I have enjoyed for the past 50 years. I am very grateful to the University for all it has offered – and continues to offer. When I’m on the Edgbaston campus I feel as if I’m 18 again. It’s like coming back home.’
*Muirhead Tower picture: UB/PH/A/1/4/117 University Archive, Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.