A student who photographed patients to challenge perceptions of disability and another who appeared on BBC Countryfile will join TV newsreader Dr Fiona Armstrong at next week’s graduation ceremonies in Carlisle.
Over a thousand students will graduate at ceremonies beginning next Tuesday (27 Nov) at Carlisle Cathedral.
Supported by two and a half thousand friends and family the ceremonies are a major draw boosting the city’s economy.
Photography student Megan Ogley whose final year project focused on people with prosthetic limbs will also receive an award for her work.
Lequane Johnson who now serves as the Students Union academic officer is also set to graduate. The wildlife media student joined others filmed by BBC Countryfile in south Cumbria to mark the programme’s anniversary edition this summer.
Meanwhile Dr Fiona Armstrong will receive an Honorary Fellowship from the university in recognition of her lifelong and outstanding contribution to the media industry.
The Lancashire-born journalist began her career at Radio 210 in Reading before joining the BBC in Manchester in 1983. She then moved to Border Television in Carlisle as a reporter becoming a newsreader and then presenter for the nightly news programme ‘Lookaround.’
In 1987 she joined ITN presenting bulletins including the News at Ten and News at 5.45 before joining GMTV as a breakfast presenter. After that she presented the breakfast news programme on BBC World, before rejoining ITV Border in 1993 as a presenter of Lookaround and other regional programmes including ‘Eagle’s Eye’ and ‘Fiona on Fishing’.
Fiona returned to network television news in 2010 as a presenter for the BBC News Channel. She currently fronts ‘Border Life’, a current affairs programme for ITV Border.
A judge on the Lakeland Book of the Year and Patron of the Bookmark Book Festival and Cumbria Woman of the Year she has been involved with several charities and is currently writing a book on a family member who was literary confidante to Queen Victoria.
In 2016, Fiona was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries by the Queen, acting as Her Majesty’s personal representative for the region.
She will receive her award on Wednesday – her birthday – in front of Border TV colleagues including John Myers and Harry King.
University Chancellor Dr John Sentamu will preside over each of the nine ceremonies due to be held next week.