Family Programme: your stories

Our St Andrews story: The Witeck Family

Parents Chris and Kim Witeck fell in love with St Andrews on their first visit to the University with their daughter, Caroline, who is now in her third year studying neuroscience. Family Programme events and updates have helped them to feel part of the St Andrews community, despite the distance between Scotland and their home in Washington, DC.

In this issue of LINK, the Witecks describe their family's St Andrews journey and explain what inspired them to support the Making Waves Campaign as Founder Donors to 'New College'.

If you would like to share your family's story in a future issue of LINK, please get in touch at deveditorial@st-andrews.ac.uk. 

St Andrews in the News

Did you know, you can keep up with the latest news and research from the University of St Andrews via the University Newsroom and our monthly St Andrews in the News e-newsletter?

We’ve picked four of the top stories from this semester to showcase some of the exciting Campaign updates and academic research making waves at St Andrews.

An aerial visualisation of the 'New College' site

University secures landmark £5m donation from Garfield Weston Foundation for ‘New College’

A £5 million gift from Garfield Weston Foundation has marked the largest cash gift to the University of St Andrews’ ‘New College’ project, part of the Making Waves Campaign which aims to raise £300m for four key projects that will benefit students, staff and society on a global scale.

The donation brought the total pledged to the development of ‘New College’ to £41m.

Sophia Weston, Deputy Chair at Garfield Weston Foundation and a member of the Making Waves Campaign Committee, said: “The Garfield Weston Foundation has a reputation for supporting excellence across the charitable world. We are delighted to support this transformative project at one of our leading universities. ‘New College’ will benefit future generations of students and teachers at the University of St Andrews.”

Marcus and Emma Booth pictured with students at the launch of the Booth Family Scholarship

Making Waves Campaign: Donor Stories

We were delighted to share news of two recent donations to the Making Waves Campaign through our new Donor Stories in St Andrews in the News. The families of alumni Philip (BSc 1973) and George Lee (MA 1973) of the Lee Family generously donated over HK$4m to the Digital Nexus building. We also celebrated the support of alumnus Marcus Booth (MA 2000) and his wife, Emma, who have generously established the Booth Family Scholarship.

Dr Marcel Lukas, Vice-Dean, Executive Education

Executive Education launches for individuals and organisations

The University of St Andrews Business School launched its new suite of Executive Education courses offering three distinct development opportunities. Our open enrolment short courses led by our expert academics start later this year, with programmes spanning finance, AI, leadership, sustainability and healthcare. The Business School is partnering with industry through its Consortia programmes and is also delivering customised learning solutions for organisations in the public, private and third sector.

Researchers from St Andrews testing the new Mars Rover technology

Mars Rover technology tested on billion-year-old highland rock

Researchers from the University of St Andrews are trialing instruments to be used on the European Mars Rover.

The work, featured on the BBC Sky at Night programme and led by Dr Claire Cousins of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, is imaging and analysing one billion-year-old geological formations that are analogous to those on Mars to advance the science capabilities of the rover which is scheduled to launch in 2028.

Live photo printing at graduation 2025!

Is your student graduating this summer? If so, look out for our SquareShare live photo printing booth at the graduation garden parties in the marquee on Lower College Lawn. Send us your photos via WhatsApp along with the message SAINTS. Your photos will be printed instantly and available to collect from the Alumni Relations team as a unique souvenir.

Saint Connect

Saint Connect is the University’s global online community for networking, career mentoring and keeping up to date with what’s happening at St Andrews.

As members of our Family Programme, you have exclusive access to Saint Connect, and can use this platform to connect with fellow parents and friends.

The Development Office works closely with the Careers Centre to deliver mentorship programmes, work shadowing and more. Support from the Careers Centre is available to current students, and also to St Andrews alumni for up to three years post graduation.

Our Family Programme members play an important role with parents offering work shadowing opportunities as hosts, internships, or participating in mentoring schemes such as Coffee Connect. If you would like to offer support or insights, please contact careers@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Patrons' Programme 2025

Our Patrons' Programme offers parents, donors, alumni and friends the chance to soak up the full St Andrews experience through an exclusive schedule of talks, tours and events, including a lecture on The St Andrews Chronicles, delivered by the Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Sally Mapstone. This year's programme also features dinner and a private art viewing at nearby Balcarres Estate. 

Book now to join us on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 September, when we will be delighted to welcome you for a 'behind-the-scenes' look at life in St Andrews.

Love from home

Members of our Family Programme have exclusive access to our online Love from Home service, which we run in partnership with local baker and confectioner Fisher & Donaldson. The service allows you to send cakes, chocolate and gift baskets to your student on special occasions, complete with a personalised message.

View the full selection of treats available below.

Saints Sport News

Celebrating 20 years of Volunteer Zambia

This year the University of St Andrews is joining fellow Wallace Group institutions to celebrate 20 years of supporting the development of sport in Zambia through the Volunteer Zambia project. For two decades, eight of the UK’s leading ‘sport’ universities, including St Andrews, have been working with Sport in Action to deliver sport and educational sessions to young people as part of their eight-week international volunteering project.

Alumna Emily Baxter (MA 2024) graduated in Modern History last year and participated in the Volunteer Zambia scheme during her degree. She talks about the rewarding experience of working with young people in the short film above.

The Women's Football First Team

BUCS championship successes

The University’s Performance Golf Team reclaimed the national championship title – their third win in four years – in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) league. The Women’s Football First Team were crowned BUCS champions in March after beating the University of Nottingham in the final at Loughborough, and the Men’s Rugby First Team  claimed the BUCS national trophy after beating Loughborough third team in the trophy final.

You can catch up on all of this and more from Saints Sport below.

The power of collective giving

L-R: SaintsCall student callers Maira, Siobhan (left), and Alex

Great things are achieved at St Andrews thanks to the power of collective giving. Each year we ask our global St Andrews community to help us, and every year so many of you come together and give what you can, the sum of which enables remarkable things to happen.

Parents, friends and alumni have supported scholarships and bursaries, hardship funds, our SaintsCall telephone campaign which runs until Sunday 22 June, cost of living appeals, and exciting capital projects such as ‘New College’ and the Digital Nexus building.

The cost of living crisis continues to impact many of our students and in too many cases the price of basic requirements is simply too high. In response, the University has continued initiatives such as subsidised bus travel, free food and essentials through the Campus Larder, and access to warm spaces and hot showers.

Thank you to all those Family Programme members who have given to the University not only philanthropically, but in other ways. Everything you do supports our students – present and future – and helps to secure St Andrews’ place at the forefront of higher education.

You can read stories from three of our student callers below.

Alumni Weekend 2025

This year’s Alumni Weekend will be held in St Andrews from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 June, which is the weekend before summer graduation week. We have a packed programme of events including our popular Bookshop Evening with Fizz at Topping & Company Booksellers, our new Alumni Quiz Night in Sandy’s Bar at the Students’ Association, a Three-minute Thesis PhD student showcase with a buffet lunch, the University Annual Public Meeting and Reception, a Wine Tasting with award-winning drinks journalist Rose Murray Brown, and much more. We’ll also be hosting our Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament on the Kittocks Course.

Alumni Profiles

We launched our new Alumni Profiles platform this semester, giving you – and your student – an opportunity to hear in brief from some of our graduates about where they are now.

You’ll find careers advice, fond memories and reflections from alumni around the world, working in a range of sectors.

We know that some of our Family Programme members attended St Andrews themselves. If any of our current parent alumni would like to submit a profile, you can do so via the link below.

Kaleidoscope Alumni Network: Ad Lib – listen now

Last semester we launched the Kaleidoscope Alumni Network  (KAN) podcast series – 'Ad Lib' and 'In conversation with...' – in which you can hear from members of the University community about the topics that matter to them.

In the latest episode of Ad Lib, Elika Ansari (MA 2012; MLitt 2014) and Dina Nayeri, of the School of English, speak with Dr Jeffrey Murer, Senior Lecturer on Collective Violence in the School of International Relations. Elika has spent the past ten years working and volunteering with refugees and asylum seekers in Belgium, Greece and the UK. She is the author of The Five Stages of Moira: 'The Worst Refugee Camp on Earth'.

We'll have a special edition featuring Professor Patricia Hill Collins, distinguished professor emerita at the University of Maryland, author and academic specialising in race, class and gender. Professor Hill Collins delivered the Andrew Carnegie Lecture at St Andrews in October and discussed Black feminist thought, empowerment, allyship, collaboration and inclusivity with students and alumni.

We’ll also hear from Darran Milne (MPhys 2008, PhD 2012) Founder and CEO of VIVIDQ, a UK-based technology startup that has developed an innovative software platform featuring a groundbreaking set of algorithms, aimed at facilitating widespread adoption of 3D holographic displays.

Crispian Riley-Smith (MA 1989), CEO and Founder of Art Advisory Group, and Jade Mkparu (MA 2024), Founder of BRAIDAR and Accenture Consulting Analyst, will share cross-generational advice about their entrepreneurial journeys.  

Julie Barry, one of our Family Programme members who wrote a feature for the first KAN newsletter, will round off the season when she visits St Andrews for her daughter's graduation.

You can tune in below, and send us your feedback at stakan@st-andrews.ac.uk.