Students and alumni build on shared past and look to the future during successful Telephone Campaign

This year’s Telephone Campaign took place in March and was another resounding success.

Over the course of ten days, our ten student callers spoke to 343 alumni. The continued commitment and engagement of Wadham community shone through their conversations, and we would like to extend our warmest thanks to the 97 alumni who made gifts, helping us reach an estimated total of £131,600.

Many of our student callers had themselves been recipients of scholarships or access programmes and saw the campaign as an opportunity to make their own contribution to Wadham’s access mission.

“I came from a state school, so I wanted to bring that perspective,” says student caller Ant (Spanish and Linguistics, 2025). “It’s not just helping faceless people, it’s helping people like me.”

Others relished the opportunity to hear from those who had studied and lived at Wadham before them.

“I was keen to hear about all the different paths alumni have taken since leaving Wadham, to be inspired by their journeys and successes and hear what they may have learned from any mistakes,” says Noa (PPE, 2024).

The campaign was also an opportunity for students to be in conversation with alumni with diverse career paths and life experiences.

Topics of conversation ranged from machine consciousness, linguistics, lost manuscripts and asylum policy to stories of sneaking over college walls after curfew, sharing travel itineraries and swapping notes on Oxford’s pubs.

Our alumni are an invaluable source of advice on life and careers, but the thread of conversation runs both ways. Student callers were excited to have a chance to talk about their own interests, and shared book recommendations and thoughts on their subjects.

“Even between me, who’s just started at Wadham, and an alum that graduated however many years ago, there was still an ongoing communication and sharing of intellectual interests,” says Ant.

This sense of shared connection, despite differences of time and space, enhanced our students’ feeling of being newer members of an historic, and close-knit, community.

“I spoke to alumni who had been here in the 60s, and they were talking about the King’s Arms, the Turf Tavern, Blackwells,” says Trisha-Mae (Experimental Psychology, 2025). “These are things I pass by every day, and they were reflecting with such joy and excitement. They were sitting in the same places I am now. We really have so many shared experiences.”

Wadham’s reputation as a progressive college, and the strength of its work in widening access and sustainability, stood out in many conversations, as did news of our ongoing work to secure endowment for the tutorial model. A mutual commitment to maintaining the College’s mission cemented the connections between students and alumni.

“It makes me want to keep that tradition alive. It’s important to me, it was important to people I spoke to and I imagine it will be important for people in the future as well,” says Trisha-Mae.

We are continually grateful to our generous alumni for their commitment to regular giving, which underpins everything we do. We are proud that more Wadham alumni give annually than alumni of any other Oxford college.

This year’s telephone campaign reflected this dedication, and the impact of your giving will be substantial. 97 alumni made gifts, totalling £131,600. 18 alumni pledged their first-ever gift to the college, and we were thrilled that 29 alumni joined the Wilkins Circle by committing to a regular donation.

After ten days of intense conversation, our student callers emerged from the experience with a renewed sense of what it means to be a part of the Wadham community.

“I will take away a lot of hope for the future,” says Noa.