The William Doo Undergraduate Centre: Grand Opening

The Wadham community was honoured to welcome members of the Doo family for the opening celebration of our new Undergraduate Centre on 10 November 2022.

William W. H. Doo, Foundation Fellow, and Lord Chris Patten, Chancellor of the University of Oxford – officially opened the Undergraduate Centre, alongside Robert Hannigan, our Warden, Ken Macdonald KC, former Warden and Honorary Fellow, and William Doo Jr (Law, 1993), Foundation Fellow

The Warden welcomed guests and the Doo family to the Macdonald Terrace, where the ribbon-cutting ceremony took place. He spoke of the College’s pride in our association with Hong Kong and Wadham’s desire to build upon and strengthen the bonds with friends and alumni there.

Lord Macdonald, Warden of Wadham 2012 – 2021, thanked William Doo and his family for all they have done to create the William Doo Undergraduate Centre for our students, which is ‘at the heart of their experience here’. He expressed our deep gratitude for the Doo family’s leadership in generously supporting and sharing Wadham’s mission to bring as broad a range of talent as possible from across the world to our College.

The Chancellor, Chris Patten, remarked that the William Doo Undergraduate Centre is a wonderful symbol of the links between the Doo Family and Wadham, and the links between Oxford and Hong Kong. The Doo legacy is an extraordinary contribution to the experience that our students will have for years to come.

William Doo spoke of his father’s conviction that only education can improve society, and that the more he saw of life, the more he understood his father’s belief in the importance of supporting higher education. When the opportunity came to contribute to this by supporting the William Doo Undergraduate Centre, he was very happy to be part of it.

The ribbon-cutting to formally open the building by William Doo and Lord Patten was followed by a short Foundation Fellowship ceremony for William Doo Jr. He spoke of his long association with Wadham where he spent the most memorable three years of his life after matriculating in 1993. He was delighted that the experience of opening the William Doo Undergraduate Centre and his Foundation Fellowship ceremony was shared with his Law tutor from that time, Jeffrey Hackney, whom he thanked, along with his family, for their support.

William Doo and William Doo Jr thanked Lord Patten for his kind words, and Robert Hannigan, Ken Macdonald, and Julie Hage, our Fellow and Development Director, for their vision and dedication to the project, and their friendship.

After several years of delay caused by the pandemic, the opening was a wonderful opportunity to thank the Doo family for their outstanding generosity to the College over many decades. The William Doo Undergraduate Centre stands as a testament to the vision of the fundamental importance of education, and of the deep and cherished ties between Wadham and Hong Kong.