Alumni
Dr Austin Fisher
Past student Austin Fisher has recently passed his PhD at Royal Holloway with a dissertation on Radical Frontiers: Political Violence in the Italian Western.
"I grew up in Lewes, doing my GSCEs at Priory before attending Sussex Downs College (then the Tertiary College) between 1994 and 1996. I studied for A-Levels in English Literature (taught by Adrian Carnie and Ian Rothery), Classical Civilisation (Arthur Franklin) and History (Caroline Williams and Arthur Franklin). I also took an extra lunchtime Scholarship Level course in English Literature under the tutelage of Mike Voigt.
"I have many fond memories of the college. The time I spent studying for my A-Levels was without a shadow of a doubt the decisive period in my life, when I realised that academia was what I wanted to pursue, and this was due in no small measure to the inspirational teaching I encountered. Adrian Carnie and Arthur Franklin in particular stick in my memory.
"I found the informal yet intellectually rigorous atmosphere of the college to be the perfect preparation for university life. When I went to Birmingham University in 1996 to study a BA in English, the transition felt completely natural and fluid. The teaching I encountered in Lewes was truly inspirational, and set me on my path through academia."
