University of Suffolk honours Town boss Kieran McKenna

The award marks the Tractor Boys' back-to-back promotions and he is one of five people being awarded honorary degrees at graduation ceremonies in October at the University’s Ipswich campus.

They will also be awarded to Boshor Ali, Chair of BSC Multicultural Services; historian Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch; Mike Read MBE, who has completed 33 Channel swims, and Chair of Healthwatch England and of the Royal College of Physicians, Professor David Croisdale-Appleby OBE.

Kieran McKenna has led Town to back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League, bringing top-flight football to Suffolk for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century. 

Appointed manager in December 2021, he has overseen historic success at Portman Road. 

Having won promotion from League One in his first full season as manager, the Blues were promoted to the Premier League in May 2024, becoming just the fifth side to win back-to- back promotions from the third tier to the Premier League, following a hugely impressive 2023/24 campaign. 

Kieran said: “To receive an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Suffolk is a proud moment for both me and my family. 

“Suffolk has become a special place for us since we moved here nearly three years ago and to now receive a gesture like this from an institution so central to life in the county is an incredible honour.”

Boshor Ali at the Big Multicultural Festival in Ipswich in 2022. (Image: Denise Bradley)

Boshor Ali is a founder member, and subsequently Chair of BSC Multicultural Services, previously known as Bangladeshi Support Centre.

He has spent more than 25 years working tirelessly to inspire the staff and trustees in delivering the vision and values required for community service.

Born in 1971 in Sylhet, Bangladesh, he completed his secondary education in Ipswich and established strong connections in the Bangladeshi community.

He said: “I am honoured to be receiving this award and deeply grateful to my colleagues at BSCMS, because it is their hard work and devotion that continues to enable our organisation to maintain its vision."

Sir Diarmaid McCulloch (Image: University of Suffolk)

Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch was brought up in Wetherden where his father was rector, then vicar at Haughey.  

He spent 1969 to 1978 at Churchill College, Cambridge, with 1972 to 1973 at the University of Liverpool, and for his doctorate he studied under the great Tudor historian Sir Geoffrey Elton.

He was President of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology from 2011 to 2019 and remains on the Council of the Suffolk Records Society. He was knighted in the UK New Year’s Honours List of 2012.  

He said: “I’m delighted and feel honoured by this award by the University of Suffolk, that has in a short span already contributed so much to the life of this county that was my childhood home; not least in promoting the study of history both local and worldwide.”

Mike Read (Image: University of Suffolk)

Mike Read MBE represented Great Britain in swimming at the 1960 Rome Olympics and has completed 33 Channel Swims, as well as being named Amateur Sports Personality of Ipswich in 1978 and 1979.

He was President of Sudbury Swimming Club in 1988 and has devoted the last 22 years to the restoration of Ipswich’s Broomhill Lido, a pool where he trained for 27 years.

He said: “One of my greatest regrets in life was having to settle for a master’s degree rather than staying on at university for an extra year for a PhD.

“This wonderful award goes to show that if you live long enough, everything is possible."

Prof David Coisdale-Appleby (Image: University of Suffolk)

Professor David Croisdale-Appleby OBE started his career in the private sector. 

For the past 25 years he has devoted his time to  improving the lives of disadvantaged, vulnerable and disabled people across the world. 

He has chaired some 20 organisations in fields as diverse as forensic science, health policy and practice, law, social care, social work, and has held and holds some 14 ministerial appointments in the UK and internationally. 

He said: “I am honoured to be receiving this award and proud of my association with such an innovative and imaginative university, whose reputation in both the academic world and the world of business grows from strength to strength.”

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Suffolk, Professor Jenny Higham, said: “We are very much looking forward to welcoming those we are honouring, and we celebrate alongside our graduating students.”