Institute of Continuing Education (ICE)
Submitted by Amy Kingham on Tue, 01/02/2022 - 15:42
ICE Coaching awardee, Irene Tomoe Cooper, sadly passed away in 2020 after a seven-year battle with breast cancer – not that she would have wanted that to define her. Thanks to the efforts of her friends Kerry Dudley and Mark Levick, who also teaches on the course, Irene’s legacy lives on through two new annual initiatives – a bursary and a student award – that both bear her name.
“There were three things that made me immediately notice Irene when I met her on the ICE Coaching Certificate in 2016,” recalls Kerry Dudley. “Number one, she looked incredibly keen and eager to learn. Number two, she described herself as an ‘international love coach’ which was somewhat unusual. And number three, having bravely played the coachee in the first coaching demo, Irene told us she’d been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer and wanted to leave a coaching legacy. From that moment, we were all completely grabbed by her.”
Irene Tomoe Cooper left that instant impression on everyone who met her. Born on the Japanese island of Okinawa, her ‘love coach’ title was a light, slightly self-deprecating way of describing her work. In fact, she was a well-known coach with a focus on relationships and female leadership that held love and harmony at its core – her inspiring goal was to touch a million people’s hearts with love.
Irene’s passion for self-improvement led her to ICE in 2016 where, alongside Kerry and the rest of what she came to call her ‘Cambridge family’, she studied first the Undergraduate Certificate in Coaching and then, next year, the Diploma. Her health was never a barrier to her lust for life and learning.
One of ICE’s strategic priorities is to develop and promote opportunities to study at Cambridge to the broadest range of adult learners possible, so the Institute is pleased to be able to help celebrate Irene’s life, outlook and achievements in an inclusive way for future learners.
“When Irene passed away – during lockdown – we all felt incredibly sad,” says Kerry, referring to the ‘Cambridge family’. “She loved Cambridge so much and wanted to leave a legacy, so we felt quite strongly that we wanted to do something to reflect that. In the end, we raised enough money to fund an annual bursary and award in Irene’s name.”
The Irene Cooper Coaching Bursary will launch for the 2022-23 academic year. Each year, one student will receive £1,000 towards their tuition fees for the Undergraduate Certificate in Coaching. The beneficiary will be someone accessing higher education for the first time whose financial circumstances might otherwise prove an obstacle to their study.
Alongside the bursary, ICE is also pleased to introduce the Irene Cooper Coaching Award, to be presented annually to a student who deserves special recognition for their achievement in the Certificate in Coaching course. The award recipient will be commemorated through a decorative piece and roll of honour displayed at Madingley Hall and will take home £200 in book vouchers.
Find out more about the Irene Cooper bursary.
Find out more about the Undergraduate Certificate in Coaching.
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