Faculty year opened in the Hortus
It has become tradition: the opening of the faculty year in the Hortus Botanicus. This year, too, staff and students of the Faculty of Humanities gathered in the botanical garden on the first Wednesday of September to raise a glass to the new academic year.
Prior to the toast, Dean Mark Rutgers looked ahead to a year in which we have 'a lot to do'. 'In the faculty, many people work with passion and with drive on research and education. However, we also want a faculty where everyone has a good work balance and job satisfaction,' he said. Until 2025, therefore, much attention will be paid to the Work Balance in Action program, which focuses on three points: the introduction of start-up and incentive grants, smarter management of the content and organization of teaching and career prospects for academic staff.
Interpersonal relations in the work space are also high on the agenda. On that point, Rutgers cited the play Mindlab, which will be staged in late September for all faculty employees. 'The performance offers a way to engage with each other on those topics (social insecurity, ed.) and on our behavior. It makes us reflect on this and think about how we can create the socially safe environment together, maintain it and have an open conversation about it.'
Faculty Teaching Prize
After welcoming Nova Verkerk as new assessor, Saskia Goedhard as director of operations and Annemarie Bibo as new board secretary, the Faculty Teaching Award was presented. This year, this award went to Olja Karmanova, who was praised by her students for her "dynamic and exciting" teaching style.