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From Rotterdam to CuraçaoIn the news in 1997–1998EUR and the new campus
May 2012
Precise case lawyer A day in the life of alumna Nathalie van Woerkom
erasmus alumni magazine
04
06 •07•08julY 2012Northsea jazzfestivalVan Morrison • D’Angelo • Tony Bennett • Ron Carter Golden Striker Trio Michael Kiwanuka • Pat Metheny Unity Band • Lenny Kravitz • Gregory Porter José James • Robert Glasper Experiment • Trijntje Oosterhuis • Rufus Wainwright James Morrison • Jill Scott • Caro Emerald • George Benson • Hugh Laurie David Murray Blues Big Band featuring Macy Gray • The Kyteman OrchestraAhmad Jamal • Amos Lee • Wayne Shorter Quartet • Michel Camilo • Aloe Blacc Gretchen Parlato • Lianne La Havas • McCoy Tyner Trio with Ravi Coltrane Bernhoft • and many more...
The balloon was part of the pro-
gramme during the Foundation Day
celebrations on 8 November 1972, the
EUR anniversary when it was known
as the ‘Nederlandse Economisch
Hogeschool’ for the last time. The bal-
loon was used for a treasure hunt. At
11 a.m. the Boesmans, a ballooning
couple from The Hague, took to the
air accompanied by the notes of a
brass band. The wind determined their
course. In their wake students fol-
lowed on the ground, desperate for
the envelopes that the couple threw
to the ground on tiny parachutes. If
you managed to lay your hands on
such an envelope you were a prize-
winner. Good prizes too: some LPs,
several bottles of sherry and, the pièce
de résistance, a portable radio. The
prize-giving ceremony was at 2 p.m.,
before the honorary doctorate for
Prof. J.J. Polak. And after the offi cial
public ceremony it was time for the
ball.
The celebrations in the Lecture Theatre
Hall lasted long into the night.
Time is fl ying by. On 26 June it will be just fi ve hundred days until the offi cial celebration
of the centenary of Erasmus University on 8 November 2013. The programme is beginning
to take shape and all existing academic events will be given a festive note in academic year
2013-2014. All faculties will award an honorary doctorate during the centenary celebrations,
the renovated campus will be offi cially opened in the autumn and the University will also
involve the city of Rotterdam in the celebrations. www.eur.nl/100
The photo was taken by an
employee of the Rotterdam
Medical Faculty’s Audiovisual
Service. EUR historic photo
archive.
Text Cora Boele
On the way to 2013
erasmusalumni. magazine 03
Foundation Day treasure huntA hot air balloon on the Institutenlaan? Has it made an emer-gency landing? After some nifty acrobatics it has managed to land safely alongside the H-Building and the University Library pond. The letters PH indicate that it is a Dutch aircraft and the sandbags around the basket tell us it is a classic gas balloon fi lled with hydrogen. ‘Nimbus’ is attracting a lot of attention. Have the lecture theatres of the C-Hal emptied by any chance?
06 •07•08julY 2012Northsea jazzfestivalVan Morrison • D’Angelo • Tony Bennett • Ron Carter Golden Striker Trio Michael Kiwanuka • Pat Metheny Unity Band • Lenny Kravitz • Gregory Porter José James • Robert Glasper Experiment • Trijntje Oosterhuis • Rufus Wainwright James Morrison • Jill Scott • Caro Emerald • George Benson • Hugh Laurie David Murray Blues Big Band featuring Macy Gray • The Kyteman OrchestraAhmad Jamal • Amos Lee • Wayne Shorter Quartet • Michel Camilo • Aloe Blacc Gretchen Parlato • Lianne La Havas • McCoy Tyner Trio with Ravi Coltrane Bernhoft • and many more...
04 erasmusalumni. magazine
Foreword May 2012
Dear Alumnus,For many of you, your student days will have been the best days
of your life. A time that you look back on with a great deal of
pleasure and perhaps some nostalgia.
I too treasure wonderful memories of my years as a student at Eras-
mus University. It was the time that formed me as the person I now
am, a time when I discovered my qualities and when my ambitions
were awakened. Of course there was also fun to be had with new
friends within and outside the University walls. You continue to see
some friends but lose touch with others, and you regularly wonder
how they are getting on.
Unsurprising, therefore, that a survey of alumni about this maga-
zine showed that you like to read what your former fellow-students
have got up to since graduating. Extra attention is consequently
paid to this in this edition.
Many memories are also attached to the campus itself, but you
would be surprised if you were to visit Woudestein or Hoboken
now. Erasmus University would not be a Rotterdam university if
there were not a substantial amount of pile driving and construc-
tion work, obviously with the aim of arming the campus for the fu-
ture and creating plenty of new memories. We will also extensively
focus on this in this edition. In the autumn of 2013, at the start of
the centenary year, the renovated campus will be officially opened
and you are warmly invited to attend.
For me, after more than two years ‘back in the EUR nest’, one
of my greatest pleasures is to see today’s students in action. Not
just out of nostalgia for the past, but also because I can see the
important contribution this University is making to their lives and
to society. I am glad that as an alumna, and now in the role of
chair, I can help my alma mater. There are many more tasks within
the University for which we could use the knowledge and help of
alumni.
So when will I see you back at Erasmus University?
Pauline van der Meer Mohr
blog.eur.nl/voorzittercvb
06
24
The Erasmus Alumni Magazine/EA is published by the Marketing & Communication Department of Erasmus University Rotterdam.
EditionVolume 2, EA 4 May 2012
The next edition of EA will be published inOctober 2012
Editorial AddressEUR, SM&C deptPO Box 17383000 DR [email protected]/alumni
Managing EditorCarien van der Wal, Alumni &Corporate Relations Officer
EditorsWieneke Gunneweg,
Editor-in-ChiefMieke Fiers, Desk Editor
ContributorsLobke van Aar, Cora Boele, Ronald van den Heerik, Eveline van de Lagemaat, José Luijpen, Geert Maarse, Pauline van der Meer Mohr, Dennis Mijnheer, Sanne van der Most, Dieudonne van der Veen, Steef van de Velde, Kees Vermeer, Henk Weltevreden, Levien Willemse, EUR faculties
including Erasmus MC, IHS and ISS
AdvertisementsCarien van der Wal, Dan Dinu
TranslationUniversity Translation and Correction Service, Groningen
PrintingVan Deventer, ‘s-Gravenzande
DesignUnit20: Yoe San Liem and Maud van Velthoven
Editorial Advisory Board (RAC)The RAC is made up of representatives of the EUR’s faculties and alumni associations and has an advisory role with regard to the production of EA.
CoverRonald van den Heerik
© Erasmus Universiteit RotterdamNo part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publishers.
Colophon
Pauline van der Meer Mohr, Chair of the Executive Board of the Erasmus University Rotterdam
04
erasmusalumni. magazine 05
Contents
06 Back to college
08 Erasmus News
11 From Rotterdam to Curaçao
12 A day in the life of Nathalie van Woerkom
18 Enterprising alumni
19 Column: Henk Weltevreden
20 Focus on research
22 Science News
24 In the news in 1997-1998
26 EUR and the new campus
31 Why Rotterdam?
32 Alumni Affairs
37 Column: Steef van de Velde
39 Family Portrait
26
18
12
06 erasmusalumni. magazine
Back to college
Babs van der Kooy: ‘My parents taught me to get the most out of what you’ve been given, which is the reason for the extra Master.’
erasmusalumni. magazine 07
When did you do your degree?‘I studied Medicine in Rotterdam from 2001 to 2007. During
my studies I did a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology
from 2003 to 2005 at the Netherlands Institute for Health
Sciences, NIHES.’
What did you do after that?‘I worked for a year and a half at the Sint Franciscus Gasthuis
hospital. I then started my PhD research at the Department
of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Erasmus MC. That is
what I am now doing. I started a Master’s programme in Epi-
demiology at NIHES in 2010, which will end in September
2012.’
Why are you doing an extra Master’s degree?‘I did the first Master’s degree mainly because it meant I
could go abroad. I spend a month at a summer school in Bal-
timore. The focus of that Master’s degree was research and
how you set it up. The second Master’s degree is further in-
creasing my knowledge of epidemiology and public
health. My parents taught me to get the most out of what
you’ve been given, which is the reason for this extra Master’s
degree.
I am currently working on the programme “Ready for a
Child” (Klaar voor een Kind), the aim of which is to reduce
infant mortality in Rotterdam. It has a lot to do with public
health. You learn to see the bigger picture and are chal-
lenged to think more broadly. As a doctor you care for indi-
viduals, but you also see how data about health and disease
lead to certain policies. The Master is the theoretical support
for the fieldwork. It adds depth to my work as a doctor.’
What will you be able to do with it?‘The knowledge will enable me to do even better research.
Research needs to be done into whether the arrival of the
Birth Centre at the Sophia Children’s Hospital has had any ef-
fect and thus reduced birth problems. You can do that with
epidemiology.’
What attracts you about epidemiology?‘I want to know whether, for example, an innovation in care
works. Being a doctor is more than just giving someone a
pill. With epidemiology you deal a lot with statistics and big
groups of patients, but in the end it all comes back to the in-
dividual patient in the consultation room. If, for example,
you are aware of the risk factors of a disorder you can inform
the patient of them. Furthermore, there is a lot of creativity
in epidemiology. There are many measurement and research
methods and you must try and find an effective and imple-
mentable method. I find this exciting.’
What is it like to study again?‘More difficult than I had expected. I can’t concentrate as
long now. I find this quite funny. You take longer to take in
the material.’
Can you combine it with your work and private life?‘That’s not a problem. I don’t have any ties. I do a lot of sport
but that’s easy to combine with the programme. And it’s also
necessary for relaxation. I’m training at the moment for the
Dolomite Marathon in Italy and also hope to do a half triath-
lon. As far as work goes, the courses made a nice change
from my research.’
Will you have finished studying once you have done this?‘No, not yet. I’m first going to continue on to PhD research,
but may start a different programme again at some point.
You’re never old to study!’
Fancy studying again too?
Different faculties and institutes of the EUR offer post-
graduate training. See, for example, www.erasmusacade-
mie.nl and www.erasmusmc.nl/onderwijs
Photographer Levien Willemse studied Social History at the
EUR from 1981 to 1989
‘I can’t concentrate as long now. I think this is funny.’
‘This adds depth to my work as a doctor’
text Kees Vermeer
photo Levien Willemse
Babs van de Kooy (28) works as a doctor/researcher at the de-
partment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Erasmus MC.
She is also doing a Master’s degree in Science Epidemiology.
‘Being a doctor is more than just giving someone a pill.’
08 erasmusalumni. magazine
Erasmus news
Dramatic Boat RaceOn 7 April Alumnus Roel Haen took
part in The Boat Race, the traditional
rowing race on the Thames between
the Universities of Oxford and Cam-
bridge.
The Boat Race was a disaster. First it
was interrupted by a swimmer, then
Haen’s boat broke an oar and then one
of his fellow rowers collapsed from
exhaustion. Haen studied Medicine
at EUR and is now doing research on
breast-cancer surgery at the University
of Oxford. Haen won the Varsity five
times with the Skadi rowing team.
Relatively relaxedErasmus University students experience much less study stress than students elsewhere in the country. These are the results of a survey about study pressure conducted by Erasmus Magazine and nine other university magazines. Nationwi-de, 40 percent of students suffer from extreme stress; in Rotterdam this is 32 percent.
It is now known as E-commerce but at the
end of the 1980s it did not have a name
and was still in its infancy. The students Jan
Kees de Jager and Karel van der Woude
saw a potential source of income in it. In
their student room-cum-office, they start-
ed a business. ‘It became serious quite
quickly,’ says Van der Woude. ‘There was
a natural division between us. Jan Kees fa-
miliarized himself with the newest technol-
ogy. He was very curious about its possi-
bilities. Innovation is a word that suits him
well.’ They combined the business with
their studies. De Jager did not give the im-
pression that he studied a great deal, says
Pieter Verhulst, a fellow member of the
Laurentius student association. De Jager
was the oldest of the fourteen members of
his year group in the association. Whether
it was drinks at the association, weekends
away or paintballing, you could count on
De Jager being there. ‘He always liked to
get into discussions,’ Verhulst remembers.
‘He was always armed with facts and was
good at cornering people.’ He laughs, ‘And
that over-excessive reliance on Diet Coke
was typical of Jan Kees even then.’ The
club members still meet up ‘irregularly’.
‘We even visited him at the ministry once.’
Van der Woude, still director of the busi-
ness, ISM eCompany, is not surprised that
his business partner eventually became a
minister. ‘He has always been politically ac-
tive, understands economics and can view
policy decisions from an entrepreneur’s per-
spective.’
‘He was good at cornering people in discussions’They are now in the spotlight but once they sat in the lecture theatre like everyone else.
Or did they stand out already, even then? EA takes a look at the student days of famous
EUR alumni. This time: outgoing Minister of Finance Jan Kees de Jager.
‘I look back to my study days with a great deal of pleasure. I am often at the EUR and see that little has changed. It is still an inspiring environment. Jan Kees de Jager
The student days of...
The alliance must be ‘a catalyst’ for the
existing collaboration. This appears in a
joint memo entitled More Value. The three
universities (LDE – Rotterdam has opted
for the E for Erasmus in the abbreviation
of the collaboration) have established six
‘academic domains’ in which they want
to work together and complement each
other.
The collaboration will take the shape
of joint ventures between the three
South Holland province universities, who
have been investigating far-reaching
collaboration since September 2010.
There will be LDE Centres for specific fields
of expertise and LDE Graduate Schools,
including Master’s programmes and PhD
tracks.
The memo forms the joint chapter in the
strategic plans that all universities must
have completed before the summer, on the
instructions of outgoing State Secretary of
Higher Education, Zijlstra.
erasmusalumni. magazine 09
Erasmus news
GaudiumStudent Association Gaudium ceased to exist
last year. Its former members keep in touch
through the Gaudium alumni association. EA
phones association secretary Rick van Setten
van der Meer.
“What happened to Gaudium?‘We did not have enough new applicants. I get the
impression that this is something affecting all stu-
dent associations, but we were the smallest.’
Now you are an alumni association. What is different now?‘There are no new members and we no longer have
a building. We don’t need one though: our mem-
bers are spread across the whole country. We do
organize meetings: just recently we held a reception,
which was very well attended.’
What are the advantages of the new situation?‘The age of the former members varies greatly. The
different layers now meet each other. With the more
studenty character that it used to have the older
members did not come as often. We all need differ-
ent kinds of activities now. We still hold receptions,
however.’
Were you a member of Gaudium? Do get in touch. www.gaudium.nl
Universities Games to RotterdamThe biggest European sporting event for students
is coming to Rotterdam in 2014. The European
Universities Games went to the EUR at the end
of November. Alumni are urgently asked to think
along/work/organize/support or help in any other
way.
Mail [email protected]
WHITE COAT - Wearing a white coat as a doctor entails a great deal of responsibility.
In order to emphasize this Erasmus University has introduced the ‘White Coat Ceremo-
ny’. Fourth-year medical students who are soon to begin their residency get a chance to
reflect upon their profession and how they should deal with patients. And they receive
their first white coat. The first White Coat Ceremony took place on 8 March 2012 with
125 medical students.
(Photo: Levien Willemse)
Rotterdam, Leiden, Delft not merger but allianceThe universities of Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam are opting for a strategic
alliance. A merger is therefore off the agenda.
EA calls...
10 erasmusalumni. magazine
Erasmus news
The measures are called ‘Nominaal = Nor-
maal’ (Official = Normal) and are intended
to help students study quickly. The Faculty of
Social Sciences began a pilot last year, and
this is now being extended. The number of
possible resits and the extent to which stu-
dents can use higher marks for one course
unit to compensate for a fail in another will
differ per faculty. At the Erasmus School of
Law (ESL) there will be no restrictions on
first-year students compensating for 5s, as
long as they have an average mark of 6.0 at
the end of the year. At the same time, ESL is
introducing a completely new programme:
Erasmus Law College. First-year students
will learn the theory and practise their skills
in study groups: groups of ten students will
analyse a case under the supervision of a tu-
tor. Lectures and practicals complete the pro-
gramme, which is structured according to a
uniform didactical model. (foto: RvdH)
All sixty ECTS credit points in the first year The large majority of the new first-year students at Erasmus University will have to earn
all sixty ECTS credit points in one year. The number of possible resits is being reduced
and passes can be used to compensate for fails.
‘A clear message for recruiters: do not wait until the end of the academic year to start looking for top talent.’ Prof.dr. Steef van de Velde, Dean of RSM, reacts to the RSM Graduate Placement Survey 2011, a survey of the career perspectives of its graduates. More than 70% of students start looking for a suitable job before they graduate.
Useful programmesAnyone who follows a part-time pro-
gramme that is considered useful by the
government, such as in the ‘shortage
sectors’ of education and care, will
be able to receive a grant from 2017
to meet the costs of the programme.
Anyone following a less ‘useful’ part-
time programme must meet the costs
themselves. It is not yet clear which
programmes precisely are considered
‘useful’.
Study delay fineMany students are worried about the
study delay fine (for anyone who takes
more than four years for a degree).
This also applies to part-timers. State
Secretary Halbe Zijlstra has announced
that part-time students who receive the
fine ‘due to special, individual circum-
stances’ can now make an appeal to
the graduation funds of the institutions.
Up to now these have only been open
to full-time students.
New structure part-time LawThe Erasmus School of Law (ESL) is
revising the structure of its part-time
programmes as of next academic year.
From then on the lectures will be given
on a Friday morning and students will
complete a course unit in five rather
than eight weeks. This means that they
will be able to complete their Bachelor’s
degree in four years and therefore avoid
the study delay fine.
The new system is mainly to ensure that
the students form more of a group.
They now follow the course units when
they want and therefore have little
contact with each other.
Brief news
From Rotterdam to Curaçao
MondayToday is my sister’s birthday. She is now 41, which is no
mean feat. I will buy her a present later and will end the day
enjoying a whisky and coke at her birthday party with the
family. But at the moment I am working on a project to im-
prove the financial reporting of the company where I work.
We are going to automate the reports as much as possible
and pour them into one mould. In my opinion the employees
should spend more time on analyzing and understanding
rather than in creating reports.
TuesdayGot up at 5.15 this morning. I decide to take a dip in the
Caribbean before the working day begins. After I have
taken my five-year-old son to school just after 7 a.m., I head
straight for the beach. That is the good thing about Curaçao:
you are never more than about a quarter of an hour from the
beach. The water is cold (25 degrees is cold for the tropics),
but refreshing. Having swum for about ten minutes, I shower
there and then set off to work. What more could you want?
Don’t get me wrong: we work hard here. But we party and
relax just as hard, if time permits. A good work-life balance,
if you ask me. That is why I returned to Curaçao after
studying in Rotterdam. At the time I had the possibility of
a good job, but it is difficult to maintain this lifestyle in the
Netherlands.
ThursdayAs a member of the supervisory board of a local bank I sit
on the audit committee. We have a meeting today. After
two hours of questions and answers with the internal audit
manager, we end with a session with the financial director
and the CEO. The bank is doing well, but it is clear that the
island economy is going through a light recession. Unfortu-
nately, there have been a lot of negative reports about the
Curaçaoan government (undoubtedly in the Dutch media
too). This has an effect on consumer and investor confi-
dence, not just on the island but abroad as well. This makes
everyone cautious and the economy is consequently on the
backburner. As they say, you take the good with the bad. It is
sometimes an island of extremes.
I spend the rest of the day in the office dealing with different
treasury matters. We discuss such things as cashflow progno-
ses and make preparations for the next funding round.
SundayMy Sundays follow a fairly fixed pattern: I get up at 6.30, go
on a 25-kilometer bike ride on my mountain bike, enjoying
the cool morning air (a cool 26 degrees Celsius) and the
stunning nature on my beautiful island. Then it’s a quick
swim in the clear, blue water on one of the beaches. At a
quarter to twelve I enjoy an early lunch with my wife and son
in Zanzibar restaurant at the beach, after which we return
home for a rest. It is hot in the afternoon, today at 1.17 p.m.
the needle is at 32 degrees Celsius. It is much too hot to do
anything outside. The air-conditioning goes on and we play
on the Wii. At 5.00 p.m. I go out cycling again, this time as a
family. Unfortunately, it begins to rain. But the batteries have
been charged and we start the week on a positive note.
Dieudonne van der Veen is a Business Economist (EUR, 1995), registered accountant (NIVRA, 2004), CFE (Certi-fied Fraud Examiner, 2008) and CICA (Certified Internal Control Auditor, 2009).In 2002 he joined the water and electricity board on Curaçao, first as financial manager and later as the director of financial-economic affairs. On 1 March 2012 he moved to HUCOR-Holding (hotel and catering industry) as director of Finance & Accounting.
After graduating from Rotterdam University in Business Economics in 1995, Dieudonne van der Veen returned to Curaçao. He now works as a director of finance & accounting, a consultant and sits on the supervisory board of a bank.
A dip in the sea before the working day begins
erasmusalumni. magazine 11
Battling for the last square millimetre Alumna Nathalie van Woerkom
A day in the life of Nathalie van Woerkom
12 erasmusalumni. magazine
erasmusalumni. magazine 13
It is a quarter to nine in the morning when Nathalie van
Woerkom turns off the Erasmus Bridge in her black BMW
X5. The rows of cars at the traffic lights are bathed in a dark-
orange morning light.
Van Woerkom’s office is on the 28th floor of the Maastoren.
It is a modest corner office. No expansive windows offer-
ing spectacular views, no minibar, no huge lounge area.
There is a trolley with half a dozen gift-wrapped bottles of
champagne: presents for the people who, after more than
two months of intensive negotiations, will be signing on the
dotted line today.
It is the day of the closing, as the completion of a company
takeover is known in the mergers & acquisitions, or M&A,
world. Van Woerkom – golden blonde hair, grey shoes, shiny
black Moncler jacket – grabs a few last things and thrusts
the previously announced non-disclosure agreement under
your reporter’s nose.
Canon is taking over Delft Diagnostic Imaging today, a
Dutch company specializing in medical software solutions
and X-ray systems. It is not a billion-dollar deal, but it is big
and complex enough for the selling party to call in a team of
experienced lawyers.
Minister of Economic AffairsVan Woerkom (41) is considered one of the best M&A law-
yers in the Netherlands. She represents companies that are
taking over, or being taking over by, other companies, and
supervises reorganizations, management buy-outs, interna-
tional investmentsand private equity transactions.
She is one of the few women in the world of mergers
and acquisitions. EA spent a day with alumna Nathalie
van Woerkom, lawyer and partner at AKD Advocaten &
Notarissen. ‘I spend most of my time ploughing through
contracts.’
text Geert Maarse
photo Ronald van den Heerik
Above:
Nathalie van Woerkom as
a student
Left:
Nathalie van Woerkom
at the offices of AKD
Advocaten & Notarissen in
the Maastoren in Rotterdam
erasmusalumni. magazine 13
14 erasmusalumni. magazine
Her name regularly crops up in trade journals.
They say she is typical of Rotterdam. No frills.
The embodiment of the new level-headedness.
Bij ons in de BV, the business programme
presented by Jort Kelder, placed her as the only
woman in an alternative cabinet, as Minister of
Economic Affairs.
She is cheerful, with a girlish figure, slim and
athletic (she runs ten kilometres every other day).
She is alert and talks fast, but combines that with
a relaxed, sometimes even stoical demeanour. A
woman in a man’s world, although she would say
her femininity does not play any role whatsoever
in her work.
After her Law degree at Erasmus University she
worked first for the Buruma firm and then for
Andersen. When the latter collapsed in 2002
as a result of the Enron scandal, she ended up
at AKD. She became a partner at 33. ‘I have
a business within a business. Apart from the
responsibility for the good running of my cases,
I must also ensure that we attract new clients,
that my team is trained and that people continue
to work for me. This variety is what makes it so
enjoyable. With each project I get to deal with
another business. A company that develops apps
works completely differently from a temp agency.
You spend your time solving problems. Combing
through contracts and checking that there can
be no discussion about a particular section. This
makes it an intellectual challenge.’
First the propedeutic certificateShe was brought up on entrepreneurship. She
grew up in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, where her
father was the director of an American company
that dealt in tectyl and lubricant products; her
mother was a housewife. Both hammered into
her how important it is to be ambitious, ‘My
mother even more perhaps than my father.’
She actually wanted to study Business Adminis-
tration, but failed to gain a place in the ballot. So
she opted for Law instead. She worked at Villa
Kakelbont and in the Tropicana Restaurant – it
was still open then.
However, she was primarily a hard-working
student. She joined the RVSV student association,
but only from her second year: she first wanted
to pass the propedeutic phase. She still regularly
eats with the other association members from
her year group. She graduated in 1993, with an
average mark of eight and two specializations:
private law and company law.
AKD has five offices: Amsterdam, Breda, Brussels,
Eindhoven and Rotterdam. Going by the number
of lawyers the firm is among the top five in the
Netherlands, but it has a different personality
from the big boys such as NautaDutilh and De
Brauw Blackstone Westbroek. Van Woerkom
says, ‘We have a strong focus on midmarket
transactions. Not the big stock-market flota-
tions and billion-dollar deals. We want to help
our clients and be physically close to them. That
is why we have several offices: it’s much more
practical if you have an office close by. Otherwise
you have to go all the way to the Zuidas area of
Amsterdam for every little trifle.’
Saving clauses
However, you cannot avoid the Amsterdam
Zuidas. Not today either. Stibbe, the law firm that
Canon has taken on, is based there. At 10.15
a.m. Van Woerkom and a colleague climb into
Van Woerkom’s car, which a trainee chauffeur
will be driving today. Too late, because the meet-
ing is planned for 11.00. No trace of stress. The
mileage is noted down and whilst she sends an
e-mail via her iPhone, which will stay in her hand
all day, she says with a smile, ‘They’ll start with a
cup of coffee anyway.’
They have worked since November on a purchase
agreement that is acceptable to both parties. A
battle for every square millimetre between the
Stibbe lawyers and Van Woerkom’s team. Not
about the price but about terms of warranty and
saving clauses. The result: a wad of paper as thick
as a phone directory that details, for example,
who is liable should anything should suddenly go
wrong in the production process a year after the
takeover. A single misplaced word can have huge
financial consequences. They have considered
every risk.
The meeting room at Stibbe is on the sixteenth
floor. There are twenty chairs around the big,
oval conference table. On the floor is an off-
white carpet, and on show behind glass is an
extensive collection of leather-bound law books
and case law, which go back to the beginning
of the 19th century. At the table next to Van
Woerkom and her colleague sit Guido Geerts (the
selling party), two financial advisors (the older of
whom is wearing a dollar tie for the occasion),
four Stibbe employees (a junior notary and three
lawyers) and two Japanese representatives from
Canon, who have come specially from
London. As well as a cappuccino or double
espresso almost everyone has a laptop, telephone
or iPad within reach.
This is where it is going to happen. This is what
the hours spent on the phone have all been for,
what they have worked through the nights and
changed endless passages for. Even now at the
last moment, a few more clauses go back and
forth. The girl in the corner of the room who
sorts the papers into a several-metres-long rack
resembling a bike-rack receives a new version
every now and then.
‘Days like this are fun,’ says Van Woerkom. ‘This
work can be quite stressful. Working days until
ten or eleven in the evening are extremely com-
mon. We have worked towards this point for
months. A closing is a form of release.’
Fully committed‘She’s a real fighter,’ Guido Geerts, the client, will
say about Van Woerkom a few days later. ‘I was
really impressed. I didn’t realize at first, but the
commitment she shows and the speed at which
she works is extraordinary. She suddenly saw a
link between page 2 and page 46 in that enor-
mous bunch of articles. For me it was all double-
Dutch, a nuance that I could not appreciate. But
it proved to be very important legally speaking.’
Patrick Polak, director of Newion Investments,
regularly hires her for a takeover. ‘A few years
A day in the life of Nathalie van Woerkom
‘In that enormous pile of papers she suddenly saw a link between page 2 and page 46’
erasmusalumni. magazine 15
College 10 | Internationalisering
Sprekers
Aanmelden?
Jan Peter BalkenendeHoogleraar Bestuur, Instituties en Internationalisering aan deErasmus Universiteit
Kees de JongOprichter Blauw Researchen FD columnist
Mirik CastroOprichter Simgasen John’s Phone
www.collegereeks.nl
X98B3 169F 1203 09A0Meld u aan voor 1 juli met de volgende code en profiteer van de alumni korting
A day in the life of Nathalie van Woerkom
ago she was heavily pregnant,’ he says. ‘I needed her and
didn’t know exactly when the baby was due. So I phoned
to ask, and found out that she had given birth three days
before. I said, “Why the hell are you answering the phone?”
She said, “Well, you called, didn’t you?” That’s what she’s
like. Fully committed.’
Despite the stereotypical image of lawyers – slick types in
fast cars – Van Woerkom’s work mainly consists of read-
ing. A lot of reading. ‘You have to keep up to date with the
literature, the case law,’ Van Woerkom says. ‘You need to
know your stuff if you want to join in. The greater part of
your time is spent going through sixty-page contracts. Plod-
ding away, making changes, ensuring that documents are
exactly how I want them to be. And if you are dealing with
a case you must make sure that you are always available. In
the evening, at night, regardless of whether you’re ill or not.’
Reading at schoolColleagues and friends sometimes wonder whether she is
not asking too much of herself. Patrick Polak says, ‘It comes
at a price if you want to continue to perform at this level.
I wouldn’t be able to keep it up.’ Angelique Martens, who
has worked as a junior notary at AKD with Van Woerkom for
more than ten years, says, ‘No one can put in such a top per-
formance and be the perfect mother and the perfect wife.
As a woman you sometimes have to make choices about
where you want to be.’
It is that familiar and unavoidable discussion about career
women. Van Woerkom, who has three children (five, seven
and eight-years-old), smiles when the subject arises. Her
husband is often abroad for his work and there are weeks in
which she too only eats at home a few times. So yes, it can
be a bit of a puzzle. Saturdays are devoted to the children
anyway, with football and her son’s hockey team that she
coaches. And she tries to find as much time as possible to fit
in reading at school and other activities. ‘I am the opposite
of my mother, who was always at home. As a child I liked
that. But if your mother works, you get to experience other
things. My children are learning to be independent some-
what sooner. Of course there are times when I wonder why
I don’t do something else. There have been times when they
couldn’t get hold of me when my son had fallen down. A
nosebleed, that sort of thing. You can’t avoid it. I purposely
live close to my work, so I can get home quickly if anything
does happen. And so I don’t have a long commute.’
Rabbits out of hatsAt 7.30 p.m. Van Woerkom, her AKD colleague, the client
and the two financial men sit down at a table in the Eau de
Vie Restaurant (‘Ron Blaauw was full; can you believe it?’).
The takeover is in the bag, but there is a bit of a fuss about a
bank guarantee. The corks should really have been popping
at lunchtime today, after one of the Canon representa-
tives had initialled the huge pile of papers and the notary
had handed round the closing binders printed in golden
lettering. But – ‘a final rabbit is always pulled out of the
hat’ – it turned out to be somewhat later. A last conference
call is held during the meal. A discussion with Stibbe and a
conversation with the buyers, who have had to change their
flight. The five of them sit bent over an iPhone that lies on
the tablecloth among the scallops and glasses of white wine.
Despite the best will in the world, it is not possible to settle
the matter during this one-and-a-half-hour long telephone
call. The shares are transferred the next day at four in the
morning.
It is nearly midnight when the garden gate opens and the
X5 drives over the little bridge onto the driveway. In the clear
night a few weak stars twinkle. The house is fast asleep. One
last question: does she think many people would like her
job? ‘It depends. Ambitious people definitely. They would re-
ally enjoy it. But I can imagine people might say they would
hate to have to work so much and have all that stress. It’s a
choice you make. And for me it’s the right one.’
Geert Maarse studied Business Administration (2006) and
Cultural Studies (2008) at the EUR, where he also did a Master’s
degree in Media & Journalism (2009).
Ronald van den Heerik studied Philosophy at the EUR from
1979 to 1983.
erasmusalumni. magazine 17
From the top floor of the
AKD offices you have
a fantastic view over
Rotterdam.
18 erasmusalumni. magazine
Enterprising alumni
What is it?
24MONTHS is an initiative of Erasmus University Rot-
terdam and the Holland Program on Entrepreneurship
(HOPE). 24MONTHS matches talented young people
with ambitious businesses. The young talents want to
become entrepreneurs. After a tough selection process
they get to work on three eight-month assignments
(24 months in total) within a business. They are given
a lot of autonomy here, and they receive intensive
supervision from 24MONTHS during the programme.
Businesses offer the trainees a challenging assignment
and a great deal of independence.
Interested in being a trainee or in providing an
assignment?
Go to www.24months.nl
The company gets fresh, enter-
prising talent for a specific as-
signment; the graduate gets a
serious chance to take a look
behind the scenes. 24MONTHS
sounds like a win-win situation.
Ask Peter Pesselse about the added-value of
the 24MONTHS project and he could not be
more complimentary: ‘You bring in enthusiastic,
enterprising talents who tackle an issue in your
company independently, with the right knowhow,
energy and a fresh, out-of-the-box approach.’
Pesselse is managing director of CARU Contain-
ers. CARU leads Europe in the field of sales, rental
and leasing of new and second-hand containers,
and has taken on two trainees from 24MONTHS.
One of them is Sabrina Kestens, an alumna of
Erasmus University. She started work at the con-
tainer firm in January. Her assignment is to cap-
ture the market for offshore containers.
‘Intrapreneur’During her studies Kestens had her own small
business, but found it too big a leap to continue
with this after she graduated. Once she had been
awarded her degree in 2010, as an economist
specialized in Urban Port and Transport Eco-
nomics, she worked for a year and a half as a
graduate trainee at the Ministry of Infrastructure
and the Environment. ‘In government there is a
consultation culture, so it takes a long time for
decisions to be made. We could sometimes spend
a whole day in a meeting and would still not have
reached a decision,’ she says laughing. ‘At CARU
there is a mentality of less talk and more action.’
Kestens read about the 24MONTHS project at the
end of November and responded straight away.
‘I wanted to work in a smaller, more dynamic
environment, where there is room for creativity
and responsibility.’ For her 24Months is ‘the ideal
next step.’ ‘I am learning a lot about the business,
am coached and trained by entrepreneurs and
am increasing my experience and expanding my
toolbox so I will be able to set up my own busi-
ness in the future.’ Referring to her position as
Setting out to sea with entrepreneurs-to-be
text Eveline van de Lagemaat
photo Ronald van den Heerik
erasmusalumni. magazine 19
May 1967. The logarithmic number system and German irregular verbs. Once again you sat in your room. It was one of those Sun-day afternoons you just had to endure: your last chance to prepare for a test. There you sat at your new desk, a pile of study books in front of your nose and an agonizing mathematical assignment that proved impossible to solve. Prove e = 2.71828 as a natural base. You thumbed indifferently through an old German dictionary, wanted everything and nothing, and made curvaceous splodges with your fountain pen on an empty notepad. Homework. For a moment you wondered what the meaning of it all was. You were only just fifteen. Too young for a moped, too old for a kite and too soon for questions about the meaning of life.Even dwarfs started small. The richly associative title of a docu-mentary (1970) by film director Werner Herzog. Little people, dwarves, are set free on an uninhabited island and organize themselves into chaos. The law of the jungle reigns supreme. The pecking order. That is now my place of work, among writers in a world dominated by AKO literature prizes and media-savvy pen-pushers. But it’s still a jungle full of dwarves, all of whom started small and stayed small.December 2011. As a friend of astronaut André Kuipers I travelled with him to Kazakhstan, standing close to the roaring flames of the Soyuz spacecraft in Baikonur. We now e-mail and he phones me every now and then. ‘When I gaze from here into the pitch-black universe, I really feel how fragile and relative it all is.’ May 1967. ‘Have you started on your prime numbers yet, son?’ your father asked triumphantly. Prime numbers. Those too. You didn’t reply. The next day your mathematics test was a flop. You forgot the German irregular verbs during that turbulent summer with Elise by the Bodensee in Konstanz.June 1970. You looked out the window, sat at your desk and thought back to May 1967. Irregular German verbs and a loga-rithmic number system. You felt a slight longing for that familiar confusion.Now you were allowed to go to the EUR, but you sat hunched over a map of the world and you didn’t want to go to France but to West Samoa. You were only just eighteen. Too old for a moped, too young for resignation but just too late for Sartre.
Henk Weltevreden (1951) studied Philosophy at the EUR. He writes travel stories, novels and columns and makes TV pro-grammes for the VPRO, NTR, RVU and Humanistische Omroep TV companies. His travel novel about North Korea De Stralende Ster van Paekdu (The Shining Star of Paekdu) will soon be published.
Column Jungle
entrepreneur within an organization she says, ‘At CARU I am
an intrapreneur!’
PitchThe matchmaker between trainees and businesses is the
24MONTHS organization. In this case it selected seven can-
didates to pitch to the company. They were informed about
CARU’s assignment
24 hours beforehand. In the pitch the seven presented
themselves and how they wanted to tackle the assignment.
‘This gave us a good idea of the different talents,’ says Pes-
selse. ‘At the end of the afternoon we could choose which
candidate we wanted to join forces with. It soon became
clear to us that we actually wanted two candidates. CARU
was set up in 1980 as a two-man band; we find working in
pairs suits our culture and the advantage is that the two tal-
ents can challenge and complement each other. Sabrina and
Allard [Langenhuijsen, the other trainee, ed.] work more or
less independently on the assignment.’
Armed with factsThe trainees report to the container company management
every fortnight. They work closely with a colleague whose
focus is the offshore market. Kestens says, ‘Our main focus
at the moment is documenting this. We are considering the
opportunities, threats and requirements in this relatively new
market.’
The market is interesting for CARU because the margins
are higher, says Pesselse. ‘The often rough conditions at sea
make it necessary to use stronger containers, and an off-
shore container must also meet higher safety requirements.’
The container company has grown rapidly in recent years,
but ‘we mainly used our intuition in important business deci-
sions. By taking on Sabrina and Allard we can now be armed
with the facts about the potential growth market of offshore
containers. After two months I can already say that there has
been a return on investment with these two talents.’
Author Eveline van de Lagemaat studied Social History at
the EUR, specializing in communication and information.
‘There is already a return on Investment with the trainees’
erasmusalumni. magazine 19
Sabrina Kestens is investigating the potential
growth market of offshore containers for Peter
Pesselse’s company
20 erasmusalumni. magazine
Focus on research DISCOUNT How do you get people to exercise regularly? In order to get a better idea of this these three re-searchers from different departments of the Eras-mus School of Economics (ESE) did a fi eld study at a gym. They randomly selected three groups of gym visitors. Group one received a discount of € 15 per quarter if they visited the gym once a week for 11 of the 13 weeks, and € 25 if they visited twice in those weeks. Group two received a € 15 discount, regardless of the number of visits. Group three was the control group.
CAMPAIGNThe researchers believe the results will be of interest to, for example, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, other parts of the public sector or insurance com-panies. For gyms the study does not appear to result in hard cash: people did not extend their subscriptions more often.
LONG TERMSocial psychologists generally study situ-ations, explains Willem Verbeke, Profes-sor of Sales and Account Management (Department of Business Economics). ‘We have now looked at a long-term effect, as economists do.’ The researchers have dif-ferent theories as to why such an effect oc-curs. Maybe the gym visitor makes friends at the gym, who encourage him to visit the gym, or maybe he becomes addicted to the good feeling that doing sport gives him? Maybe his health improves and he can consequently make better decisions?
IT SEEMS TO WORKHow do you get people to exercise regularly? Like this, it seems. From the fi rst provisional results it appears that the group that received a discount if they came each week visited the gym more often, behavioural economist Kirsten Rohde (Department of Applied Economics) explains. What is more, ‘Even after the discounted period they continued to return. They seem to have developed a habit.’
PERFORMANCE INCENTIVESRobert Dur, Professor of Economics of In-centives and Performance (Department of Economics), has done a lot of research into performance incentives in businesses. The gym study is not fully comparable with this. The incentive is much more limited: it is not your salary we are talking about but a discount of € 15. And it is in a very dif-ferent environment. But that in particular makes the study interesting. The incentive is weak and temporary but the effect ap-pears to be strong and for the long term.
erasmusalumni. magazine 21
STOPPING SMOKINGLearning a good habit with the help of an incentive can also be applied to other areas of course: taking your medicine every day, stopping smoking, losing weight. Studies have already been done of a number of such situations. But more research is needed if we are to under-stand how the mechanism works.
Text Mieke Fiers Photo Levien Willemse
The photo was taken in the Achmea
Health Center Rotterdam (the study did
not take place at this gym)
Alzheimer’sThe number of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other
forms of dementia is increasing at an alarming rate. The Alz-
heimer’s Foundation predicts it will have doubled by the year
2040. In order to improve treatment
and research, Erasmus MC and the
Havenziekenhuis hospital have set
up an Alzheimer’s Centre for the
South-West Netherlands.
See also www.erasmusmc.nl/
Alzheimercentrum
22 erasmusalumni. magazine
Science news
Environmental law still feels somewhat as
though it is imposed from above, whilst the
public and businesses bear their own res-
ponsibility for sustainable behaviour. In his
EUR dissertation for which he was recently
awarded a PhD, Harm Borgers suggests an
alternative approach, which actually makes
a claim on this individual responsibility. This
would also bring environmental law closer to
people’s experience.
Environmental law
CrisisinterpretedThe continuing economic crisis and one
round of cuts after another require expla-
nation, interpretation and a reaction from
experts. The media have been beating down
the door to Rotterdam economists for this.
See also www.economieopinie.nl
200 million less for research In the coming years the govern-
ment is set to make cuts to aca-
demic research of € 200 million
annually, according to calcula-
tions by the Rathenau Institute.
Spending will decrease from €
5.9 to 5.7 billion. The amount
of direct government spending
on academic research will have decreased to €
4.5 billion in 2016.
‘My mother taught me…’Why are some children better at sharing
and cooperating than others? This is what
Canadian biologist Viara Mileva-Seitz is
going to study. Her research falls within the
scope of the research programme of the new
department of Education and Child Studies of
Erasmus University. In a two-year study Mileva-
Seitz will look at whether some children are
better at cooperating and sharing because
they are better at observing social signals, have
genetic baggage that is favourable to social
behaviour or have been brought up that way.
erasmusalumni. magazine 23
Environmental law
Avoiding fraudStudents and researchers must develop more of a sense of what constitutes academic misconduct. In order to achieve this, the Association of Universities, of which Erasmus Uni-versity is a member, have drawn up a Dutch Code of Conduct for Academic Practice.
Students must receive training in academic integrity and from
now on researchers must explicitly vow to stick to the code.
Dutch academia was startled this year by a number of fraud
cases. It began with the large-scale fraud by Professor Diederik
Stapel of Tilburg University. There has also been a case at Erasmus
University in which academic integrity was violated. The academic
in question, Associate Professor Don Poldermans of the Erasmus
MC, was dismissed.
More information on www.vsnu.nl
The government was negligent about taking satisfactory measures to limit the use of asbestos.
This is what legal expert Bob Ruers, member of the Senate for the
SP Party, claims in his dissertation, for which he recently received
a PhD from the EUR. The government should therefore offer its
excuses to the victims, says Ruers. More than ten thousand peo-
ple have already died from inhaling asbestos fi bres. In the coming
years the same number again will probably die.
Prior to the full asbestos ban, in 1993, there was confl ict between
the industry, government, unions and victims. Signifi cant econo-
mic interests were at stake here, Ruers emphasizes.
See too www.comiteasbestslachtoffers.nl
‘Government negligent with asbestos regulations’
Ron Fouchier’s team was able to
mutate the current bird fl u virus
in a few steps to make it easier to
transmit from human to human.
The virus would cause the biggest
pandemic in history with millions
of deaths as a result. Fouchier sent
his fi ndings to the journal Science,
which submitted them to the
American National Science Advisory
Board for Biosecurity NSABB. This
strongly advised not to publish. The
danger was that the knowledge
could be used as a weapon in the
wrong hands. Fouchier believes it
is actually dangerous not to pro-
ceed with this kind of research.
Publication and further research can
mean that a mutation in this wrong
direction can be recognized and a
possible pandemic avoided.
After a special session the World
Health Organization (WHO) de-
cided to allow publication, and the
NSABB supported the decision.
However, the Dutch government
had not yet issued a permit to
export this sensitive knowledge.
In order to make a proper assess-
ment of the situation, it held an
international conference at the end
of April about security and the bird
fl u virus research. Fouchier was one
of the speakers. Outgoing State
Secretary Bleker has fi nally decided
to grant an export permit for the
research, which means that it can
now be published.
Dangerous fl u virus causes debateIn an extremely secure lab at the Erasmus MC, Virologist Ron Fou-chier developed a bird fl u virus that can be transmitted via coughs and sneezes. Sharing the knowledge about this caused a global dis-cussion about the use of such research and whether sensitive know-ledge should be shared, and if so with whom.
24 erasmusalumni. magazine
In the news in ‘97-’98
Martijn Koenen was a
candidate for the D66 Party
in the municipal council elec-
tions (photo: RvdH)
Floortje (r) en Brechje van
Eijck won bronze at the World
Rowing Championships
(photo: RvdH)
Martijn Koenen40, Public Administration
What were you up to in 97-98?‘Politics was not really my calling but I was interested in
political and social developments. I was one of the
founders of the Youth Board and a member of the
Young Democrats and D66. When they asked me if I
wanted to be a candidate for the municipal council elec-
tions it sounded like a good idea. Unfortunately, we did
not win enough seats.’
What do you do now?‘I graduated in 2000 and now work as a customs and
excise inspector in Rotterdam.’
How do you look back at that time?‘It was a valuable and particularly fun period, but I gave
up my political ambitions. I got fed up fairly quickly with
the culture in local politics: people who take themselves
way too seriously and whose main worry is themselves
rather than society.’
Floortje (l) en Brechje van Eijck both 36, Medicine
What were you up to in 97-98?‘We qualified for the World Rowing Championships in
France. In the end we won bronze there. A fantastic end to
the season. We rowed for one more year and then stopped
because we were both doing residencies.’
What are you doing now?Floortje: ‘I have been a trauma surgeon since October 2009. I
was awarded my PhD by Erasmus MC two years ago. I now
work in the Slingeland Hospital in Doetinchem.’
Brechje: ‘I am now a gastroenterologist at the Kennemer
Gasthuis Hospital in Haarlem.’
What do you remember most?‘The medals at the World Championship were the highlight
for us of course. A fantastic time that we would repeat at
the drop of a hat. The intensive training programmes taught
us how to plan and switch between our studies – and now
work – and our private lives.’
EA takes a trip
back in time and
wonders how
the students
who made the
news in the
academic year
of 1997-1998 are
doing now.
text and photos from
now Sanne van der Most
Sanne van der Most
studied Private Law at the
EUR. She graduated in 1999.
erasmusalumni. magazine 25
Femke Lagerveld
(2nd from right) was on the
Eureka Week Committee
(photo: private collection)
Karel van der Flier
organized big student
parties
(photo: LW)
Femke Lagerveld37, Dutch Law
What were you up to in 97-98?‘As a member of the Eureka Week Committee I was responsi-
ble for the design and content of all the printed material and
for the cabaret evening, where a then relatively unknown
Thomas van Luyn performed. I also organized a hypnotist,
called Mr Black, and the lunch concert on the first day.’
What do you do now?‘I work in the House of Representatives as a policy officer for
Security and Justice for the VVD Party and am also doing a
Master’s degree in Political Science.’
Fond memories?‘It was completely different from “normal” study. As a com-
mittee we had to organize all sorts of things and got to go all
sorts of places. We ate together once a week. It was great
fun. What did I learn? How to work together in a group. And
that you have to accept that people have their own way of
doing things.’
Karel van der Flier37, Business Economics
What were you up to in 97-98?‘I ran an events company together with two fellow year-
group members of my student association:
Young Promotions. We organized big parties for student as-
sociations and for the EUR. Real parties to blow you away
with famous bands like Kane and Bløf.’
What do you do now?‘For years I bought up businesses that were performing bad-
ly, did them up and sold them on. As that was going so well
and I am an entrepreneur at heart, I didn’t finish my degree.
I have never regretted it. I now work with my wife Mariska,
who is an interior designer. She is very creative but some-
what less business-minded. I therefore do that part now.’
Anything else you learnt?‘I learnt how important it is to be able to trust whoever you
work with with your life. And that it is better to make a bad
decision than no decision at all.’
In September 2003 I passed Petri’s Eggs on the
Woudestein Campus for the last time, on my way
to collect my Business Administration degree.
Now I am back and armed with a notepad. At the
request of EA I am writing an article about the
renovation and new developments on the cam-
pus. And a lot has changed.
Note 1: The grassy slope or sunbath-ing area in front of the big Mensa has completely disappeared.
Here on this spot every student or former student
has sat on the grass at some point to enjoy a few
rays. Now there is a hole many meters deep in
which construction workers walk back and forth
between rusty sheetpile walls. They are working
on an underground car park with a thousand
parking spaces, Huub Juurlink tells me. He is an
architect at Juurlink [+] Geluk and the designer
of the master plan for the new campus. ‘The car
park is one of the most difficult jobs,’ he says,
pointing to the tension braces in the wall of the
hole. ‘These are to prevent the building subsiding
into the car park.’ This is not an unthinkable sce-
nario: exactly that started to happen in 2007 with
the Erasmus MC-Sophia when they built a multi-
storey car park next door.
On top of the underground car park they will
build a new Plaza. This ‘student boulevard’ should
form the heart of the new campus. The Plaza will
run as a straight line through the campus, from
Commotion at the Plaza
Erasmus Universiteit and the new campus
26 erasmusalumni. magazine
Work on the Woudestein
Campus
Phase 1
Completion date: July 2013
Work: construction of
underground car park, Plaza,
park, student accommodation
(U-Building), Student Pavilion
and renovation of C-Building.
Cost: 92 million
Phase 2
Period: September 2013–2028
Work: renovation of H-Building,
renovation of L-Building,
including the Mensa, which
will be transformed into a food
court, construction of a hotel,
new sports hall.
Cost: More than €300 million
(set aside)
On Campus Woudestein they are busy demolishing, constructing and
renovating. Alumnus Dennis Mijnheer returns to the university for EA
to find out what the plans entail.
text Dennis Mijnheer
illustrations Lobke van Aar
erasmusalumni. magazine 27
the Burgemeester Oudlaan all the way to the Kral-
ingse Zoom/Brainpark. ‘The Plaza will be as long
and wide as the Willemsbrug, with restaurants
on both sides, a hotel, student accommodation, a
new gym and lots of benches,’ says Juurlink.
The idea is that the Plaza will become a real meet-
ing place bringing together the whole campus.
That used to be very different: you cycled to the
building where your lecture was and had little to
do with the rest of the campus. There were whole
groups of students from other faculties that you
never met. In future everyone who has to be on
the campus – be it for a lecture, a symposium or
otherwise – will enter at the Plaza. From the car
park you will also immediately enter the ‘heart of
the campus’, as Juurlink calls it. ‘A student heart
full of commotion, cyclists, benches and a lot of
green. We have made the car park construction
very strong so that we can plant big trees, such
as sycamores, on top. I am looking forward to an
Indian Summer with a busy Plaza in all the colours
of autumn.’
Bart Straatman, member of the Executive Board
of the University, has the image imprinted in his
mind. He gained his inspiration from universities in
Hong Kong, Singapore and Edinburgh. ‘We now
have the opportunity to update all that is out-
dated on the campus. For the long term we have
set aside € 400 million so that we will once again
count among the top universities.’ The expansion
is taking place in phases. ‘We are going to keep
checking if we can still afford it. Otherwise we will
first have to save.’
Note 2: Café In de Smitse has disap-peared from the F/G Building.
Nine years ago we might not have had a Plaza
but we did have Café In de Smitse. It was the
only semi-lively place at Woudestein with en-
tertainment in the form of cheap beer, music
and fellow students, even the braggarts. A few
enquiries tell me that In de Smitse has moved to
the T-Building, which opened in 2005. From sum-
mer next year this student café will have serious
competition from the Student Pavilion. The new
building measuring 32x32 metres will be on the
spot where at the moment twenty foundation
piles stand. A grand café is coming with seating
for 140, a terrace outside, meeting rooms, study
areas and a multi-functional hall with seating for
200 or standing room for 400. ‘The aim is that
‘In the pavilion there will be second-hand furniture, which is both sustainable and welcoming’
28 erasmusalumni. magazine
the pavilion becomes the lively centre of the campus,’ says
Dick Pakkert, who has been taken on as its manager. He is
also manager of the Rotterdam café-restaurant De Unie and
the Rotown concert hall. It will be no trouble to bring some
life to the pavilion in the daytime, he believes. ‘The evening
will be the biggest challenge. Students have lots of other
options, such as the Oude Haven and the Oostzeedijk, and
once they are in town or at home it is a long way back to the
campus.’ Pakkert therefore wants to bring the ‘city’ to the
campus: with its own (mainly organic) food, films, theatre
and concerts.
Note 3: The F/G-Building has a snack cart selling döner kebabs right outside.
I fear that the design of the snack cart will be no match for
the new Student Pavilion. Stefan Prins, architect at Power-
house Company, designed the pavilion, with lots of sheet
glass to keep it as transparent as possible. ‘But there are
going to be big blinds to keep out the sun. In the summer
we will then need to use less energy to cool it, and by shut-
ting the blinds a certain sense of intimacy will develop,’ says
Prins. He shows me an artist’s impression of a winter scene: a
frozen pond, students skating and an – he’s right – intimate-
looking pavilion. Between the pavilion and the pond there
will be steps like a sort of paddy field. ‘A good place to work
quietly by the water in the summer,’ says Prins.
The future pond is not just for aesthetic purposes: the water
will also be used to cool the pavilion. There are more such
sustainable ideas in the design. Prins says, ‘The wish of the
University was to design a building that is both lively and sus-
tainable. This was an interesting challenge because the live-
lier you want it to be the less sustainable it often becomes.
Erasmus Universiteit en de nieuwe campus
‘Over the course of time the central hall filled up with a coffee corner and all sorts of cubicles.’
erasmusalumni. magazine 29
And vice versa.’ The pavilion’s interior is under discussion at
the moment. Pakkert says, ‘I don’t want everything white
and austere because the students then feel they aren’t al-
lowed to touch anything. We are therefore opting for sec-
ond-hand furniture: that is both sustainable and welcoming.’
Note 4: A bright-red (!) prefab-like building has risen in front of the M-Building.
In my time the campus was dominated by the colour grey.
In the new plans there is luckily more colour. But this bright-
red building with coloured stripes beats them all. It proves
to be called the ‘V-Building’ and contains such things as the
Erasmus Shop, a hairdresser and the seven lecture theatres.
Different faculties are being temporarily housed there due
to the renovation of the monumental C-Building. This build-
ing has been completely stripped and is not accessible; the
restoration work is now in full flow. All technical installations
such as the air-conditioning systems, electricity and heating
are being updated, says Sharif Ben Chamach, who studied
Law until 2006 at the EUR and now works for Breijer Bouw
en Installatie, the main contractor on the renovation project.
‘Over the course of time the central hall filled with a coffee
corner and all sorts of cubicles,’
says Ben Chamach. ‘It was the university’s wish to return the
building, which dates from 1964, back to its original state.’
Note 5: Petri’s Eggs are nowhere to be seen.
They used to be by the Burgemeester Oudlaan, at exactly
the same spot where the entrance to the new plaza will be.
Therefore, ‘something’ had to be done about Petri’s Eggs.
‘We looked into whether it would be possible to keep the
eggs, but from a technical point of view they were on their
last legs,’ says Kees Lansbergen, director of the Erasmus Ser-
vices Department (EFB). It was not possible to restore them.
They would have fallen apart during transport. ‘We did con-
sider reproductions, but Petri’s heirs were against that.’ They
said goodbye to this artwork with a ceremony and an exhibi-
tion last year. ‘With pain in our hearts,’ says Lansbergen. ‘I
studied here myself at the end of the 1970s and they were a
feature of Erasmus University.’
Their disappearance is almost symbolic: the round forms of
the artwork were a silent protest by Petri against the cold
rectangular shapes of the grey concrete university buildings
in the 1960s. However, the trend seems to have been bro-
ken: the ‘new’ Woudestein is gaining colour, glass and a lot
of green.
www.eur.nl/campus/ontwikkeling_campus
Dennis Mijnheer studied Business Administration at the EUR.
He graduated in 2003 specializing in Marketing Management.
New Hoboken Building
Construction work is not just
going on at Woudestein but
it is also all systems go at the
Erasmus MC (Hoboken). In the
autumn of 2009 the first phase
of the large-scale refurbishment
began with a construction bud-
get of € 449 million. Work is
currently underway on the East
section, the tower of which
will have thirty floors and, at a
height of 120 metres, will be a
good bit higher than the cur-
rent white tower. The East sec-
tion (at Sophia) is expected to
open in 2013. The completion
date for the whole new buil-
ding is 2017.
Nice animation at: www.
erasmusmc.nl/nieuwbouw
ww
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Nieuw: Recht(st)reeks Rotterdamwww.erasmusacademie.nl/rechtstreeksrotterdam
Het juridisch PAO-onderwijs is in een nieuw jasje gestoken!
De laatste ontwikkelingen binnen uw vakgebied
+ praktische tools voor de praktijk
+ ervaren docenten uit wetenschap en praktijk
+ gegarandeerde PO-punten
+ netwerkborrel met aansluitend buffet en lezing
Donderdag 14 juni 2012 van 13.00 – 17.30 uur
op de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam.
Kijk voor het programma of voor direct inschrijven op
www.erasmusacademie.nl/rechtstreeksrotterdam
Eras
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Op deze pagina vindt u een kleine selectie van een prachtig aanbod aan relatiegeschenken van de
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam. Op www.eur.nl/faciliteiten/relatiegeschenken/assortiment/ vindt u ons
volledige assortiment. Bestellingen kunnen geplaatst worden door een e-mail te sturen naar [email protected].
Relatiegeschenken
erasmus in europa
Eras
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Uni
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Rrob derksrene leisink
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Erasmus in Europa€ 3,95
Briefopener€€22,50
Bronzen beeld ErasmusHoogte: 15 cm € 99,65
Presse papier€ 20,-
Dopper€ 8,-
Doosje assorti chocolade15 stuks € 6,50
erasmusalumni. magazine 29
‘I was born and bred in Lonneker, a small
village close to Enschede. After secondary
school I went to Nyenrode Business Univer-
sity. I then studied Business Administration
for two-and-a-half years (MSc) at the EUR.
When I came to Rotterdam I did not feel
anything for the city. My love for it grew
really slowly but the city is now my anchor.
This is partly due to such great events as the
Film Festival in which I immerse myself each
year.’
Entrepreneur Herman Vaanholt is the orga-
nizer of the Rotterdam City Race (previously
the Bavaria City Race). He is not afraid of
noise, but he does like to seek out a bit of
nature too. ‘The Kralingse Bos is the Central
Park of Rotterdam. You can find peace and
beautiful nature at a stone’s throw from the
city noise.’ His favourite place is the terrace
of Restaurant De Tuin van de Vier Wind-
streken, by the Kralingse Plas. It is no coin-
cidence that he has been co-owner of ‘De
Tuin’ for fourteen years.
‘De Tuin is so great because everyone is wel-
come. People come here especially for our
food and drink, but they sometimes also pop
in after having been out in the woods. In the
spring you sometimes get riders on horses
on the terrace just like in the old days; in
the summer visitors arrive on foot and in the
winter there are skaters. The huge terrace
by the water with the long jetty is a real hot-
spot in the summer, but if you come at other
times, you can enjoy the peace and quiet.
In the spring I sometimes sit here really early
in the morning to watch the sunrise. It is so
beautiful here then!’
Eveline van de Lagemaat studied
Social History at the EUR, specializing in
communication and information.
Why Rotterdam
The Kralingse Bos is the Central Park of Rotterdam
The Kralingse Bos is the Central
Park of Rotterdam
Name: Herman Vaanholt (50)
Degrees: Bachelor’s in Business
Administration (BBA) Manage-
ment (Nyenrode),
Business Administration (MSc)
EUR
Graduated: 1986
Proud of: De Tuin van de Vier
Windstreken Restaurant
Herman Vaanholt’s love for Rotterdam grew slowly. The
entrepreneur now feels more than at home there.
text Eveline van de Lagemaat
photo Levien Willemse
erasmusalumni. magazine 31
32 erasmusalumni. magazine
Alumni affairs
Erasmus University RotterdamAlumni & Corporate
Relations Office
Room A1-51
Burgemeester Oudlaan 50
3062 PA Rotterdam
Telephone: 010-4081110
Fax: 010-4089075
www.eur.nl/alumni
Alumni Advisory Board
Rinkse Brand, Marcella
Breedeveld, Michel Dutree, Jan
Hendrik Egberts, Bon de Jonge
van Ellemeet, Sietze Hepkema,
Frans van Houten, Ila Kasem,
Guus Lubsen, Lilianne
Ploumen, Derek Roos, Dominic
Schrijer, Dick Verbeek, Frans
Weisglas, Henk Weltevreden,
Pieter Zevenbergen (chair)
UL library card for alumni
Alumni of the EUR can apply
for an UL library card at a
reduced rate: € 15 instead of €
30. Request your UL library
card by sending an e-mail to
[email protected] stating your
surname, initials, address, date
of birth and former student
number.
Opening of the Academic
Year 2012/2013
You are all invited to the
traditional opening of the
Academic Year 2012–2013.
3 September 2010, Aula, EUR
Social media
The EUR communicates via
Linkedin, Facebook and
Twitter. Register now.
Erasmus Alumni Database
Your alma mater, the EUR, will
celebrate its centenary in
2013. We want to involve as
many alumni as possible in the
celebrations. If you are unsure
whether we have your recent
personal data please contact
us ([email protected], 010-
4081110). You can also
request a new login so you
can manage your own
database entry and not miss a
single announcement.
World map of EUR alumni
EUR alumni jet off across the
whole world. In order to get a
picture of this the EUR has
developed a web application.
From www.eur.nl/alumni you
can access a special version of
the well-known Google Maps,
which shows all alumni from
the Erasmus Alumni Database
right to city level. Naturally this
is anonymous.
EUR Language & Training
Centre
As an alumnus of the Erasmus
University Rotterdam you
receive a discount on the
Chinese, English, Italian,
Japanese, Dutch and Spanish
language courses at the EUR
Language & Training Centre.
Evening courses: 10 lessons,
starting three times a year –
January, April and October –
5.30-
8 p.m. (higher levels of
Spanish until 9 p.m.).
Intensive courses: in three
weeks you learn what you
would otherwise need two
evening courses for
(20 weeks altogether).
Dutch (January and August),
English (August), Spanish
(August)
English for special purposes:
Business Writing Skills,
Academic Writing and a
Cambridge Course in which
you can prepare for the
prestigious Cambridge
Certificate.
Unable to find what you are
looking for? The Language &
Training Centre also provides
tailor-made solutions.
[email protected], 010-4081995,
www.eur.nl/ttc/alumni/
General Erasmus Alumni
Association
Alexandra Staab
PO Box 4382,
3006 AJ Rotterdam
Telephone 010-4149407
eav@
erasmusalumnivereniging.nl
www.
erasmusalumnivereniging.nl
Sport at a discount
EUR wishes to emphasize and
strengthen the ties with its
alumni. Alumni can therefore
take part in sporting activities
at Erasmus Sport even after
they have graduated.
Furthermore, EAV members
can participate in sporting
activities there at student
prices. For information on the
sports on offer and fees see
www.erasmussport.nl.
General Studies/
Erasmus Culture
Fedde van der Spoel
Room E1-47
010 408 2693
http://www.eur.nl/sgec
Party at Smitse
Just before the summer
Erasmus Culture and Café In
de Smitse are holding an
open-air festival. The most
promising artistes of the last
season will perform one more
time. Start the summer at this
mini-festival at the EUR.
1 June 2012, 5 p.m.,
Woudestein Campus
Erasmus Studio
A new initiative by General
Studies, Erasmus Culture and
Erasmus Podium.
The lighthearted ‘Studio
Erasmus’ talkshow once a
Mandeville LectureAt the invitation of the Erasmus University Rotter-dam, the Rotterdam business community united in Club Rotterdam and the EUR Trustfund Association, the former president of the Central European Bank, Jean Claude Trichet, will give the Mandeville Lecture on 6 June 2012. This lecture is considered an ‘hono-rary social doctorate’. Former laureates include Wim Duisenberg (1998), Bernard Kouchner (2002) and Joop van den Ende (2011).6 June 2012, Aula, EUR. Info. at www.mandevillelezing.nl
erasmusalumni. magazine 33
month. Guests pop in to
discuss academia, politics,
culture, media and the EUR.
Fourth edition on 24 May
2012, 8-9.15 p.m., doors
open at 7.30 p.m., De Unie
(Mauritsweg 34-35), free.
Reservation recommended via
Erasmus School of Economics ESL Alumni Affairs
Charles Hermans
Room H7-19
Telephone 010-4081803
www.esealumni.nl
The ESE organizes a limited
number of annual events, such
as the ESE Alumni Day in the
spring on the opening day of
the EFR Business Week and the
Autumn Day.
ESE maintains ties with
alumni
The ESE attaches great
importance to strong ties
between the alumni
themselves and between the
alumni and their faculty. This
means graduates can learn
from the practical experiences
of others and stay informed of
the developments within their
field. All new alumni of the
ESE receive a two-year trial
membership of the EAV
(General Erasmus Alumni
Association) as a gift from
their faculty.
The Erasmus Education
Fund
The aim of the fund is to
support initiatives that enable
talented underprivileged
young people to go through
further education and thus
become the leaders of future
generations.
More information at www.
erasmuseducationfund.nl
Your contribution is much ap-
preciated. You can transfer it
to account number
11.69.09.436 in the name of
the Erasmus Trustfonds in Rot-
terdam stating ‘Erasmus Edu-
cation Fund’.
Dean Philip Hans Franses
receives honorary docto-
rate
Professor Philip Hans Franses
was awarded an honorary doc-
torate in econometrics by Chi-
ang Mai
University, one of the biggest
universities in Thailand. Franses
is the first Dutch person to re-
ceive an honorary doctorate
from a Thai university. He was
awarded the honorary docto-
rate by the crown prince of
Thailand Maha Chakri. ‘It was
a memorable and moving ex-
perience,’ said Franses.
Vici Grant for Ingolf Ditt-
mann
Ingolf Dittmann, Professor of
Finance, has received a Vici
Grant of € 1.5 million from the
Netherlands Organisation for
Scientific Research (NWO). His
proposal received the highest
assessment of A+ no fewer
than three times from the in-
ternational judges. The Vici
Grant is one of the largest in-
dividual scientific grants in the
Netherlands. The Vici Grant
will provide Dittman with the
opportunity to set up his own
research group.
Professors appointed
Dr Onno Steenbeek has been
appointed Professor of Profes-
sional Practice in Risk Manage-
ment of Pension Funds on be-
half of the EUR Trustfund As-
sociation.
Prof. Enrico Pennings has been
appointed Professor of Applied
Industrial Organization.
Prof. Victor Maas has been ap-
pointed Endowed Professor of
Management Accounting on
behalf of the EUR Trustfund
Association. His work will in-
clude conducting management
accounting research.
Correction
An erroneous link was made in
the advertisement for the
Erasmus Education Fund in the
previous edition of Erasmus
Alumni Magazine between the
photo of ESE graduates and
the text about talented,
underprivileged students. The
photo and the text are
unrelated.
EFR Alumni Association
EFR Secretary
Alumni Association
2011/2012
Alissa Daurer
Room H16-30
www.efr.nl/alumni
EFR Alumni Dinner
The annual Alumni Dinner of
the EFR (Economics Faculty
Association Rotterdam) was
held in Amsterdam on
Saturday 4 February. Despite
problems due to snow, 110
former board members
attended.
Barbecue and football
EFR Alumni activity for former
board members and former
active members (Erasmus
Recruitment Days and Business
Week Committee). During a
barbecue at the Kralingse Plas
the above are invited to cheer
on the Dutch national team in
their first match in the
European Championships. An
official invitation will follow.
9 June 2012 Café-Restaurant
De Tuin
ESE-Ere AwardThe Erasmus School of Economics has conferred the first ESE-Ere Award to Dean Philip Hans Franses. At the ceremony during which Justus Veenman, director of the Applied Economics capacity group, presented the award, Franses was praised for stimulating high-quality teaching and research in the Faculty and suc-cessfully representing Faculty interests. His media ap-pearances and frequent contributions to the website EconomieOpinie.nl are also valued. Furthermore, his work outside the Faculty, such as his teaching ap-pointment at the University of Paramaribo and his membership of the KNAW, contributes to the Facul-ty’s reputation.
34 erasmusalumni. magazine
Bachelor Honours Class
Alumni Society
Nicky Hoogveld
Postvak H6-26
www.esehonours.nl
FSR Alumni Association
(Financial Study Association
Rotterdam)
Jordy Streng / Joris Kil
Room H14-06
Telephone 010-4081830
www.fsralumni.nl
FSR Alumni Golf
Tournament
Annual golf tournament with
the alumni members of the
FSR at the end of the academic
year. 2 June 2012, 11 a.m.
Delfl and Golf Course
FSR Alumni Yearbook
The FSR Alumni Association
published an annual yearbook
for the fi rst time last year. In
order to make this complete,
FSR Alumni can mail their
personal details, current
employer and position to
[email protected]. The second
edition of the FSR Alumni
Yearbook will appear in June.
Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS)Alumni Affairs
Lalita Rambhadjan
Room M8-22
www.eur.nl/fsw/bsk/abeur
LinkedIn group: Erasmus
University Rotterdam
Alumni ABEUR
Twitter: @ABEUR_alumni,
@EUR_BSK
Psychology
Ilona Boutestijn
Room T13-48
www.psyweb.nl
Sociology
Dr Bram Peper
Room M6-07
www.eur.nl/fsw/soc/alumni/
Linkedin: Alumnivereniging
Sociologie (EUR)
New professors
Prof. Justes Uitermark,
endowed chair of ‘Society
development’ established by
the Dr Gradus Hendriks
Foundation
Prof. E.H.W. Korsten,
Psychology, particularly Clinical
Child and Adolescent
Psychology
Prof. Markus Haverland, Public
Administration, particularly
Political Science.
Inaugural lectures
Prof. Harry Geerlings,
Sustainable mobility
7 June 2012, 4 p.m., Aula
Prof. Steven van de Walle,
Comparative Public
Administration
28 June 2012, 4 p.m., Aula
Big prize for public
management scholar
Prof. Walter Kickert has
received the Routledge Prize
for Outstanding Contribution
to Public Management
Research for his services to
public management studies in
Europe. According to the jury
his services include a leading
role in determining the links
between politics, public
administration and
management. Kickert received
the prize during the annual
conference of the International
Research Society for Public
Management on 13 April in
Rome.
Erasmus School of Law (ESL)Alumni Affairs
Munish Ramlal
Room L5-026
Telephone 010-4082353
e-mail: [email protected]
www.frg.eur.nl/alumni
Anniversary book
The history of the Erasmus
School of Law is being
recorded in an anniversary
book by Prof. L.J.J. Rogier and
Prof. L.C. Winkel. It should be
completed in the ESL
anniversary year 2013.
Dining in the car park
In its anniversary year of 2013
ESL wants to organize an
exclusive dinner for its alumni
and contacts with a lecture by
a renowned speaker. And a
special location: the car park
that is currently being built on
Woudestein campus. The
money raised by the dinner
will go towards the ESL Talent
Fund.
ESLTalentFund
With the establishment of the
ESLTalentFund the Faculty
wants to make it possible for
extra activities and projects for
talented students to continue
to go ahead despite the cuts.
As an alumni you can support
your faculty with an annual or
one-off donation to the
ESLTalentFund.
Erasmus MCErasmus MC Alumni Affairs
Erasmus MC Alumni
Association
Laurence Walhout,
management assistant
Connie Meilof, alumni
offi cer
Communication
Department,
Room Gk-954
PO Box 2040
3000 CA Rotterdam
Telephone 010-7044538
www.erasmusmc.nl/alumni
Alumni Lunch: In Praise of
Medicine
Annual lunch for alumni of
Erasmus MC before the
lecture ‘In Praise of
Medicine’ with the theme:
The biological clock.
5 October 2012, 12.30 p.m.,
Concert and Congress
Sociologist Van Doorn honoured with chairJacques van Doorn was the founder of the Sociology programme at Rotterdam and one of the greatest Dutch sociologists since the Second World War. He died on 14 May 2008.To honour him the FSW has established the Prof. J.A.A. van Doorn Chair. The holder of the chair is appointed at the FSW for 0.2 FTE for a period of six months and receives a ‘Jacques van Doorn Fellow’ ap-pointment at the NIAS.Professor of Public Administration Mark Bovens is the fi rst to be appointed. He will hold this chair from 1 February to 30 June 2012. He will give the Van Doorn Lecture on 21 June 2012. (photo: Levien Willemse)
21 June 2012, 4 p.m., Aula, www.eur.nl/fsw/vandoorn
Alumni affairs
ww
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Korting voor alumniwww.erasmusacademie.nl
Ook al bent u afgestudeerd, uitgeleerd raakt u nooit. Op een groot aantal opleidingen
ontvangen alumni van de EUR daarom 10% korting op onze cursusprijs.
In september starten: • Transitiemanagement• Appreciative Inquiry • Energy Finance• Contractonderhandelingen®
• IDM: Grondslagen, Informatie en Samenleving
Kijk voor ons volledige aanbod op www.erasmusacademie.nl of neem contact op met Miranda Smit, opleidingsadviseur van Erasmus Academie
tel. 010-408 1796 of mail naar [email protected]
Building De Doelen,
Rotterdam www.
lofdergeneeskunst.nl
Faculty of Philosophy (FW)Alumni Affairs
Dr W.M.J. Ophelders
Room H5-33
Telephone 010-4088993
ERA Faculty Association
Room H4-15
Telephone 010-4088985
(Mo-Thu from 11.00 a.m. to
5.00 p.m.)
http://erarotterdam.nl/
Monthly ERA reception
Every third Thursday of the
month, an ERA reception is
held with fun, philosophical
discussions and beer aplenty!
A good opportunity for a
good chat with your
successors.
From 8 p.m. Café Boudewijn,
Nieuwe Binneweg 53 a-b,
Rotterdam,
www.bbcboudewijn.nl
Erasmus School of History, Culture and CommunicationESHCC Alumni Matters
Sabai Doodkorte
Room L3-30
010-4082874
www.eshcc.eur.nl/alumni
Farewell lecture Prof.
Marlite Halbertsma
Her farewell lecture is called
‘Arrogant dogs. On cultural
heritage and other matters.’
8 June 2012, 4 p.m.
Laurenskerk, Grote Kerkplein
27, Rotterdam
www.eshcc.eur.nl/
uitnodigingafscheidsrede
Farewell lecture Prof. Ton
Bevers
On 16 November 2012, Prof.
Ton Bevers will be leaving the
Erasmus School of History,
Culture and Communication.
16 November 2012, 4 p.m.,
Aula, Woudestein Campus
36 erasmusalumni. magazine
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus UniversityAlumni Offi cer
Jennifer Ritfeld
Kamer T6-30
Telefoon 010-4082698
www.rsm.nl/alumni
RSM Alumni Day
Participate in sessions in which
top RSM researchers share
their latest knowledge. The
concluding session is a
discussion between RSM
Distinguished Alumni and
researchers about social
enterprise.
25 May 2012, 9.30 a.m.
– 8 p.m.,
Woudestein Campus
J-Building
http://www.rsm.nl/alumni/
events/alumniday/
Erasmus Energy Forum
Presentations, debates and
discussions by leading
decision-makers at both
academic and commercial
levels – the energy networks
for the future.
15 June 2012, 8.30 a.m.
– 3 p.m., Drijvend Paviljoen
Rotterdam
http://www.erim.eur.nl/ERIM/
Research/Centres/Energy/
Erasmus_Energy_Forum
RSM Leadership Summit
This event provides you with
the opportunity to become
familiar with the experiences
of senior executives of leading
international businesses.
During a celebratory reception
you will be able to have a chat
and network.
5 October 2012, 2–6.30 p.m.
Beurs, World Trade Center,
Rotterdam
http://www.rsm.nl/alumni/
events/leadership-summit/
New BSc/MSc Alumni
Relations Manager
Since 7 February 2012,
Jennifer Ritfeld has held the
post of BSc/MSc Alumni
Relations Manager at
the Corporate and Alumni
Relations Offi ce of the RSM.
Prior to this she worked as
Communications Advisor/
Commercial Specialist at the
American Embassy in The
Hague. Jennifer (1976) is
responsible for policy
development, transforming
this into activities that will tie
BSc/MSc alumni more closely
to the RSM.
International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) ISS Alumni Matters
Sandra Nijhof
Kortenaerkade 12
2518 AX Den Haag
Telephone 070-4260414
E-mail [email protected]
www.iss.nl/alumni
2518 AX Den Haag
Telephone 070-4260414
E-mail [email protected]
www.iss.nl/alumni
2012 Anniversary
Please make a note of 12
October 2012 in your diary. ISS
will celebrate its 60th
anniversary during the period
September 2012–July 2013.
Most anniversary activities are
scheduled in the week of 8–12
October 2012. On Friday 12
October special alumni
activities will take place.
iBMGiBMG Alumni Matters
Ernst Bakker
www.bmg.eur.nl/alumni
CPB Prize
Rudy Douven and Erik Schut
have received the CPB Prize.
This prize from the
Netherlands Bureau for
Economic Policy Analysis (CPB)
is awarded for the best
academic article published in
2011. They received it for the
article Pricing behaviour of
non-profi t insurers in a weakly
competitive social health
insurance market.
Veni Grant
Ellen van de Poel has received
a Veni Grant of € 250,000. This
grant will enable her to start a
line of research in the fi eld of
inequalities in health care in
third-world countries.
Award for Menno Kiel
Menno Kiel received the Best
New Investigator Podium
Presentation Award for his
presentation during the annual
congress of the International
Society for
Pharmacoeconomics and
Outcomes Research (ISPOR).
The title of the presentation
was: assessing the compliance
& persistence of allergen
immunotherapy in allergic
rhinitis using a retrospective
pharmacy database from the
Netherlands.
Erasmus MC Medal
On her departure as director
of operational management of
the iBMG, Marieke Veenstra
was awarded the Erasmus MC
Medal by Huib Pols, Dean and
member of the Erasmus MC
Executive Board. Veenstra
received the medal for her
services to the Erasmus MC
and the iBMG and therefore to
society in a way that conforms
with Desiderius Erasmus: self-
willed and in solidarity with
one’s fellow man.
Alumni affairs
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies IHS Alumni International
Ore Fika, Sarah Steendam
Room: T14-33
Telephone: 010-4089874
www.ihs.nl/alumni
IHS Alumni International
Award
Urban actors at the local level
both professional and non-
professional, are largely
neglected by politicians and the
media. Yet they are the main
catalysts behind the processes
shaping cities as engines of
economic growth and
development. IHS-AI wants to
recognise and honour these key
actors in urban management
and development. The award
will be presented to the winner
at the World Urban Forum,
Naples, September 2012.
Nominate your champions now
through www.ihs.nl/alumni.
IHS Refresher Courses 2012
In 2012 IHS will organize two
refresher courses for IHS NFP
alumni with funding from
Nuffic. In Uganda the course
will focus on Pro-Poor Public
Private Partnerships and in the
Philippines on Affordable
Resilient Housing. IHS Alumni
will receive an invitation to
apply. Also please keep an eye
on our website for updates and
opening of the application
procedure. www.ihs.nl
IHS Alumni International
new board opening
Are you interested in actively
contributing to the creation of a
global network of urban
professionals? Act now. In June
2012 the current board of IHS
Alumni International will make
place for new board members.
IHS Alumni will receive a call for
application around June 2012.
Erasmus Institute for Financial PlanningIFP Alumni Affairs
Theo Hoogwout
Room H 16-07
010-4081491
www.erasmusifp.nl
Column Multiple choice
erasmusalumni. magazine 37
I hesitated. Again. It was my very first multiple-choice exam, for the Microeconomics course unit, and it was much, much more difficult than I had imagined, let alone hoped. I was, so to see, not the only one. We sat there in our hundreds in the Ahoy Hall (it was a propaedeutic course unit for the Econometrics pro-gramme, but a kandidaat course unit for the Business Economics programme) on that cold January day in 1979 and the grimaces on the faces of my fellow students spoke volumes. I hesitated between answer 9A and answer 9C.The exam consisted of 36 questions, and for each question you had a choice of three answers: two rivalling answers, A and B, and the answer C of ‘I do not know’. The right answer got you two points, the wrong answer (obviously) zero, and the too-often honest answer of C, ‘I do not know’, one point.In total you could gain a maximum of 72 points and therefore a mark of 10 for the exam, but 36 points or fewer got you a 1. Too many Cs and you therefore would not make it. It transpired that all multiple-choice exams within the programme used this model.Many years later I myself had to write exams and, believe me, creating a good multiple-choice exam is unbelievably difficult and time-consuming, particularly now that the ingenious model above is no longer in use. Do not ask me why not. I suspect that it was not educationally responsible. Nowadays, for each question you must provide four potential answers, and answers such as ‘none of the above are correct’ and ‘answers A and B are correct’, however attractive they might seem to the exam setter, are strictly forbidden. Anyway, matters such as the feasibility of the curriculum, assurance of learning, and examining are central to the many accreditations that we must undergo. Inconvenient but justified. We also hope to make great advances with the upcoming introduction of theN=N Programme (Nominaal is normaal; Official is Normal) to motivate students more and enable them to study within the official timeframe and thus avoid study delay fines for student and institution.Answer 9A or answer 9C? Of course I no longer know what I answered, but I do know that I did not pass the Microeconomics course unit in that January round. Maybe I opted for C just a bit too often.
Steef van de Velde (1960) studied Econometrics from ’78 to ’85 at the EUR. He returned in 1997 and is now Dean of the Rotterdam School of Management and Professor of Operati-ons Management & Technology.
erasmusalumni. magazine 39
Family portrait
Donne was born and bred in Singapore. She was
put in a boarding school by her father, who wor-
ked for a Dutch company. She has lived in the Ne-
therlands ever since. Donne: ‘Singapore is still ex-
tremely important to me. My family lives there,
but I also derive my sense of identity from it. It is
home. A country that is ruled authoritatively but
fairly.’
Ernst: ‘What is also remarkable is that it is more or
less free of corruption.’
Ernst: ‘RSC was holding an anniversary party and I
did not yet have a lady, as we called them at the
time. Donne accepted my invitation and we had a
fantastic evening. We carried on dating but up to
our wedding in 1980 we lived apart, which was
the norm at that time.’
Donne: ‘We carried on with our student life as
much as possible. We both did a lot of sport. I
was also on the University Board for three years.
We saw each other during what were known as
the integration evenings at RVSV, where boys and
girls got together. We made joint use of study
rooms at the Medical Faculty and I was more than
welcome at Ernst’s student house due to my coo-
king skills.’
Ernst: ‘We have a special bond with Rotterdam,
and can still be found regularly at alumni activi-
ties. “That is only possible in Rotterdam, the birth-
place of economists, and they continue to build
forth, Botlekplan and Europoort.” That is a frag-
ment of a student song I can still hear myself sin-
ging. We have tried many a time to get our en-
thusiasm for Rotterdam and the EUR across to our
children. They study and live all over the country
but not in Rotterdam. That’s the way things go.’
She came and cooked at his student house
Ernst Kaars Sijpesteijn,
61, businessman
Degree: Economics 1971-
1979
Donne Kaars Sijpesteijn-
Gan, 57, lawyer
Degree: Law 1973-1980
Their first date was at the
anniversary party of a student
association. After they graduated
they got married. None of their
four children chose the EUR
text and photo Ronald van den Heerik
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