LUC celebrates 6th Dies Natalis
On September 29th LUC celebrated its 6th birthday. Lieke Schreel, the Educational Director of LUC has been involved with the programme from the start. She reflects on the growth and the development of LUC in those six years.
A year ago on this date, we were celebrating the fifth birthday of LUC. For me, the first employee for LUC, that was a moment to look back on what has been achieved. In the past year we have celebrated the first lustrum: there was a festive celebration with our friends, supporters, staff, students and alumni in Theater Diligentia, there was a special lecture series, we had a Lustrum Christmas Gala and the students created a Lustrum Book in which many of those involved in the first steps of LUC looked back on their experiences and the milestones we have passed.
Today LUC celebrates is sixth birthday, and again I cannot but reflect on how LUC is developing, on how quickly time is passing. I know, I probably sound like that aunt (I won’t call myself a grandmother yet) who keeps saying at each birthday that she can’t believe how much you have grown! Although we will celebrate with our students of course, we will not have the big ceremonies this year.
Does that mean that six years is not a reason to celebrate or look back on what has been achieved? Is six less important than five? I do not think so, but it does seem that we are now closing the pioneering and building phases of LUC. In the past years we have had so many firsts: the first open days, the first staff, the first students, the first building, the first student housing, the move to our own building where both are combined, the first graduation, the first Dies Fatalis, the first accreditation, the first Pantomime, the first lustrum, the first Lustrum Book to name a few, and all the excitement that comes with them. That did continue this past year: the first time that LUC took first place in the National Student Survey was a reason for joy. We went (well) over 600 applications for the first time and it was also the first time more than 200 students started their studies at LUC in September.
Yet, most of what we do at LUC was not new anymore: courses have been developed, taught and adjusted. The Pantomime and Dies Fatalis have become traditions that we all look forward to. Graduation Day continues to be the huge celebration it deserves to be. We have said goodbye to our second Dean, prof. dr. Jos Schaeken, with many thanks for all he has done for LUC, and welcomed our new Dean, prof. dr. Judi Mesman, looking forward to where she will bring our college in the next years.
Does that mean we have become stale? No, definitely not! After the tentative first steps of the first years, LUC is now ready to walk on, firmly standing on its own two feet. All energy and time that has gone into building LUC is now used to further develop our ideas and curriculum. Academic staff are working on interdisciplinary research papers together, a new coursebook for one of our interdisciplinary Global Challenges courses is under development, we continue to evaluate and fine-tune the curriculum, we are setting up career workshops. Alumni are finding their place in the labour market, and we are so curious to see what they will do, how they will shape their careers, how they will contribute to a better world. New students bring new ideas and new dynamics to the LUC community and the city of The Hague and the Faculty of Goverance and Global Affairs offer so many opportunities to continue developing that LUC cannot but further flourish. So perhaps the first chapters have been written, the first book on building LUC is done. But I cannot wait to see what will be achieved and written in the next chapters of the history of LUC.
Happy birthday LUC, and many, many happy returns!
Lieke Schreel, September 29th 2016.