This is how Jan Ehlers, Vice President for Teaching and Learning, responded to being honored for 10 years of service to UW/H at the annual ceremony for long-serving employees. UW/H honored a total of 26 jubilarians on December 12. President Martin Butzlaff opened the event and was looking forward to the "precious look through the keyhole into the engine room of the university" and the review of a total of 530 exciting years of service.

For almost three hours, the supervisors paid tribute to the work and human qualities of their employees, as well as their long-standing affiliations, which are no longer the norm in working life. The impressive variety of jobs between the dental clinic, laboratories, teaching and administration became clear. The jubilarians were described as a gift to the UW/H, a figurehead of the department, the face of the department, an asset to the team, the soul of research or the heart of didactics. Many careers were presented, e.g. an impressive UW/H career - from trainee to senior employee - and that of an employee who gave up a civil servant position for the UW/H, as well as that of Martina Knop, an employee who has proudly supported the university for 40 years. Bernd Rosslenbroich has been loyal to the UW/H for 35 years and Stefanie Balke, Eckhard Busche, Regina Jabs and Siegrun Pardon have completed 30 years. Six people were honored for 25 years, two for 20 years, five for 15 years and seven for 10 years.

At the end of the celebrations, the managers presented the jubilarians with bouquets of flowers and there was a big thank you to the organizing team from the HR department, who host this event every year.

A very personal look back at 40 years at UW/H

Martina Knop has experienced a lot in her four decades at the university, and even her first day at UW/H was a strange one: "I was supposed to arrive at Villa Ruhrstraße 70 at 8 a.m. on August 1, 1984 for my first day at work. Excitedly, I was already at the door at ten to eight, it was pouring with rain. But it was quiet in the villa. Okay, it wasn't 8 o'clock yet. When nobody answered my doorbell at a quarter past eight, I crept around the house. Maybe there was a back entrance especially for employees? At half past eight I was desperately worried (it was still raining): Are they on a company outing and forgot me??? It wasn't until twenty to nine that my trainer finally came and called me in." You can read about the other remarkable, exciting and wonderful things she experienced at UW/H in the January newsletter in the "People at UW/H" section.