“It could be nice to finish up at the place in the park where it all started”
Same procedure as last year...? No, because unlike Miss Sophie in Dinner for One, AU doesn’t turn 90 every year. Omnibus is celebrating the university’s 90th with a series of short interviews with employees about their relationship to the university.
AU’s 90th
- “In the hope that that the scientific and scholarly research which shall take place here may take place in spirit and truth, I hereby inaugurate Aarhus University.”
- King Christian X inaugurated the first university in Jutland with these words, on 11 September 1933. The very university where you work – or study: Aarhus University.
- Omnibus is celebrating AU’s 90th birthday with a series of short interviews: we asked AU employees to answer three questions about their relationship to the university. And about their birthday wishes for the guest of honor.
- Together with university historian Palle Lykke, we’ve also delved into the archives to find photos from the first nine decades at AU. They’re accompanied by a short text by Palle that illuminates the high points (and low points) documented by the photographer’s lens over the years.
- And we’ve asked the photographers from AU Photo to revisit the same spots to show you what they look like today. The anniversary series ‘AU’s 90th’ will run throughout the autumn.
Søren Staunsager, systems administrator, National Centre for Register-based Research and Department of Economics and Business Economics. AU employee since 1984.
Why are you still here?
“I like being here. I wouldn’t call IT my hobby, but it’s my main interest, and that’s what I get to work with. I like my work at the National Centre for Register-based Research. I get to decide how to configure and install new servers myself. I really value that freedom. And then I’ve also had the luck of having good co-workers, not least. That means a lot.”
What’s your favorite spot at AU?
“It’s not here at Fuglesangs Allé. I started out up in the park, on Ny Munkegade at first, and later I moved over to Economics and Management when it was still in the ‘Juragården’ (northwest corner of the University Park facing Bartholins Allé, ed.) After that, we moved over to the northeast corner. I miss the park and the lakes down here. The park is calming, and I often went for a walk through it when I had a meeting to go to. Now I regret that I maybe should have used it more when I had the chance. If you have a problem you need to solve, it’s no good sitting at your desk all the time – it’s better to go outside and sit on a bench. I didn’t do that very much back then, and I miss that option now.”
What is your birthday wish for AU?
“I think the new campus area is an exciting project, and I hope it goes well, and that AU has the finances to make the dreams for the ‘university city’ come true. Then the whole campus will hang together, and we can have everything within walking distance. Someone asked me if I think I’ll still be around for the move up to the new area when we’re scheduled to move out of Fuglesangs Allé to the university city in 2022. Well, everything has an expiration date, unfortunately, and some of the co-workers I started with at AU are stopping now. But I hope I can manage it. It could be nice to finish up at the place in the park where it all started.”
AU’s 90th
- “In the hope that that the scientific and scholarly research which shall take place here may take place in spirit and truth, I hereby inaugurate Aarhus University.”
- King Christian X inaugurated the first university in Jutland with these words, on 11 September 1933. The very university where you work – or study: Aarhus University.
- Omnibus is celebrating AU’s 90th birthday with a series of short interviews: we asked AU employees to answer three questions about their relationship to the university. And about their birthday wishes for the guest of honor.
- Together with university historian Palle Lykke, we’ve also delved into the archives to find photos from the first nine decades at AU. They’re accompanied by a short text by Palle that illuminates the high points (and low points) documented by the photographer’s lens over the years.
- And we’ve asked the photographers from AU Photo to revisit the same spots to show you what they look like today. The anniversary series ‘AU’s 90th’ will run throughout the autumn.