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On Friday evening 25^th of March Rector Magnificus Henk Kummeling will award Paulien van der Veer the Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ silver medal. Van der Veer, who will be leaving the university in June, receives the medal of honour because of the extraordinary way she has committed herself to the university for forty years. For the past seventeen years as beadle she was the figurehead of Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ Hall and a guardian of the academic traditions.

In total, Paulien conducted no less than 10.000 academic and ritual ceremonies, both publicly visible and behind the scenes. During this she always saw to it that everyone adhered to Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ’s traditional guidelines and regulations. Under her inspirational leadership thousands of PhD’s and starting and departing professors have found their way to the Senate Hall or Chapter Hall, said President of the Executive Board, Anton Pijpers during the 386^th Dies Natalis in the Dom church.

Pijpers: Throughout the covid pandemic Paulien, together with fellow beadle and Audio-visual & Media specialists from the Facilities Service Centre, made it possible for PhD ceremonies to continue, either online or in hybrid form (soon the thousandths online promotion will take place). In all her years as beadle, Paulien has been a guardian of the academic traditions, a wonderful source of information and a great support and anchor to many. This is why we have decided to give her the silver medal of our university, which we will officially award her this evening. But not after she has lead us in the procession one final time.

Calmness and dedication

Apart from beadle, among other things, Van der Veer was secretary to the Rector Magnificus and  worked at the department of Cabinet Affairs. Colleagues mostly praise her calmness, confidentiality and dedication. 

Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ awards a silver medal ("zilveren penning") to people who have dedicated themselves to the university in an extraordinary way.