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The University of Utah’s 15th European Alumni Reunion, organized by former U exchange students Muriel van Alsté and Esther Gloudemans, was held May 17 to 19 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, a city known for its high-tech industry.
Eindhoven, located in the province of North Brabant, in the south of the Netherlands, is the fifth-largest city in the Netherlands and the largest of North Brabant. In 2011, it was named the world's most intelligent community by the Intelligent Community Forum, a nonprofit think-tank that studies the economic and social effects of broadband technology.
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| Eindoven, where the Philips electronics company was founded in 1891, is a mix of modern design and old industries. |
A “Welcome, Utes” get-together dinner at Bar De Gaper in Eindhoven City Center kicked off the reunion for early arrivers, including alumni from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
On Saturday, May 18, more than 30 alumni from eight countries gathered for a city tour featuring the rich history of Eindhoven. The city was heavily bombed during World War II, and many of city’s old buildings were destroyed, but from that destruction rose one of the most modern cities of the Netherlands. Reflecting that the global electronics company Philips was founded in Eindhoven, the city is nicknamed the “City of Lights,” and it has become a center for industrial design in the Netherlands.
Alumni delighted to see the city’s mix of modern design and old industries, as well as city-center celebrations held at the time for Pentecost weekend. They also toured the Philips Museum, which showcases the way Philips evolved from a small lamp manufacturer into a large international company. The museum is housed in the small factory on the Emmasingel in Eindhoven where Gerard Philips started making light bulbs in 1891.
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| The University of Utah's 15th European Alumni Reunion included a visit to the beautiful Windmill De Roosdonck. |
The reunion’s official dinner was held at Usine, the former main office of Philips, which is now an elegant Dutch restaurant. President of the European Alumni Association J
örg Ehehalt welcomed those attending, and Michael Hardman, interim senior vice president for Academic Affairs and the U’s chief global officer, and Sabine C. Klahr, deputy chief global officer, provided an update about the University and its new Global Office of Engagement. Monica Ferguson, director of the U’s Global Leadership and Engagement Institute, presented an Alumni Award to Ehehalt, an exchange student at the U in 1996-97, for his contributions to the European Alumni Association.
On Sunday, May 19, reuniongoers visited Nuenen, "the Vincent van Gogh Village." Although he lived in Nuenen only from 1883 to 1885, van Gogh completed many paintings there, including the famous Potato Eaters. Alumni enjoyed seeing the Weaver House, Dutch Reformed Church, the beautiful Windmill De Roosdonck, the van Gogh house and statue, and Saint Clemens Church. At lunch, alum Ronald Pedersen BS’49 was recognized for traveling the farthest to the reunion, from his home in Idaho. It was the second European alumni reunion he has attended. That afternoon, alumni visited the restaurant/shop/atelier of Piet Hein Eek, one of Holland’s best-known designers of furniture. The event concluded with a dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant and drinks at an Irish Pub.
European alumni have held a reunion to celebrate their University of Utah roots every year since 1998, when their first gathering was in Heidelberg, Germany.