Alanus University anniversary ceremony with State Secretary Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert
07.10.2023 - Under the motto ‘Shaping society for the future’, Alanus University celebrated its 50th anniversary on 29 September 2023 with numerous guests.
Under the motto ‘Shaping society for the future’, Alanus University celebrated its 50th anniversary on 29 September 2023 with numerous guests.
Guests from politics, society, and business were invited, along with companions of the university, which was founded in 1973 as an independent art study institution and received state recognition in 2002. Among those offering congratulations were Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert, State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, Sebastian Schuster, District Administrator of the Rhein-Sieg district, Alfter’s mayor Dr. Rolf Schumacher, and Prof. Dr. Hartmut Ihne, President of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. The program was hosted by Sylvia Binner, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the General-Anzeiger Bonn.
“Today we are celebrating 50 years of Alanus. The namesake of our university, Alanus ab Insulis, would be proud,” said University Rector Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Pieper in welcoming the guests. The seven liberal arts in which Alanus, as a universal scholar, had been at home were different from those that can be studied at the university today. But the spirit of togetherness between the arts and sciences continues to shape Alanus University to this day, Pieper said. Currently, around 2,000 students study at two locations in Alfter and at the study center in Mannheim in more than 20 degree programs in fine and performing arts, architecture, art therapy, childhood education and Waldorf education, as well as business with a focus on sustainability and an interdisciplinary Studium Generale for all students. State Secretary Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert also praised the university’s interdisciplinary approach: “You enable students to look beyond the boundaries of their own degree program and provide an important impetus for greater openness and collaboration. Something our society could truly make very good use of.” Alanus is the only art university in the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg region and enriches the higher education landscape of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Highlights of the ceremonial program
Guests were surprised by an artistic intervention right at the entrance: architecture students, under the direction of Prof. Willem-Jan Beeren, had built a large “funnel” out of roof battens, supported by the Faßbender Foundation. Afterwards, the battens were sawed into manageable pieces, spray-painted in the colors of the anniversary logo, and given to the guests. Singer and Alanus student Coco Hou and guitarist Airton Carvalho enchanted the audience with interpretations of the classics “La vie en rose” by Edith Piaf and “Where Is The Love” by the Black Eyed Peas. Moving in the truest sense of the word was the open-air performance “forget about movement” by students from the “Business & Acting” degree program under the direction of lecturer Ilona Pászthy, which took place in a sudden downpour of heavy rain. An extraordinary experience was the eurythmy movement art performed by students Youyoung Hwang, Irena Vogel-Mink, and Jorina Galle accompanied by musician Michael Denhoff in his composition Inner minds op. 117. Eurythmy professor Bart Kool had developed the choreography especially for the ceremony together with Denhoff. Spiegel bestselling author Prof. Dr. Roland Kaehlbrandt provided excellent entertainment with his ceremonial speech “What language gives us” on the intricate relationship between language and thought.
More about the 50th anniversary of Alanus University:
