Role model for Alumni work: Silver diplomas awarded for the first time at TUD

Alumni work is close to our hearts at the Research Training Group, and we seek to build a long-term network with our researchers. Why? It has something to do with communicating values and passing them on - but also with role models who exemplify exactly that.

The “JG92”, as the graduating class of 1997/1998 of civil engineers likes to call themselves, were reunited again in their alma mater on March 18, 2023. The former fellow students received a special honor: 25 years after graduating as “Dipl.-Ing.” they were awarded the silver diploma of TU Dresden. While the golden jubilee certificates (50 years) have been established for some years, this is the first class ever at TU Dresden to be awarded the silver diploma.

The lecture hall in TUD's Barkhausen Building was filled with more people than most lectures in technical mechanics. At the celebration with more than 80 alumni, the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Prof. Richard Stroetmann, gave an interesting overview of TU Dresden's development and that of the faculty. He described the formation of schools, research priorities, campus development, student numbers and the appointment of Chairs.

Matthias Tanneberger, himself a graduate of the class and involved as a structural engineer in the planning of the Beyer Building, which is currently being renovated, showed the challenges of this construction site. He illustrated his lecture with interesting pictures from today as well as historical construction drawings and handwritten structural analysis from 1912. The Beyer Building traditionally housed, and will again house, the Faculty of Civil Engineering. The highlight was the presentation of the silver diplomas, and at the same time – jokingly meant as an entrance ticket to the student pub in the evening – the handout of the original partial examination TM I – JG 92 (Technical Mechanics 1, class of 92). The saxophonist Georg Wiede provided the right atmosphere in the lecture hall, while photographer Sven Geise documented the event.

After a group picture behind the Fritz Förster Building, the next highlight followed: A guided tour of the Beyer Building construction site. The alumni were interested, moved, memories were awakened – before everyone moved on, even without having solved the TM I exam, to Müller's restaurant, where there was no room for any other guests that evening.

The alumni would also like to give something back: They want to collect funds for at least one Deutschlandstipendium to support a student of civil engineering. “Maybe we'll even manage two” hopes Dr. Volkhard Gürtler.

The organizers of the event, Dr. Anna Martius and Dr. Volkhard Gürtler, both graduates of the “JG92” and employed at TU Dresden, on behalf of their former fellow students, would like to thank the Alumni Office of TU Dresden for its support in the preparation, the Association of Friends and Sponsors of TU Dresden for its financial support, Prof. Stroetmann for the lecture, and Ms. Dietzsch from the SIB for her support in the guided tour.

“... our meeting yesterday was just great and therefore my heartfelt thanks to you organizers. You have spent so much time, commitment and certainly also nerves for us, this is just great and also something very special... ...For me it was so exciting to hear which life paths people took, what worked out and where they failed - I am still thinking about some of the conversations,” is how Stephan Mrosek, among others, expressed his thanks in an email afterwards.

“The high level of participation and the many positive feedbacks during and after the event showed us how much our effort was worth it. We were especially happy to do it for that reason,” Dr. Anna Martius concludes.

Contact:
Dr. Anna Martius
Managing Director of the Boysen-TU Dresden-Research Training Group
Tel.: +49 351 463-43133

Alumni Relations Office TU Dresden
+49 351 463-36278

https://tu-dresden.de/alumni
Alumni Network of TU Dresden: https://tu-dresden.de/alumninetzwerk