Wageningen University honours outstanding alumni
Three remarkable Wageningen alumni will be given awards during the 87st Dies Natalis (Foundation Day) of Wageningen University on 9 March. The award winners are Azene Bekele-Tesemma from Ethiopia, Prof. Floor van Leeuwen from the Netherlands Cancer Institute and journalist and writer Frank Westerman. The Alumnus Awards honour alumni who have had remarkable careers and of whom the University can be especially proud. These awards have been established as part of the recent creation of the Wageningen Alumni Centre and are being presented for the first time this year.
The Outstanding Alumnus Awards and the Alumnus Award for Innovative Development will be presented to the winners by ir. Rob Tazelaar, Chair of the Wageningen University Foundation.
Alumnus Award for Innovative Development
The Alumnus Award for Innovative Development is being presented to Dr Azene Bekele-Tesemma (1958). He earned his PhD at Wageningen University in 1997. He is currently employed by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi as Capacity Building Advisor in the Farmers’ Competence Initiative. He is involved in various activities and projects that concern agricultural development and improving the position of African farmers. Bekele-Tesemma has devoted himself especially to the quality of life of African farmers in his own country, Ethiopia, as well as those in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Outstanding Alumnus Awards
The 2005 Outstanding Alumnus Awards are being presented to Prof. F.E. (Floor) van Leeuwen (1956), Professor of the Epidemiology of Cancer at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, and to ir. Frank Westerman (1964), journalist and writer.
Floor van Leeuwen graduated with distinction from Wageningen University in 1981 with a degree in Human Nutrition; her thesis involved a study of the relationship between nutrition and cancer. She earned her PhD in 1994 at the Vrije Universiteit (VU), and, in addition to her work at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, she became a professor at the VU in 1998. A few of her research themes are: the birth control pill and breast cancer, passive smoking and lung cancer, the occurrence of secondary tumours after cancer treatment, the effects of DES (diethylstilbesterol) on daughters during and after menopause and the effects of IVF treatment on women who have undergone this treatment.
Frank Westerman graduated with distinction from Wageningen University in 1989 with a degree in Tropical Land Development. He began writing journalistic reports during his university study. Westerman continued as a freelance journalist after his graduation, and worked as correspondent for the Volkskrant newspaper, and other periodicals, in locations such as Belgrade. In 1997, he co-wrote ( with Bart Rijsa) a revealing book about Srebrenica. In addition, he wrote several widely-praised and award-winning books such as The Bridge over the Tara, De Graanrepubliek, Engineers of the Soul and El Negro and Me. In his books, Westerman refers frequently to his study in Wageningen.
Wageningen Alumni Centre
The alumni awards are a joint initiative of the Wageningen Alumni Centre and the International Agricultural Centre (IAC). The Wageningen Alumni Centre is a framework of cooperation comprising the Wageningen University Foundation, the Alumni Bureau of Wageningen UR and the KLV alumni association.
The members of the Alumni Awards jury were ir. R.J. Tazelaar (Chair of the Wageningen University Foundation), Prof. W.M.F. Jongen (Chair of the KLV), Dr. A. Huijsman (Director of the IAC) and Prof. L. Speelman, the Rector Magnificus of the University.
The awards will be presented once every four years during the Dies Natalis (Foundation Day) of Wageningen University.
NOTE TO THE EDITOR
For more information about the Wageningen Alumni Centre, contact Monique Montenarie, Alumni Officer, tel. 0317 483490 or 484054, e-mail monique.montenarie@wur.nl, internet: www.wau.nl/nl/alumni.Or contact Bouke de Vos, Press Information Officer, Wageningen University and Research Centre, tel. 0317 480 180, e-mail bouke.devos@wur.nl.