As the new school year kicked off for pupils on 1 September, a new chapter was starting for Elisabeth Vanhoutte at the University of Antwerp too. That was the day Elisabeth officially took over from Jan Dries as head of the Communications Department. We look back on her first month at UAntwerp.
“How do I look back on my first few weeks? With a very good feeling. Both the run-up to the start, and the actual first day with my team. I’d already done an under-the-radar induction with my predecessor Jan Dries during the summer. I really appreciate the fact that Jan took the time to introduce me on top of all his other work. It meant I had the ideal background knowledge to be able to get started.”
Mutual curiosity
“My actual first day on 31 August was pretty exciting. The whole team had agreed to meet at the university, in a coronaproof way of course. You know that everyone’s looking at you and wondering about you. I was curious about them too. It was great that we were able to take that moment and really get started together.”
“Since then, I’ve met with everyone on my team individually. I think that’s really important. That way, you get to know everyone as people, not just job titles. We don’t see each other so much in the office these days, so I actually booked appointments with everyone. That sounds a bit formal for getting to know each other, but things soon loosened up. There are lots of people on the team with a good sense of humour, so that probably helped.”
Ambition and talents
“Those conversations were enormously enriching. They really helped me see what everyone’s working on, and what ideas are circulating. It was also nice to feel that those ideas match my own vision and ambition. We want to streamline communication within the university to let UAntwerp’s identity shine through more brightly. It seems to me that the University of Antwerp is sometimes a bit too modest in how it presents itself.”
“I’m gradually getting to know my way around the campuses, though I still have to get better at estimating the travel time between campuses. I’ve been late to meetings a couple of times because of that. The campus maps on the website are my best friend at the moment. And also important: I already know where to find the best coffee.”