Peter Wieringa bids farewell

Peter Wieringa bids farewell

Former pro vice rector of doctoral affairs Peter Wieringa retired from TU Delft last Friday. It will take a small army to replace him if you listen to Rector Tim van der Hagen’s speech. Van der Hagen cited from Wieringa’s nine-page CV a long list of chairmanships, presidential and ambassadorial positions. The best known of these are vice-rector of promotion affairs and director of Graduate School. Wieringa is into connecting and building bridges. Most chairmanships came from that. He took them on, assuming that a better candidate would soon come forward. That usually didn’t happen.

Now it will have to, because Wieringa has stepped down. In retrospect, it is surprising that Wieringa always exuded imperturbable composure while his schedule must have been packed.

The Graduate School, which offers PhD students structured guidance, is his spiritual legacy. On Friday, Wieringa shared his guidelines with the audience in the auditorium: provide a good breeding ground by removing obstacles, dare to let go, and let candidates grow through proper guidance.

^{Delta editor Jos Wassink (left) tries to keep outgoing emeritus Peter Wieringa involved after all. (Photo: Roy Borghouts)}