Graduation Ceremony 2024
On 26 October 2024, the graduates of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering will be bid farewell with a traditional ceremony in the Audimax of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Dean Prof Tom Lahmer will lead the event and encourage the young engineers to break new ground and always trust in their own abilities. The ceremony will be rounded off with speeches from alumni, live music and a get-together afterwards.
PROGRAMME
26 October, 10 a.m. to approx. 12.30 p.m.
Audimax, Steubenstr. 6
Greeting from the Dean Prof. Dr. Tom Lahmer, Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Ceremonial Speech Presentation of the Certificates Greeting from the Graduate |
followed by group photo and champagne reception
musical accompaniment by Annika and Martin Bosch
SPEECHES
english reading version
Greeting from the Dean to all Graduates of 2023/24
Dear graduates,
Dear parents, friends, guests ...
Dear colleagues,
Dear President, Peter Benz, and to use your words, dear Peter,
dear festival community ????
I would like to welcome you to the graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Sciences 2024.
I would also like to welcome Ms. Janine Schlür, who will be giving the keynote speech today as an alumna. Ms. Schlür studied Master Management with us from 2016 - 2018 and is currently working as Sustainability Manager at Bayerische Hausbau RE, we are excited.
On behalf of the graduates, Mr. Lukas Lindemann-Bülow, who studied environmental sciences in the Master's program with us, will give the speech, thank you very much for that.
We will be accompanied musically by Annika and Martin Bosch. A round of applause here, too.
My name is Tom Lahmer and today, in my role as Dean of the Faculty, I will be guiding you through the program of the graduation ceremony.
I have been Dean of our Faculty for two years now and there is no academic day, no academic occasion that I look forward to repeating as much as the graduation ceremony. Because it really is a great day. We celebrate what you have achieved and what you have accomplished. We celebrate great degrees of all kinds: from Bachelor's and Master's degrees to doctorates and habilitations. 195 in total!
A large number of former or no longer studying students are even here today to celebrate their own personal success once again and to be rightly congratulated and receive their degree certificate!
And there is a novelty: we have the first graduates whose degree certificate says Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and no longer just Civil Engineering. I'll come back to the renaming and the motto Plan B, which was used intensively this year, later.
Now let's take a look back:
Depending on whether you have obtained a Bachelor's, Master's or PhD ... individually or consecutively, you should have started here with us approximately in the last 2-3 or 5-6 years. The beginning, especially if you hadn't lived in Weimar before, was probably characterized by arriving while the city was in the exceptional state of an onion market, as this usually overflows the city just before the winter semester.
You were looking for your dorm room and thought to yourself, wow... I've never lived so individually before ... maybe it was a shared flat ... others commuted from home and enjoyed thoska-based applied probability calculation when using the train or conducted personal risk analyses when using carpooling.
Some of you were welcomed by older fellow students during Freshers' Week and motivated to take part in one or two beer-fueled activities. You will still have the photos. No matter how you feel about it now, it should have been fun ????
Afterwards, you may have looked for the rooms of your first lectures ... where should they be? Marienstr., Coudray Str ... some of it looked very inviting, but why is there actually an egg in the courtyard?
Anyway ... library, computer center, ... were quickly found ...
well ... and other things looked, well, how can I put it, a bit used ... but fortunately you didn't let that put you off
We welcomed you, as we did last week, as newly matriculated students during the matriculation ceremony, probably by the predecessors of Peter Benz, Prof. Speitkamp, and Prof. Jutta Emes, our interim president. The mayor was also happy to attend. Perhaps you will recognize yourselves. Unfortunately, there were interruptions here during the pandemic, which has kept you and, of course, us at least partially busy in recent years. Fortunately, these times are mostly forgotten.
Most of the interior was fine and it became more beautiful and elegant year after year, as some things were renovated and are still being renovated. The effects of a new electrical installation in the lecture hall building may have had a slightly negative correlation to your performance in mnechanics... or not ... the proof will be hard to come by. But all's well that ends well.
After a while, you might also pass through the main university building, where the Bauhaus celebrated its finest hours, take in the spirit of the place and realize what a special place the Bauhaus University, the place where the Bauhaus was established at the time, is. You studied where many other people come as tourists.
You were part of the student's council, working and discussing in the M18 or in front of it . Friedrich Liszt would have given a lot to have more life around his house and garden.
Yes, we hope that the majority of you had a good time. (Of course, not all formulas, derivations and algorithms of mathematics, mechanics, statics, introduction to business administration and law, thermodynamics ... and so on offered the greatest mental feel-good environment ... but you have faced all these topics, dug in, gained understanding and obviously also successfully passed a large number of exams.
We would like to congratulate you on this.
After the exams came the challenges of writing and formulating final theses, Bachelor's, Master's or PhD theses. Always against the clock and always with technical hurdles. A few night shifts, formatting chaos in Word or a non-compiling Latex will have driven you to small panic... no matter, you overcame everything and in the end it always resulted in a beautifully bound work.
With regard to the topics for final theses, some had clear ideas, brought a topic from practice ... others were rather undecided and hoped for ready-made topics from the teachers' drawers ... many topics are and were developed, offered and supervised by our research assistants and thus became part of active research and contributed valuable information to one or the other research project. With a bit of luck and commitment, your name may even appear on a scientific publication. That is quite remarkable!
Well, and then this faculty changed its name. Why, actually? Because building, housing, living and dealing with resources can no longer be practiced without a dedicated focus on achieving sustainability goals. The tasks and challenges are becoming more multifaceted.
Instead of
does it just last?
is it cheap enough? or
feasible in the given time?
we answer questions such as, is it sustainable enough or at least could it be a little more sustainable? Therefore, in addition to the purely relevant topics of civil engineering, the deliberate expansion to include environmental engineering and the focus on the environment in the context of construction. This is where we come in and it is a dedicated goal of our faculty to reduce the ecological footprint of mankind in general and the construction industry in particular. The use of environmentally friendly energies and energy-efficient (C02 neutral or even binding) or renewable materials, the reduction of transportation routes, the circular economy and the consideration of the entire life cycle of buildings must be promoted; every building must actually become a CO2 sink in the future, but the safety, reliability and durability of the engineer-designed structures must continue to be guaranteed. The use of renewable energies and the treatment of waste water and other materials, as well as the focus on refurbishment, the conversion of existing buildings and generally extending the service life through smart, digital monitoring are further topics that have occupied us = you and continue to do so.
You have learned techniques and ways of thinking in order to continue to answer all these major and non-trivial questions and to make a contribution to our industry.
The holistic view of the interaction of building with the environment, including in the context of natural hazards, therefore requires ever greater professional training and flexibility from those involved in building and construction processes. Answers must be found to questions about how alternative building variants can be evaluated technically, ecologically, economically and, if necessary, socially, which also stand up to broad public discourse.
To this end, we have promoted the Plan B as a particularly visible motto this year, for thinking about alternatives. It is therefore up to us to generate one or two Plan Bs, formulate them as ideas and test and implement them with fellow students and colleagues.
For us, Plan B stands for creative thinking, out of the box... doing things differently than before.
For you personally, a plan B is good, but first please pursue your plan A.
Where do you want to go? What is your desired location? Do you want to stay in Weimar or move on? What would you like your future employer to be like?
- Large corporation
- Small engineering office
- Public authority / public service
- Academies or universities
- Self-employment?
Many, many options and certainly all attractive in their own way.
Try to achieve what you have trained for with us. Pursue your plan A!
If it works, wonderful. It may take one more application ... but you will find a job.
Of course, when searching for vacancies, something may come into view that you hadn't even thought of ... something unexpected, something different ... perhaps a charming little Plan B that tries to slip into your life path. Then be open to it and have faith in it.
Don't be too strict and judgmental with it. Maybe something wonderful will come of it?
My personal plan A was to go into industry after my diploma and doctorate. Now I'm a professor at a university, even a dean, without ever having seen the inside of a company. It wasn't that bad with the B plans.
Just one please, the plan B can also have a claim and should not just be the dinghy of your actual plan A.
So, enough with the plans.
Let's slowly come to an end:
We all wish you all the best for your future life. We are the lecturers in our faculty, but also the university management, colleagues in administration and technology. Everyone you once had contact with here.
We are also the friends and former fellow students who are staying in Weimar a little longer.
Stay connected with each other and with us. Social media makes it easier than ever before.
Our Alumni Office also does an amazing job. Leave your details here too. Just two weeks ago some golden diplomas were celebrated here, what an occasion! 50 years of graduation.
I would now like to close with a few pictures of those whose ways of thinking and scientific findings you have been able to follow with us over the past few years. Experience all your lecturers once again from a perhaps not yet so familiar perspective. They have all supported you and wish you all the best!
A particularly big thank you goes to our Dean's Office and the Examinations Office, without the diligence, commitment and conscientiousness and warmth of the colleagues there, today's celebration would simply not be conceivable ...
Thank you very much!
Ceremonial speech by Janine Schluer. Designing instead of managing: With vision, flexibility and network into a sustainable future of the property world
Dear graduates,
esteemed professors,
dear relatives and friends,
It is a great honor for me to be here with you today to celebrate this special day. A day that marks the conclusion of an intense and educational time – and the beginning of a new, exciting chapter.
First of all: Congratulations! You’ve made it!
And I believe that deserves a roaring round of applause!
You’ve done it! And not only have you done it, but you have done it at the Bauhaus University Weimar, an institution with a legacy that stands for innovation, progress, and sustainability.
Admittedly, on the occasion of this year’s 70th anniversary of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environment, one might critically ask what this has to do with innovation. However, here too, the Bauhaus University shows its strength. Under the motto “Plan B,” it demonstrates its innovative spirit and its commitment to a sustainable future.
When people mention the Bauhaus, many think of architecture and design, but you – dear graduates – can show that you can do so much more. You can calculate, simulate, and shape the future.
I still remember my own graduation here in Weimar. It wasn’t that long ago.
With the title Master in “Management [Construction, Real Estate, Infrastructure],” I felt invincible in my Weimar student bubble.
And then came the sobering realization: Somehow, the first questions in job interviews were about what exactly I had studied. My father always said that his daughter studied architecture, and eventually, I got tired of explaining that I wasn’t studying architecture, but management. At the latest, when he asked where I wanted to work later and I explained in the construction or real estate sector, he ended the conversation with, “See, I told you, something to do with architecture.”
I hope you don’t feel addressed by that.
But perhaps I am also doing my father a disservice here. Because I really wanted to study architecture first. But back then, the industry was badly affected by the financial crisis.
Somehow, I thought maybe something in business administration would be better, so that in case of a crisis, I could still do something else. Thus, I ended up studying Industrial Engineering with a focus on Construction in my bachelor’s and Management [Construction, Real Estate, Infrastructure] in my master’s. For my career start, I joined KPMG, a global consulting company, in the Real Estate Advisory sector. And you wouldn’t believe it, our team consisted of business administration graduates, industrial engineers, civil engineers, and… architects.
Why am I telling you this?
I realized that many paths lead to Rome. Don’t think that with your degree, there is only one suitable profession for you. Do what you believe is right and what you enjoy.
Because what I have learned – and what you hopefully have learned – is that learning never stops. If you have understood this, then you are not only ready for reality – you will shape it.
What else do I want to share with you? Professional life is a journey full of obstacles.
When I started my career, I quickly realized that the real estate world is sometimes more of an obstacle course than a stroll in the park. There are moments when you feel like you are standing in front of a wall. But – and this is an important point – sometimes the wall is not as solid as it appears. Sometimes, it’s enough just to push against it, and it falls down.
Well, sometimes you have to go around it. And sometimes… you should better ignore it and find a new way. Or think about building a door into the wall from the start.
What I mean is: Flexibility is one of the most important qualities in our industry. The ability to adapt, to find new paths, and to continually evolve. You are now well-prepared to do just that. And you should take advantage of it. Believe me, I've had to take detours several times – but in the end, those paths lead to the destination as well. Here’s another example from my professional life. In addition to architecture, I have always been very interested in the topic of sustainability. During my high school diploma, I wrote a project paper on climate change, proudly carried my jute bags and worn-out Birkenstocks. In my eyes, I was practically Greta 1.0. However, I didn’t dare to study “Sustainable Construction” or “Environmental Engineering,” and starting a career in sustainability management was nearly impossible because there were no positions available.
Highly motivated, I found myself in the role of a consultant at KPMG. Ready to change the world, to manage innovative and sustainable large projects, and to jet around the globe.
It turned out a bit differently than expected. On my first project, I found myself in a small Bavarian town, in a somewhat aging office building of the Catholic Church. My task: to search for building data from folders – and I’m talking about no digital filing here. So, not innovative or sustainable at all.
But quitting was not an option, and somehow I had the feeling that I would eventually get to work on a sustainable project.
After what felt like 100 more or less innovative and sustainable projects at KPMG, an unexpected opportunity opened up for me. I applied for my absolute dream job.
Sustainability Manager!
I moved to Bayerische Hausbau, a nationwide asset manager and project developer, as a Sustainability Manager.
Almost overnight, I was responsible for the sustainable transformation of a real estate portfolio worth 4 billion euros.
Why am I telling you this story?
Trust your gut feeling, or as Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, said in a speech to the graduates of Stanford University: “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
Follow your passions, don’t settle for the mundane, and make the best of your working hours. It constitutes a large part of your life.
Another secret I want to share with you from my professional experience – and believe me, it's one of the best – is networking. And no, I’m not talking about Wi-Fi! Although, I must admit, a stable Wi-Fi connection is also not to be underestimated these days.
I’m talking about the people around you. Your classmates, your party acquaintances, your fellow students in the cafeteria line, your study buddies during exam periods. The friends you have today will be your partners, colleagues, and perhaps even your clients tomorrow. Invest in maintaining these friendships.
A solid foundation in networking is just as important as one in concrete.
At the end of my speech, I must take the opportunity in my role as a Sustainability Manager to inspire you to build a sustainable future:
Let’s take a small journey to the year 2050. Sit comfortably in your imaginary time machines and buckle up. We are flying into a future that is green but also challenging. The climate has changed. Storms are stronger, droughts are longer, and the sea level? Well, it has decided to start its own little career – upwards!
Imagine walking into an office that consists entirely of plants. Yes, you heard that right! Instead of concrete and steel, there are vertical gardens and solar panels. Sustainability is no longer just a word, but the heartbeat of every construction project.
What does this mean for you as engineers? The requirements for buildings have changed drastically. Your next project could be a skyscraper that not only sways in the wind but also generates energy from it. It could be a house that not only stores water but also purifies the air. And the best part: you are the designers of this sustainable future!
Think back to your first semesters. Who would have thought that you would not only discuss statics but also ecological footprints? You learned how to work with materials – now it’s about building in harmony with nature. And believe me, the pressure will not lessen, but the opportunities will increase!
Get ready not only to design structures but also to shape the world. Be the engineers who find solutions when others only see problems. Go out and show the world that engineers are not just “problem creators” but “problem solvers” – with a bunch of green ideas!
You are the generation that can take on the challenge of creating a balance between construction and nature. Use your skills to create innovative and sustainable buildings that will endure even in 100 years.
In a time when we often complain about climate change, you have the chance to be the change. Remember: a building that is constructed or renovated today can be the anchor for a sustainable future.
In this spirit: Go out, think green, and build the future that we all deserve.
I wish you all the very best on your journey!
Viele Grüße
Janine Schluer
