10.12.2024
Alumni party in Vaasa on Saturday 10 February 2024
We start the party at 16.00 with an excursion to Vasa elektriska. The attendants gott a presentation of the company Vaasa Electric and Margareta Björklund-Sänkiaho, professor of energy technology at Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa, talked about current energy research. The excursion was followed by a reception at Svenska klubben with a welcome speech by the Rector of ÅA in Vaasa Lisbeth Fagerström.
Professor Emeritus Håkan Andersson gave a short review of ÅA’s 50 years in Vaasa, Kjell Herberts contributed with a final twist. Stig Nygård acted as song leader.
Valpurgis evening celebrations
Almost 200 staff and their families gathered in the courtyard of Vaasa Upper Secondary School to celebrate spring, listen to music by Sofie Lundell and celebrate 50 years of Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa.
We have resumed a tradition where we invite staff from Åbo Akademi University and Vasa Övis to celebrate Valborg. Today we have about 150 people here,’ said Camilla Forsberg, Head of Continuing Education at CLL, in an interview with local newspaper Vasabladet.
Also present was the rector of Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa, Lisbeth Fagerström, who gave a speech to a sea of spectators.
‘Students, this is your day. You are the future, Fagerström said in her speech.
The occasion was followed by the traditional laying of the cap and a performance by the student choir Pedavoces, who sang in the spring on the stairs of the Upper Secondary School.
After work
On a sunny and warm evening in June (6 June 2024), staff were treated to a summery after-work in the Academill courtyard and music in the foyer.
Night of the Arts
Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa participated in the Night of the Arts (16 August 2024). The queue was long for the 50th anniversary balloons.
In the tent on the pedestrian street, visitors could also get acquainted with the ‘book’ from different angles: visitors could create their own unique bookmarks from outdated course literature, leave and take home a book tip, and order a copy of the history of Åbo Akademi University’s first fifty years in Vaasa.
The bookmarks were made from out-of-print course books – a way to emphasise sustainability and reuse.
Public speech: Wandering Words
Vasa was visited by Yohan Shanmugaratnam, a journalist and author from Oslo in November (19.11.2024). In his public talk, he analysed notions of belonging in the Nordic countries through the lens of language. He reflected on what happens when your background is divided, not into two, but into three countries and languages? How do the realities of diaspora affect a migrant’s vocabulary?
Shanmugaratnam looked back at his own journey – from a Tamil village, via a Japanese suburb, to Norway – and discussed how a constant identity crisis and gradual cultural loss can also be turned into a superpower.
The lecture was part of the public lecture series ‘Unpacking the Nordic Model’, which also marked the 50th anniversary of Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa. The event started with a reception in the foyer.