Last year on October 7, campus users and visitors were shocked to find that one of the window panes of Alumni Avenue had been damaged beyond repair by a forklift. Edith Snelders, team leader of Alumni Relations spoke to Cursor that day: “What is certain is that the affected alumni will all be contacted personally. We’re going to explore innovative solutions worthy of TU/e.” In the meantime, a wooden board was placed over the gaping hole.

Patience

Although that board was scribbled on with markers by unsupervised pranksters, it was never replaced. In February, Jan-Willem Schellekens, project manager at Real Estate, said: “We’re looking for the right glass pane. The original pane is no longer available for order so we have to find an alternative. We’re looking for the same shade of glass so it will look exactly like it did before. We’re also investigating whether we can swap out a clear pane of glass from elsewhere and then place the new pane with a slightly differing color somewhere less conspicuous.” In the end, they chose the first option. In July, a Finnish glass supplier installed a pane that is a perfect match in terms of color and quality.

Lunch walk

In early August, Johan van Uden noticed the new glass pane. He is one of the alumni whose name had been on the broken pane. Every lunch break, Van Uden takes a walk along the Green Strip together with his colleagues, including Kevin van Bergeijk who had also signed the window in question. They both graduated as automotive engineers and now work at ICT Group Automotive, located on Dorgelolaan.  “I had learned through an article in Cursor that one of the panes had broken. We didn’t know which one, but we did wonder whether it was ours.”

That wouldn’t even be that big a deal, thought the InMotion co-founder, because his engraving was a little sloppy. “That’s because I graduated in December 2013, but started working in January 2014. We were talking about that while engraving and I had almost turned it into a 4 instead of a 3. I was able to fix it, but it didn’t look very neat.” Van Uden would find it quite amusing if he got a second go at the signing.

He hasn’t had the chance so far. “I’d like to know what’s the hold-up. I also think it’s a shame I was never notified by TU/e. Alumna Yanja Dasjuren and Kevin van Bergeijk also haven’t heard if there’s a plan.” Van Uden and Van Bergeijk figured that they could perhaps join in with the current batch of graduating students during their supervised engraving session.

But that brings us to the next problem.

Expansion

The Alumni Avenue is so successful that the one hundred windows along the stretch of walkway in Forum are now completely covered with names and years. Snelders talks about the search for expansion possibilities. “At the request of the Quality Committee, we looked into the possibility of placing six window panes in front of the engraved windows. These would be hoisted up using pulleys. But this would be a fragile and complex system and the Executive Board did not approve of it.”

The new plan is to expand Alumni Avenue to the walkway towards Matrix. There, we have 22 more windows - twice as large - available for signing. “And when those are full as well, we could move on to the walkways towards Gemini, Luna and Atlas. This also symbolizes that MetaForum is the heart of the university where students acquire their knowledge and that alumni fly out far and wide.”

It is not clear at this point whether it is technically possible to engrave on those 22 large panes of glass. Snelders: “The glass is of a different quality. Real Estate is investigating if engraving is feasible, or if new glass will have to be ordered. Unfortunately, we cannot schedule any engraving sessions yet.” The Alumni Relations team leader wants nothing more than for all alumni to proudly leave their mark on their alma mater.