In the series ‘UM and me,’ people share their personal connection to Maastricht University. Denise Villerius is one of them. She started working here 26 years ago, when internet access was not yet standard and the central Marketing & Communications department was staffed by just five people. Since then, she has seen UM from almost every angle, working in various units in roles ranging from secretary to programme manager. As Villerius prepares for retirement, she looks back on her years at the university.
Denise Villerius has worked at Maastricht University for 26 years. She joined UM as a secretary in the Marketing & Communications department, and subsequently worked as a scheduler at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, coordinator of the European Public Affairs master’s programme, head of the Scholarship Office, coordinator of master’s admissions and alumni officer. She is currently a programme manager at Marketing & Communications, where she focuses on the connection between secondary and university education.
Villerius laughs when she thinks back to how she first ended up at UM. “It’s quite a story,” she says. At the time, she was working for KPN, which was about to undergo a reorganisation. This gave her the opportunity, funded by KPN, to explore alternative career options. “I wanted to work in my hometown of Maastricht, and the university seemed like an interesting and complex organisation.” She took the initiative and arranged a work placement through KPN as a secretary in the Marketing & Communications department. “It’s almost impossible to imagine now that only five people worked there,” she laughs.
Soon after joining UM, Villerius found a new position as a scheduler at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She smiles as she recalls those days. “We didn’t create timetables on computers back then; it was a giant puzzle involving paper calendars and pencils. We scheduled everything in pencil so we could just rub out the changes.”
One of the most memorable projects of her career involved helping students from Zimbabwe. “The country was already under a dictatorship. Young Zimbabweans who wanted to study were denied the opportunity and could be imprisoned without trial,” she explains. “We worked with the embassy and government ministries to bring groups of students to Maastricht. Other universities often turned them away because their diplomas had been confiscated in Zimbabwe, but we were able to offer them a great university experience.”
Villerius also looks back fondly on the UM Star Lectures, which she helped organise with colleagues while working as an alumni officer. “The lectures take place simultaneously in 14 cities around the world. At their peak, they attracted 600 to 700 attendees. It’s so nice to see alumni maintaining a connection with Maastricht, wherever life takes them after graduation.”
Villerius was also one of the ‘founding mothers’ of the KidzCollege, together with Ingrid Wijk and Margot Krijnen. The programme has now been running for more than 17 years. In the early days, she’d join her colleagues in her spare time on Wednesday afternoons. “Just because it was so much fun!” she says, beaming. “For me, the KidzCollege embodies everything UM stands for: making academia accessible, taking social responsibility and promoting equal opportunities.”
The programme is open to pupils in their last year of primary school, regardless of the type of high school they will attend. “That’s really important to me. Someone who starts out in vmbo [vocational secondary education] can still become a heart surgeon one day. I think it’s wonderful that the university is not an ivory tower. Initiatives like this show that it’s a place that invests in the future of every pupil in the region.”
Looking back, Villerius says that every role she held was interesting in its own way. “Things have come full circle. I’ve worked in all sorts of places – at the faculty level, central level, at the SSC. Now I’m ending my working life in the same place I started at UM: Marketing & Communications. Every faculty and department has its own culture, so I was always learning something new. And whenever I said I was ready for a new challenge, opportunities always turned up.”
Fortunately, Villerius has plenty to look forward to in retirement. Between exercising three times a week, volunteering and taking painting classes, she expects to stay busy. “And if not, I can always drop in to have a cup of coffee with my former colleagues. That’s definitely something I’ll miss.”
Text: Romy Veul
Photography: Joris Hilterman
