Prof. Jan van Helden awarded Academiepenning at farewell

At his farewell on Friday 10 September, Jan van Helden, professor of Management Accounting at FEB, was awarded the Academiepenning (Academy medal) from the University of Groningen. One of the achievements Van Helden received this token of high appreciation for was his important share in the process of merging the faculties of economics and business.   

Van Helden held his valedictory lecture on 10 September at a symposium about operational management in the public sector, organized on the occasion of his farewell. Subsequently, Van Helden received the Academiepenning from Frans Rutten, Associate Dean for International Affairs at FEB. 

Merger
From 2001 to 2005, Jan van Helden was associate dean for education at the faculty of economics. In this period he and his co-directors laid the foundation for the merger with the faculty of business. Van Helden took care of the contacts between both faculties, which used to stand in each other’s way quite often. “Van Helden is a business economist and this made him the right person to bring the economists and business academics together”, says Frans Rutten. “In addition, his personality has been of great importance in establishing trust between the economists and business academics.”  

English
By founding a joint Master’s degree programme in Business Administration and by merging the two education offices, Van Helden helped establishing a solid foundation for a joint faculty. He also promoted the introduction of English as language of instruction, which greatly stimulated and professionalized the internationalization of the faculties.

Accounting
After his period in the faculty board, Van Helden became head of the department of Accounting. Within a short period of time, he managed to unite the staff members from the two merging faculties into one new department.