426 | One of my colleagues is Sjoerd Gehrels - a very popular docent, holding different Master degrees and besides all the hard work finishing his doctoral dissertation.

A portrait by Iffat Hussain

Before Mr Sjoerd Gehrels started working at Stenden University in 1989 he had just finished ten years of his professional life in the hospitality industry. Sommelier (wine manager) and operation manager in Michelin starred restaurants were some of the positions he worked in.

At Stenden, Sjoerd Gehrels started with in rooms division as kitchen lecturer and lecturer in Hospitality Management. Building the organization of Hotel Wyswert and the hospitality curriculum of the hotel school had great priority. In 1998, when a major reorganization took place, he applied for the position of deputy director. “At that time the internationalization process really took of and the number of students in IHM almost doubled, and now it is the third biggest of its kind in the world.”

Since 2004 when the management structure changed again he has been involved in a portfolio of duties and responsibilities. He considers as his most important duty to teach in both the School of Graduate Studies and the Undergraduate programme of IHM connected to research. He feels teaching is very rewarding.

In his amiable way he explains: “It is very rewarding to teach and join research with both bachelor and master students. In my Doctor of Education study in the University of Stirling in Scotland I am also a student and therefore it is much easier to identify with the students at Stenden. Furthermore, I work for Prof. Dr. Martin Gertler and Dr. Elena Cavagnaro in the Stenden Research Group Service Studies (Kenniskring) and I coordinate the MA in International Hospitality Management and as of September 2009 the new Master in International Higher Education Management.”

As project manager and consultant Sjoerd Gehrels is also responsible for Stenden CRU Campus in Thailand, for the new director of international affairs Jan Nabers. “It is very interesting to see that the Grand Tour really enriches students’ lives.” There is also an average of around 15 -17 students on internship in Jamaica and the East-Caribbean that he supervises for IHM.

Sjoerd Gehrels loves to work with Stenden. He appreciates the way Stenden has developed and continues to grow. “As the world around us is internationalizing at an enormous speed I am grateful to be with Stenden. The developments in our university of applied sciences have been enormous and in the past 19 years of employment here not one single year was the same as the previous one. I find it fascinating that Stenden operates all the different locations in The Netherlands and abroad. It has opened up many opportunities for mobility and growth both institutionally and personally.”

Sjoerd Gehrels has three grand children. He loves to spend his time with his family. When asked about his goals he explains “My goal for the future is to try to contribute to our school and the students’ learning as much as possible. And maybe more importantly spend a lot of precious quality time with my wife, three children (26, 23 and 18) and three grandchildren (6,4 and 2). I have to admit that we started young at building a family but bringing my grandchildren to school in the morning whenever possible is just sheer happiness!”