Beadle Marleen van Kester is retiring after almost twenty years: ‘This is the nicest job in the world’

Marleen van Kester is retiring after almost twenty years as beadle at Erasmus University. For years she was the face of university traditions. The beadle’s office ensures that all the academic ceremonies run smoothly.

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“As soon as I put on my gown, I’m no longer myself”, Van Kester says in the so-called sweat room on the first floor of the Erasmus Building, where doctoral candidates traditionally wait during the tense minutes before their defence. Every square centimetre of the walls and much of the ceiling is covered with signatures from the thousands of doctoral candidates who have used the small space as a waiting room for their doctoral ceremony. “I then play a role. The role of the beadle.”

A beadle oversees the university’s academic ceremonies. These include, for example, inaugural lectures (the first official lecture of a professor), farewell lectures (the final lecture of a professor), the opening of the academic year, the dies natalis (the university’s birthday) and doctoral defences.