{"id":134952,"date":"2022-01-21T09:27:31","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T08:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=134952"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:05","slug":"a-prize-to-keep-mariette-kaandorps-love-of-education-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/01\/21\/a-prize-to-keep-mariette-kaandorps-love-of-education-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"A prize to keep Mari\u00ebtte Kaandorp’s love of education alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

To ensure that her legacy – her passion for excellent education – will live on. That is what the parents and colleagues of the late Mari\u00ebtte Kaandorp hope to achieve with the Mari\u00ebtte Kaandorp Prize for Excellence in Thesis Mentoring. Would the then 35-year-old Mari\u00ebtte have been thrilled with this prize? “Oh, no. She would have thought it was excessive. She was far too modest for that.”<\/p>\n

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Mari\u00ebtte Kaandorp (21-01-1985 – 20-11-2020)<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFamily of Mari\u00ebtte Kaandorp<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Halfway through the conversation, Mieke Brockhoff stands up. When she sits down again, she is holding a large book in her arms with a red flower on the shiny white cover. The petals in the middle turn into waves of the sea. In her ever-tidy office, her daughter Mari\u00ebtte had a large picture of a flower on the wall, and her bereavement card featured a photograph of that beach. This was what inspired Mari\u00ebtte\u2019s former students, assume her parents. The students asked an artist to help with the design the book, but the personal stories in the book are their own. These are about how special Mari\u00ebtte was to them.<\/p>\n

So much grief, so much love<\/h2>

This Friday, the eldest daughter of Frans Kaandorp and Mieke would have turned 37. On 20 November 2020, Mari\u00ebtte unexpectedly passed away from a pulmonary embolism. She had been working as a university lecturer at the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) for three years by then. This is where she also conducted research into cognition, high intelligence, intuition and the processes of social interaction in the workplace. The multitude of messages, gestures, letters and visits from her colleagues, (former) students and the parents of students is something that surprised Mari\u00ebtte\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u201cShe also wrote: \u2018Education has lost a gem\u2019\u201d\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cWe received so much love\u201d, says Frans. \u201cA month after her death, two students came by\u201d, Mieke goes on to say. Their wedding anniversary was on 20 December, which is why she remembers it so precisely. \u201cThey gave us the book with their and other student\u2019s recollections. It shows how academically competent and engaged she was. In one letter, a mother wrote us that Mari\u00ebtte had helped her son through a difficult period. His voice breaking, Frans adds: \u201cshe also wrote: \u2018Education has lost a gem<\/em>.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The many loving reactions give Frans an idea: a prize for involved and inspiring teachers. He proposes it to Mari\u00ebtte\u2019s manager who in turn passes it on to the Dean of RSM. That\u2019s how the ball started rolling. The Mari\u00ebtte Kaandorp Prize for Excellence in Thesis Mentoring<\/a> was born and will be awarded for at least five years. Students can nominate their supervisor for the prize each year.<\/p>\n\t

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The first winner was announced in December: Richard Haans. His students call him ‘passionate, supportive and contagiously enthusiastic’.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t