Robbert Dijkgraaf, Minister of Education of the Netherlands Visits UCLA and the Cotsen Institute

THE INSTITUTEIN THE NEWS

Robbert Dijkgraaf, Minister of Education of the Netherlands, Visits UCLA and the Cotsen Institute

As part of an ongoing effort to strengthen collaborations between UCLA and Dutch universities, Jo Anne and Johannes Van Tilburg hosted Robbert Dijkgraaf, the Dutch minister of education, culture, and science, during his visit to UCLA on September 9, 2022. Before accepting the position of minister, Dijkgraaf, a theoretical physicist working on string theory, was director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

The event, the culmination of a two-week trip to visit universities, major corporations, and governmental agencies in the United States, was cosponsored by the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and the Center for European and Russian Studies (CERS) at the UCLA International Institute. UCLA Dutch Studies, under the direction of CERS, is the largest program in the United States focused on the study of the Netherlands and Belgium in a global perspective, promoting student and faculty exchanges and scholarship in Dutch language and culture. The Cotsen Institute is a premier research organization dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and conservation of archaeological knowledge and heritage. It also houses the UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, which educates and trains students in the highest standards of the conservation of material culture.

The minister and his delegation were welcomed by Darnell Hunt, UCLA executive vice chancellor; Anna Spain Bradley, vice chancellor of equity, diversity, and inclusion; and other campus leaders and faculty, including Laurie Kain Hart, director of CERS. “In keeping with UCLA’s mission of global reach, it was a great honor to welcome Minister Dijkgraaf and his delegation to UCLA for a rich exchange of knowledge across cultures and nations,” Spain Bradley said. “The minister’s deep commitment to the power of education to advance inclusive societies in which all peoples can thrive is a vision that UCLA and I share. We look forward to continued cooperation with the minister and the government of the Netherlands in years to come.”

Vice Chancellor Anna Spain Bradley (left) welcomes Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf to UCLA. (Photograph by Oliver Chien.)

Alex Swart, board member of the Netherland-America Foundation, Southern California Chapter, attended the luncheon with several NAF colleagues and explained, “Our organization supports meaningful exchanges between the Netherlands and Southern California in the science, commerce, culture, and education spaces, which of course include Dutch Studies and the annual Van Tilburg Lecture at UCLA, a highlight in the intellectual life of the Dutch community in Los Angeles.” The annual Johannes Van Tilburg Lecture in Dutch Studies was established in 2005 by a generous gift from Johannes and Jo Anne Van Tilburg for the establishment in perpetuity of an annual lecture in Dutch studies, as part of an exchange program between UCLA and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Johannes Van Tilburg has served for more than a decade as honorary consul of the Netherlands for Los Angeles.