Old is oldest

Henrik Rönnberg, Professor and Deputy Dean,
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science

Kristina asked me to be there in her place. Thus, I would at 18 pm on a Tuesday night appear at the Castle to give thanks and enjoy dinner and entertainment along with all whom retired last year at SLU. As being the father of four, with two bonus children weekday evenings are already fully booked with commitments and very little space is left to squeeze in dinners at the Castle. At the time of the aforementioned event my partner also was in the midst of the final preparations to go to Germany and go through several exams after she had completed a residency program at SLU. We are talking about bad timing.

Said and done, after the final meetin of the day at SLU, I went home and made spaghetti and meat sauce as quick dinner and then jumped like a figher fighter into the suit and made the favorite tie on the way to the bus. Punctually at the spot I was welcomed by Peter and stood with the Vice Chancellor during the time that the guests for this event began to come in. I was still inside the thoughts about what I did there – that I had been so busy at home and now I was in great need of a mindfulness coach to really land in tonight's event.

Suddenly, I saw my old supervisor Anne-Sofie Lagerstedt come up the stairs, flanked by her husband Peter Franzén – my previous great teacher in equine medicine. Then came Gunilla Trowlald-Wig that I worked with on small animal medicine for a very long time and also with her husband, which in this case meant that the guru of pedagogy Nils Trowald-Wig joined. In order to continue name dropping, then came my predecessor Torkel Ekman (previously my teacher on the "box course" and many years later my head of KV), Monica Stavenborn who kept track of internal medicine in small animals at UDS (before it even was called UDS) and a highly regarded clinical teacher and then colleague, Clarence Kvart that taught me all about cardiology and circulation physiology and finally even CIL-Carina Ingvast Larsson , the rock in the bridge building between the peclinical pharmacology and implementation at the clinic!

I was just so happy that I got the opportunity to come to this dinner! Forgotten was the hardship an hour or so ago and I was not at all sorry to change my homemade meat sauce for the deliciousness that was carried forward to our table during the dinner party. We talked about old times and the latest developments at SLU. I saved many tips on what should be preserved and change and sound arguments for this, suiting very experienced professionals!

When the banquet was ended and dance would take on, I sneaked out and came home to the oldest kids wanted to go to bed. Hence, a completely successful evening in other words! I was happy on behalf of my seniors, as they had all night long in front of them (and long retirement ahead), but felt a twinge of sadness that they might not be as natural part of my daily work to come. Logical, I understand that younger generations will have to take over and conduct teaching, research, and in this case also the clinic. But to see so vital and skilled colleagues retire still feels weird!

In some of the cases the skills supply plans functioned optimally. Among other things, CIL's and Anne's competences are not replaced. We must learn to plan and forsee needs and future skill gaps and ensure that we become better to cover up in time! We must also make sure to take with us the knowledge of our seniors and carry on and incorporate a healthy measure of past experience in our future decisions. Then we make the right things ahead - where it has been wrong in the past and preserving what has proven to be good and function.

That means big savings in money and hardship. So take a look around you. Do you see a senior co-worker who begins planning for the dinner at the Castle? Make sure to suck in a dose of his/her experience and reflection. Mix it with your own skills and we get the best basis on which to bring our faculty on!

What is a prom at the Castle? A reminder to take care of each other's expertise and an altogether wonderful experience!