My colleague Bart Straatman must have gained a few pounds these last couple of weeks. He hosted a series of breakfast meetings to engage in a dialogue around the BV 2013 project. I attended one on Thursday and found a group of roughly 80 colleagues actively debating the deliverables of this improvement project. My table took the view that from a students perspective, lots of improvements are needed to harmonise and unify IT systems. There was also consensus about the need to invest in staff competency development and career paths. This week also saw the start of campus improvement plans. The removal, sadly, of many trees gives Woudestein an eerie appearance. And of course the farewell ceremony for Petri’s monumental ‘rocks’ in our campus pond was dignified. But somehow it gave me the melancholy sense that we are saying goodbye to an era. Knowing that all of this paves the way for a greener and better future is what helps us to see through this barren landscape.