The winners of the awards handed out annually by LUNA have been decided upon. Today June 4th, at the faculty graduation ceremony, the prizes are handed out. Congratulations Melvyn B. Davies and Christina Ledje! Below you find the motivation texts that was sent along the nominations by students from the faculty, for the two.

Nomination text for Melvyn B. Davies as sent in by students

“A very respectable lecturer who teaches the subject with great enthusiasm. He use fun and useful analogies to make the subject easier to grasp. He use discussion in small group as a tool to give the student a deeper understanding of the subject and for the student to think about what the answer to a question before getting it handed to you. A worthy nominee for the pedagogical prize 2017.”

Nomination text for Christina Ledje as sent in by students

“As a biologist one is lucky to know that carrier and study advice is easily attainable and holds a great quality. A quick walk through the Ecology building and you find yourself at Tina’s office. No matter how stressed and nervous one arrives, you always leave her room with a smile and a feeling of confidence.

Tina’s drive and dedication shines through everything she does, and everything she does is in the best interest of the students. Taking on a coordinating role for master studies she is a well-known name across the faculty. Despite her many commitments, neither her work quality nor her empathy lets one down.

One cannot do anything but wonder how she manages everything so well and still finds time to make personal connections to the students she cares so well for. Such dedication and extensive knowledge within one’s area of work should not go unnoticed, and I cannot think of anyone more well-deserving of LUNA’s honorary prize.”

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

It is soon time for a long summer break, and for some of you maybe summer jobs are waiting. We managed to get an interview with Elin Backström, a member of the Corporate Relations Committee (CRC) of LUNA. Here follows a brief text about what they do and how they are working to improve the employability of science students.

“In the meetings of CRC, we discuss areas that influence the relations between students and working life, for example how natural scientists can be more visible and more attractive for employers and what opportunities there are for improvement. We highlight these areas by hosting events such as lectures and workshops. During the fall semester, we have also been planning for LUNAs own career fair ATLAS. I applied as a representative for the CRC since the working life is an extremely important area, in which there are plenty to work with. Being a member of the CRC is educative and I feel like I learn plenty of different things. It is also really fun!”

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the Head of Corporate Relations moreover the chairperson of the CRC at naringsliv@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

Time again and this time we give the spotlight to Hanna Thosteman (again). If you have been paying attention, she was also the chairperson of the Gender and Equality Committee (JoL). Now she has another role to report on, namely being the chairperson of the Mentor Committee (FU). Let us see what she has to say about that responsibility.

“Black tailcoats, medals, sunglasses and ridiculously good-looking members; from the outside, the Mentor Committee might strike you as superheroes carrying out the Novisch Periods while dancing and losing mascots simultaneously. But appearances are deceptive.

Behind all the glamour and fame hides a group of hard working, dedicated students, who on their spare time plan and execute the Novisch Periods together with awesome mentors. Their meetings are long (one time they scored four hours) and their ideas are many, but they would not be able to manage all the work without the fantastic mentors that year after year greet and welcome the new students to Lund. Together they make an excellent team, and will time and time again pull off the greatest Novisch Periods in the history of Novisch Periods. TAGGARÅÅÅ.”

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the Mentor Committee chairperson at fu-ordf@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

Another week and that calls for another student interview. We asked an old member of the Information Committee, Julia Höglund, about how it is like to be a part of a spex in Lund. If you are interested in joining a spex, or just curious to what it is all about, have a look at what Julia has to say about it.

“If you are new in Lund, if you are old or if you have been here your whole life, you might or might not have heard about the student activity called spex. 

As one can read on Wikipedia: “Spex is a kind of amateur comedy theatre act performed by university students in Sweden and parts of Finland. University cities, such as Gothenburg, Lund, Uppsala, and Linköping have long-running traditions of spex. The word is likely derived from abbreviated student slang for spektakel (spectacle; scene; show).”

In other words, you start with nothing except for a manuscript and some 15-20 songs, meet every day for five weeks and suddenly a group of 50-120 students have (at least) four spectacular shows with hundreds in the audience clapping for you to sing one more time, or say a funny line again.

The theatre shows are normally political satires, about a historical event or person, and the story often have a comedic twist and the use of non-time accurate characters is also very common.

Currently there are more than ten spexes in Lund ranging from the big ones having their shown in the big hall in the AF building like Lundaspexarna and Boelspexarna, to the nation spexes like Hallands slottsspex and Krischanstaspääxet having their shows at the nation. Your part can be any part, as long as it helps making a show coming to life. A spex needs people to sow the costumes, build props, play in the band, act on stage, selling tickets, and even cook food every day. Anyone can join any spex, and you don’t have to know anything before (well except being able to play an instrument if you want to be in the band).

The spexes normally have a day every semester where you can apply an interest, fill in a form what you like, what you want to do and then hopefully you will spend five intense week doing whatever you decided to do with other as dedicated students as you.”

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

Our dear giraffes made it back home! After an adventurous trip to Gothenburg and back again LUNA and its teammates of Samhällsvetarkåren are safely back in Lund. Find pictures from the trip on Facebook. Tandemstafetten 2017 is over and the next one takes place in 2019. Next year the Lundakarnevalen will take its place.

Student influence on a national level?

This weekend the union president and two student representatives are attending the annual conference FUM by Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer (SFS). SFSFUM is held in the ‘student city of the year’ (sv: årets studentstad), 2017 Linköping is the place to be.

Student unions from universities all over Sweden gather to discuss and decide upon what matters should be brought up by the students of Sweden to the national government and parliament. What a great impact student influence is able to have!

If you are interested in reading more about the work of SFS you can do so on their webpage or contact the union and ask about how LUNA is involved in the organisation.

The remainder of the term includes a few holidays and other reasons to be off. Check out the information below to be sure when you can find the presidium or members of the board at the union office. You can always contact LUNA outside of office hours and book a meeting.

Office hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, between 11.00 and 14.00.

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

Hello! It is the Information Committee here again, this time with a fresh interview with Miljövetarnas Ypperliga Studieråd (MYS), the student council for environmental scientists. They had two members interview two other members of MYS in a cheerful fashion. Let’s see what they had to say!

Why should everyone join MYS?

Maria “It’s great to get to affect your education and student life. We had very motivating mentors during our novisch period, who inspired us to join, and so should you!”

Elin “We have a positive spirit in our student council, which makes working for the best university time possible, a very fun thing.”

What amazing things are you up to?

Maria “In the ANLU committee, we try to create a bridge between students and their future career alternatives, both education and work related. We recently arranged a Linkedin workshop and are now planning an inspirational evening, where former students come and talk about their careers.”

Elin “The Party Masters plan funny things that happen after school. During the autumn, the committee has arranged a kid’s party themed sittning, a pub crawl and a christmas baking evening. Sort of everything is possible to do, you just need the ideas!”

“If you think MYS sounds as cosy as we do, why not join us? Just come to the weekly Wednesday fika where delicious cakes are served, or show up at one of our meetings!”

Interview carried by Julia Johansson and Elvira Källberg

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the MYS chairperson and vice chairperson at mys-ordf@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

You may now nominate for the pedagogical or honorary prize of LUNA. Nominate via this form. The prizes are annually awarded an employee of the Faculty of Science who has put extraordinary effort into making the university a better place for its students.

The pedagogical prize

The pedagogical prize is awarded an outstanding teacher. Such a teacher should understand individuality of different students, be an asset and resource for support, create enthusiasm for the subject being taught and take into account the student opinions. One can only be awarded the pedagogical prize once, see a full list of previous winners here.

The honorary prize

The honorary prize is awarded an employee or a group of employees that has eased the studies for students or has worked on strengthening the student voice.

The final decision on the two to receive each respective prize will be made by the board May 16th. You can nominate up until May 15th. The awards will be handed to the recipients on the graduation ceremony June 4th.