Origins

Several people at the UT had been toying with the idea of a Faculty Club, and in March 2003, Arwin Nimis, Leo Goedegebuure and Dave Blank got together to take the first step in that direction. They all agreed that there should be a room where members of the University community could meet one another and bring guests. The Executive Board gave its approval and Leo Goedegebuure and Dave Blank were joined by Bert Groenman and Albert van den Berg, who had also expressed their interest in setting up the University of Twenty Faculty Club Foundation. 

The name and the idea are at once simple and complex: Faculty stands for ability, gift, talent, aptitude, scientific staff, university personnel, ingenuity, skill. Add all those concepts together and combine them with the UT’s own unique mix of solidity, drive and entrepreneurial skills and you get a well-appointed, lively, easily accessible, rustic, traditional-looking meeting place for everyone at this university, and, not to forget, their guests. 

However, practically speaking there was still more than enough to do before the Club could get off the ground. Once the major renovation work to the ‘Boerderij’ led by Abel Blom had been finished, the Faculty Club was opened on 24 November 2003, complete with a lounge (‘Blomzaal’) on the top floor specially for the University of Twente Faculty Club Foundation. Since the beginning, members of the UT community have had the opportunity to meet colleagues there and bring along their guests. Since 2003, the Executive Board of the Faculty Club Foundation has organised a range of interesting activities in the Blomzaal.

In 2019 the Faculty Club has moved to the U Park hotel. With the closing of the original Faculty Club building, the Faculty Club is now renewing its strategy. Stay tuned for our exciting new plans and see you at the Faculty Club!