Thank you, Sudeshna!
On Monday 16th October, an impressive number of CERN staff, retirees and other friends gathered in Restaurant 1 to bid farewell to Sudeshna Datta-Cockerill on the occasion of her retirement after 41 years at CERN.
It was a very nice evening with speeches and dances, with friendly chat and collectively remembering about CERN’s history, our history, this history that Sudeshna managed to shape in several ways.
As President of the Staff Association, I had the honour to address Sudeshna and the audience. The text is here below for those who were not present.
Dear Sudeshna,
This is not a speech, not one of those formal things... and I will keep it short.
In the name of the staff at CERN and the Staff Association, I would like to thank you for a number of things that we remember collectively.
The first one is Learning and Development. You have championed the function and built an impressive catalogue. Foremost you have introduced and developed the management training cursus. It was, and still is, much needed and is also very much appreciated! One of those fine opportunities at CERN to not only learn something, but also mingle with colleagues from other corners of the Organization and ultimately build a network!
The second is the introduction of Diversity at CERN. Looking back, as you did recently at TREF, it is so obvious that we have come such a long way. It is also obvious that you have been very instrumental in revealing this secret to all of us that our diversity makes also our strength and creativity and what CERN is all about finally.
The third one is of course the role of Ombud. You have dealt with all who came to see you very professionally of course, but you have managed to give us all at CERN a glimpse into your work, through the articles that you have published and the contacts that you have maintained, among others, with the Staff Association. It is so useful to have a friend who can hold a mirror to our face from time to time and bring us to reflect upon our own behaviour.
In a close I would like to say a couple words, in the name of the Staff Association: thank you, Sudeshna, for all you have done for CERN and for us!
In her own speech, Sudehsna expressed her thanks to the Staff Association for its work and achievements, but also for the support that she has received from the Staff Association while in difficult times when she was still a language teacher at CERN.
She also noted that her daughter, who was also present on this occasion, has benefitted greatly in her childhood from the Kindergarten of the Staff Association, which remains an essential element for diversity at CERN.
Back in September this year, Sudeshna was invited one last time to a meeting of the Staff Council. Her presentation triggered many questions and interesting discussion and we ran out of time before exhausting the topic. A few days later, Sudeshna has confided to me her satisfaction of the very pertinent questions and the interest that Staff Council delegates had shown for the topics and the thoughts that she has shared.
Once again, thank you Sudeshna!
