A Warm Farewell: Jörg Brunet Honored for His Teaching Ahead of Retirement
Jörg Brunet, Professor of Forest Ecology at SLU in Alnarp, has been honored with the Alnarp Student Union’s Teaching Award – a tribute to his many years of dedicated and widely appreciated teaching. As he nears retirement, he sees the award as a warm and meaningful farewell from the students.
“It feels very special. I’m both happy and proud. To leave with the feeling that my teaching has truly been appreciated means a great deal to me,” says Jörg.
24 Years of Learning – For Both Students and Teachers
When Jörg started at SLU 24 years ago, he was quickly thrown into the deep end - straight out into the field. That became the beginning of a long journey, filled with both professional growth and personal development.
“I was quite inexperienced at first, also introverted and with a touch of stage fright. But teaching helped me overcome that. Today, teaching almost always feels like a joy.”
Teaching with Presence and Warmth
What has made Jörg so well-liked among students? According to him, it’s about genuine engagement – both for the subject and for the people he meets in the classroom.
“I believe students can sense that I’m passionate about what I teach. I try to meet them with kindness and respect – and I make time for them, even after class when needed.”
For Jörg, the forest is not just a study object. It is a source of quality of life, an emotional force, and an ecosystem full of beauty, interaction, and biological richness.
“The forest is central in my life. I want to show students that it’s not just a production system, but a living ecosystem. I want to convey the forest’s beauty – that it’s an experience, something emotional. That’s what drives me.”
He hopes that this feeling – the fascination with the interaction between species and the dynamic growth of the forest – will stay with the students long after graduation.