Alumni activities are aimed at promoting dialogue among members of the alumni community, the University's teachers, researchers and students, as well as other parties active in society. Alumni also constitute an important link between the University and the labour market, as the interrelations of education and employment are an important element of learning.
For some, science and religion appear as irreconcilable worldviews. To alumna and bishop emerita Irja Askola this kind of opposition is “complete rubbish”.
“The encounter of faith and science will make you examine your own beliefs, for example, when you read about new information that medicine has revealed about sexual minorities. To me as a Christian, science provides a means to navigate towards justice and mercy. Science is good for you. It increases understanding.”
Working for fairness and the power of cooperation form the thread running through the career of Marianne Heikkilä, an alumna of the Faculty of Theology.
– I don’t want to be part of a society that only focuses on improving the standard of living, a society where a good life can only be achieved by accumulating wealth. Society must be based on values.