Ellen Bæk on AAU as a workplace: It's important to be part of something

Text and photo by Lea Laursen Pasgaard, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Graphic: Søren Emil Søe Degn

The job description sounded almost too advanced for her to even consider applying for the position. But Ellen Bæk gave it a shot and in 1979 was hired as an assistant in the Admissions Office at what was then called Aalborg University Center. 

"The university was still new at the time, and the work was exciting. It was a really good place to work, and it has been so throughout the years. That's also why I'm still here," says Ellen Bæk.

She originally trained at Nordjyllands Papirposefabrik [Northern Jutland's paper bag factory], but has worked in office administration at AAU for most of her working life. First in the Admissions Office, later at the Faculty Office for the Faculty of Engineering and Science, and then at AAU Innovation. Today, she is employed in Research Services, a unit under Shared Services.

After more than 45 years at AAU, Ellen Bæk has a very large network in the organization, and she is one of the AAU folks that has been part of the university for most of its lifetime. AAU Update interviewed her about her relationship with AAU on the occasion of the university's 50th anniversary last year.

Technological advances shape the job

Ellen Bæk believes that the work at AAU has changed a lot since 1 September 1979 when she started at AAU.

"Today, everything is done electronically. You may have a name for people, but you often don't have a face for them," says Ellen Bæk about the difference between the work then and today.

She adds that in her opinion technological advances have generally been a positive aspect of development and solving tasks.

The most advanced IT equipment in the Admissions Office in the late 1970s was a red IBM typewriter with a ball head. It was hyper modern equipment to have in a day-to-day life where meeting minutes and forms were otherwise written by hand on carbon paper. Other communication or internal messages were done by telephone or by showing up in person at the recipient's office. 

"The exam office had a special IBM typewriter with punch cards for completing degree certificates. We had punch cards for the individual programmes and courses that had to be passed according to the curriculum. It could write in the individual subjects, and we had to manually enter the grade," she recalls.

Technological development quickly took off, and Ellen Bæk remembers with enthusiasm the time in the early 80s when the office got a typewriter that could store up to 10 pages. It was huge. And at the end of the 1980s, the first computer arrived at the Engineering and Science faculty office where Ellen Bæk was employed at the time.

"It stood in a room of its own, and the consultation committee was very occupied with how to use it. In the beginning, you were only allowed to work on it for 45 minutes – then it had to have 15-minute break where no one sat at it," she recalls.

A few years later, the computer was common property at the university. Ellen Bæk and her colleagues attended computer courses where they had to play seven-card solitaire to learn how to use a computer mouse. Ellen Bæk was always interested in the new technologies that came to the workplace, and she has seized the opportunity for courses and training because professional development has been important to her.

Focus on community 

Colleagues and the opportunity to be part of something. This is also one of the things she appreciates most about her work.

"I like making administrative things work. Our administrative work is sometimes a bit invisible, but it often becomes visible if you’re not in the office for a period of time for some reason," she says.

For many years, Elle Bæk was responsible for training new student office assistants at AAU; helping young people find job satisfaction has been a great motivator. It has been important to her that the students learn that their work is part of something larger:

"Not all of our tasks are equally interesting, but they are often part of a larger process involving another unit. That's why it's important to understand the processes, and see the benefit in what we do," she explains.

The inclusive AAU

Ellen Bæk is now 72 years old, and she works 16 hours a week. She could have retired at 65. She chose not to because the work still serves a very important purpose for her.

In 2005 and 2007, she and her husband, Ejnar, lost their two adult children to suicide. Since then, work has been a way for Ellen Bæk to be able to go on – in the midst of grief. 

She emphasizes that at AAU she has been met with great understanding for her grief and for the loss that still remains. Along with her husband, she is active in the National Association for Survivors of Suicide. They put in many hours working with the association, something that is very meaningful for both of them. 

Ellen Bæk has received several awards for her volunteer work. In 2024, she received Aalborg Municipality's Volunteer Award, and in 2022, as chair of the National Association for Survivors of Suicide, she accepted the Life&Death Award which the National Association for Life&Death had awarded to the association. 

"The association work combines well with coming here and being part of something," Ellen Bæk explains.

She does not know how long she will continue at AAU. But she hopes that AAU will continue to be a good place to be.

"Both as a place of education and as a place of work. That there is inclusiveness and that it’s a nice place to be. Both for academic staff and for technical and administrative staff," she says in closing.