In November 2021, Miriam Knorr-Kerler will celebrate 26 years of working at FHWS. The most important thing for her is the human factor. As an employee in the president’s office, she is cool in the face of challenges and knows why office hours are not set in stone.
Miriam Knorr-Kerler’s place of work is seldom quiet. Either the phone is ringing in the president’s office, students are at the door with problems or colleagues need to clear up an urgent question. Or at least that’s how it was when they weren’t working from home. But however hectic the situation is, everyone receives assistance – Knorr-Kerler makes sure of it, even when the problem doesn’t really fall within her remit. “Doing everything by the book doesn’t work at FHWS,” she can say from experience. “Ultimately it’s the people that make FHWS and I can’t send anyone away just because we don’t have time,” she explains.
She has worked at FHWS since 1995. She was 20 years old then and had just finished her apprenticeship as a legal assistant. The training was no walk in the park. “Lawyers are strict, you have to be flexible and sadly the pay isn’t good either.” A hard apprenticeship also helps with getting a new job, however. And that is exactly what Knorr-Kerler did after passing her exams; she switched to FHWS in the office of then chancellor Dr Jürgen Herzog. Knorr-Kerler was actually only taken on for three years as maternity cover, but she then remained with the chancellor until his retirement in 2007. “The president Prof. Dr. Heribert Weber wanted me to move to the president’s office much earlier, but I couldn’t leave Dr Herzog all alone”. She then stood at Prof. Dr. Weber’s side from 2007 to 2012 and, from 2012, then at current president Prof. Dr. Robert Grebner’s side.
With family came commitment
Knorr-Kerler has been with her husband for longer than she has been at FHWS, 28 years in fact. But the “Kerler” was only added to the “Knorr” in 2018. They had a daughter together in 2007. And starting a family also meant the start of her social involvement in Unterpleichfeld, where the family has lived since 1995. “Anyone who doesn’t say no soon enough gains an office,” Knorr-Kerler grins. First on the parents’ council, then she was nominated for and elected to the parish council, and today she is also active on the family council in the community. “When I identify with something, then commitment is really just a matter of course,” she says modestly. She thus also became a chaperone for the Red Guards – the Carnival Guards that her daughter dances with. And despite all this, Knorr-Kerler describes herself as “quite lazy”.
Her closest colleague Roland Weigand, who also works in the president’s office, sees it very differently: “I cannot agree at all with what she says about laziness.” She even manages to avoid unnecessary work because she always scrutinises upcoming problems and often offers a more effective solution. Knorr-Kerler is no “time waster”, but rather has a “real interest in her work and the people in her environment,” explains Weigand.
Relaxation in Italy – and at yoga
In almost 26 years at FHWS, Knorr-Kerler has seen some changes to everyday life at the university. “There used to be less turnover in colleagues, we used to still know everyone,” she says a little wistfully. And the students have changed too. With the introduction of the eight-year general higher education qualification, increasing numbers of minors have enrolled. Bottles of beer have then disappeared from freshers’ bags and Knorr-Kerler suddenly has to sort out problems with students’ parents. It is also more difficult today to galvanise students for the university elections, both to stand as candidate and to vote. “The times of long-term students who were contacts for us in the convention or in student representation bodies are past,” she observes. She is therefore particularly pleased when FHWS students stick around after their period of study: “There are some students who got involved in the university convention, for example, and have then become colleagues.”
In addition to dedication to FHWS and in Unterpleichfeld, Italy also plays an important role in Knorr-Kerler’s life. She and her family are particularly drawn to the country after countless holidays. The main destinations are Lago di Ledro where they visit friends every year, the Emilia-Romagna region south of Venice, and Verona. “We always visit a former exchange student in Verona who lived with us.” At the time of the school exchange, Knorr-Kerler still lived with her parents in Höchberg where she went first to Grundschule (primary school) and then to Realschule (secondary school). In her youth, Knorr-Kerler also played handball in Höchberg until her knee wouldn’t let her. “Since then, indoor sports have been a red rag to me,” she says with a laugh. Today, she relies on yoga for sporting activities, which leads to fewer injuries and is helpful if you tweak your back.
The wine is still better in Italy
As well as the varied landscapes, between the mountains and the sea, Knorr-Kerler also appreciates the simple but delicious food in Italy. Pasta with butter and sage or real Carbonara, without cream of course and with good parmesan, rate highly here. “But after ten days on holiday, I’m ready for schnitzel and chips again,” she says with a smile. Knorr-Kerler doesn’t think much of the wines brought back from the south: “They just don’t taste as good any more at home.”
Once the pandemic situation has eased and she finds someone to look after her cats, the family want to realise another big dream and fly to London. The trip has been planned for a long time, including Madame Tussauds and the Harry Potter studio tour. They have booked the flight three times, and three times it was cancelled. Holiday planning currently also isn’t going according to plan, but Knorr-Kerler is familiar with that from the office. “You simply don’t know in the morning how the day will go. So it’s never boring either,” she says, while the phone rings again. When she picks up, she switches from a pleasant conversational tone to professional friendliness to sort out the next issue.
