The new members of the University Executive Board will assume office for five years each. In doing so, they are creating a common departure as a team in order to shape the University of Bremen together with all members of the university over the next few years. The new University Executive Board has a diverse composition: Jutta Günther is the first woman to be President of the University of Bremen. She was admitted to study via a “second-chance” education pathway. With Mandy Boehnke, a representative of the so-called central academic structure will be represented as Vice President in the University Executive Board for the first time (which includes all nonprofessorial academic employees); she grew up in Saxony in East Germany and studied in Chemnitz. Michal Kucera grew up in the Czech Republic and has held several international positions as an academic. Maren Petersen was born in Bremerhaven and calls the northern German region her home.
At the inauguration in the cafeteria, Bremen Mayor and alumnus Dr. Andreas Bovenschulte said: “I am convinced that Jutta Günther is an excellent choice for the upcoming change process to which the university is committed. She is highly qualified in the field and has Bremen in her heart. The fact that a woman is at the helm of the university for the first time sends out an excellent and important signal.”
Senator Dr. Claudia Schilling commented: “With the inauguration of Professor Günther, I am particularly pleased that we are placing the responsibility for the future of our university in the hands of a renowned academic and highly motivated university manager. What I particularly welcome is the fact that a woman is at the helm for the first time in the history of the University of Bremen. More specifically, we are speaking not just of one woman – but with Frauke Meyer as Director of Finance and Administration and two Vice Presidents, there are three other women on the University Executive Board. For me, this is proof of the university’s forward-looking strategy.”
“I warmly welcome our new President and the new Vice Presidents to the University Executive Board and look forward to working with them,” said Director of Finance and Administration Frauke Meyer, who has been a member of the Board since January 2021.
“I would like to thank all members of the university as well as the mayor and the senator for their trust,” stated Jutta Günther. “It is a great honor for the new Vice Presidents and me to strategically develop the university and assume responsibility.”
The Academic Senate had already elected the new President in March and had unanimously accepted the proposals of the then President, Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter, for the three new Vice Presidents in June.
Sustainability, Climate Justice, and Climate Neutrality
Important topics for the University Executive Board team will be sustainability, climate justice, and climate neutrality. At a meeting in the summer, the Academic Senate had already clearly committed itself to these objectives and A commission for sustainability is working on developing a sustainability strategy for the university. Moreover, the university mission statement is being revised accordingly by a working group headed by the new President.
Gratitude to the Former President and Long-Standing Vice Presidents
The predecessor of Professor Jutta Günther, who is regarded as a highly successful President and academic, advanced a number of important projects that have sustainably strengthened the University of Bremen – both nationally and internationally. Professor Jutta Günther thanks her predecessor Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter: “The university has evolved in many ways over the past decade and has become more international. Bernd Scholz-Reiter significantly shaped the vision of a European university and positioned us strategically with the U Bremen Research Alliance.”
“I am delighted about the composition of the new University Executive Board and wish Jutta Günther and the entire University Executive Board team all the best for your work at the University of Bremen,” says Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter. He was honored with a celebratory farewell at the end of June and retired at the end of August.
With the change in the office of President, long-standing Vice Presidents Professor Eva-Maria Feichtner and Professor Thomas Hoffmeister also resigned from their office on September 1 and October 1, 2022, respectively. The former Vice President for Research and Transfer has been held by the current President, Professor Jutta Günther, since 2020.
“I would like to thank Eva-Maria Feichtner and Thomas Hoffmeister for their commitment to the University of Bremen,” says Jutta Günther. “During their term of office, they invested a great deal of time and effort in advancing the University of Bremen.” This was a particular challenge, especially during the pandemic with lockdowns and periods of working from home.
Professor Eva-Maria Feichtner was Vice President International and Diversity for five years. During her term of office, she played a key role in initiating and shaping the European university alliance – Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) – with all partners. The four-year follow-up application for the project was recently approved by the European Commission in July.
Professor Thomas Hoffmeister has been Vice President Academic since 2014. He supported the University of Bremen through the critical months of the pandemic with great personal commitment and professional expertise in teaching and education. Thomas Hoffmeister was committed to establishing “research-based learning” as an essential feature of teaching at the University of Bremen. In the area of quality management, he was responsible for the university’s system accreditation in 2016 and reaccreditation in 2022. His main concerns were the academic success of STEM subjects and, most recently, the digital transformation of teaching.
Further Information:
Find out more about the new University Executive Board and its members: www.uni-bremen.de/universitaet/organisation/rektorat
You can watch a video with our new University Executive Board here: https://youtu.be/kM0usWKKOFk
Contact:
Professor Jutta Günther
President of the University of Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-60011
Email: rektorinprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
