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Among other things, the University Council advises the university on strategic issues. Photo: Constanze Böttcher / University of Oldenburg
Newly constituted University Council begins its work
It brings together seven personalities from science, business and culture in a central advisory and supervisory body of the university: the University Council. At the constituent meeting, the committee elected Felix Thalmann as Chair.
Three new external members have joined the University Council for the next four years: Potsdam climate researcher Prof Dr Ottmar Edenhofer, CEWE board member Dr Christian Friege and former Groningen University President Prof Dr Sibrandes Poppema. They replace the Chairman of the University Council Jörg Waskönig after nine years, Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Wilhelm Schmitz after four years and Prof Dr Dorothea Wagner after six years in office.
The marine biologist Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Karin Lochte - like BÜFA Managing Director Felix Thalmann - has been an external member of the Board since 2018 and will remain on the Board for the next four years. Theologian Prof Dr Andrea Strübind and Prof Dr Tina Cornelius-Krügel, representing the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK), will continue to complete the University Council as internal members.
Thalmann said he was delighted to have been elected Chair - "and to be able to support the university in an advisory capacity in this honorary role. We find ourselves in challenging times in which the knowledge transfer between research and industry in particular must develop more dynamically." Only through continuous dialogue can good, sustainable and future-proof solutions be found together and the innovative strength of our region strengthened, says Thalmann. "At the same time, these networks help to make our north-west more attractive as a location for young talent as well as subjects and managers. I would like to drive this important course forward."
The University Council has been advising the Presidential Board and University Senate on economic and strategic issues since 2003. Among other things, it gives its opinion on the establishment of or participation in companies, target agreements and the University Senate's proposals for the appointment of members of the Executive Board.
The outgoing members of the University Council deserve great thanks for their commitment and constructive work together for the good of the University, explained University President Prof Dr Ralph Bruder. This applies in particular to the long-standing Chairman of the University Council, Jörg Waskönig, to whom the University of Oldenburg owes a great debt of gratitude.
On the occasion of the newly constituted University Council, Bruder said: "When making decisions on key issues at the University, we need an outside perspective. The University Council provides this view and is at our side when it comes to important decisions and the further development of the university. We look forward to working together with our committed and renowned advisors."
Prof Dr Tina Cornelius-Krügel heads the Higher Education Department of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK) and is the Ministry's representative on the University Council. She studied Law in Hanover and subsequently obtained a Master of Law in Legal Informatics. After gaining a doctorate in law, she worked as a lawyer and university lecturer in Hanover before being appointed junior professor at the University of Hanover in 2014 and then appointed to the professorship for technology and data protection law in 2020. In the same year, she moved to the MWK, where she became head of the department in 2021.
Prof Dr Ottmar Edenhofer is one of the world's leading experts on the economics of climate change. He teaches and conducts research at the Technical University of Berlin, is Director and Chief Economist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Founding Director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) in Berlin. Edenhofer studied economics and philosophy in Munich. During his studies, he founded his own company and a humanitarian aid organisation in Bosnia before completing his doctorate at the Technical University of Darmstadt. He was Co-Chair of Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2008 to 2015 and contributes his expertise in an advisory capacity in many places, including the newly founded EU Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change.
Dr Christian Friege has been a member of the Board of Management of the Neumüller CEWE COLOR Foundation, which manages the CEWE Group, since 2016. He has been Chairman of the Board of Management since 2017. Friege studied Business Administration at the University of Mannheim and received his doctorate from the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in 1995. Before coming to Oldenburg as a manager, he worked for companies including Bertelsmann, debitel and LichtBlick. In the meantime, he worked as a freelance management consultant and lecturer.
Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Karin Lochte headed the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven (AWI) from 2007 to 2017 and taught and researched at the University of Bremen. Before her time as AWI Director, she headed the Biological Oceanography Section at the Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde from 1995 to 2000 and then the Biological Oceanography Research Unit at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at Kiel University. The University of Oldenburg awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2012.
Prof Dr Sibrandes Poppema is President of Sunway University in Malaysia, where he initially acted as a consultant for the establishment of a School of Medicine from 2019. Previously, the pathologist was President of the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen for ten years, with which the University of Oldenburg has been working closely for more than 40 years. Poppema himself studied medicine in Groningen and gained his doctorate in immunopathology there before conducting postdoctoral research in Kiel and Harvard. He has also taught and conducted research as a professor in Alberta, Canada. Poppema has already received many honours, including the University Medal of the University of Oldenburg in 2018.
After working in Berlin, Lüneburg and Heidelberg,Prof Dr Andrea Strübind has been a university lecturer in church history and historical theology at the University of Oldenburg since 2006. She is also Chair of the Intercultural Jewish Studies Centre. She was Dean of School IV - School of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2013 to 2017 and has been Director of the Institute of Theology and Religious Education since 2017.
The new Chair of the University Council, Felix Thalmann, studied mechanical and process engineering as well as combined engineering, specialising in marketing and business administration. After working in international management at the consumer goods group Unilever, he moved to Oldenburg to join the management and Board of Directors of CEWE. Felix Thalmann has been Chair of the Management Board of BÜFA-Holding since the beginning of 2014.
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