Following a proposal by President Prof Dr Dr Hans Michael Piper, the University Senate today confirmed German studies expert Prof Dr Sabine Kyora as Vice President for Studies, Teaching and Gender Equality, linguist Prof Dr Esther Ruigendijk as Vice President for Young Academics and International Affairs and physicist Prof Dr Martin Holthaus as Vice President for Research and Transfer. They replace Prof Dr Katharina Al-Shamery, Prof Dr Gunilla Budde and Prof Dr Bernd Siebenhüner. The vote of the University Senate, together with the opinion of the University Council, which also met today, will be submitted to the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science for a decision. The two-year term of office of the part-time Vice Presidents is expected to begin on 1 January 2016.
University President Piper said that he was very much looking forward to working with the three proven and knowledgeable individuals and the full-time Vice President for Administration and Finance, Jörg Stahlmann, to further advance the university in the future.
Kyora, who will take over the "Studies, Teaching and Gender equality" department, emphasised at the hearing in the University Senate that joint research is a benefit for both students and teaching staff. It is therefore important to further expand research-oriented learning. In addition, studying abroad for periods of time should become even more of a matter of course. The millions in funding recently obtained from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the "Teacher Training Quality Initiative" offers the opportunity to further strengthen the university's "traditionally innovative teacher training". The aim is to develop specialised, didactic and pedagogical solutions for inclusion and multilingualism in the classroom and to prepare future teachers for current teaching challenges. With regard to Gender equality, she emphasised that the university is already excellently positioned as a family-friendly university. "Nevertheless, we could provide even better support for students who have children or are caring for family members, for example," explained Kyora.
Ruigendijk, future Vice President for Young Academics and International Affairs, explained in her speech that she can and will build on what has already been achieved. This includes, above all, the Graduate Academy and the two Graduate Schools, which she intends to consistently develop further. Current nationwide discussions showed that the situation of doctoral candidates and young academics in particular needed to be clarified and improved. Issues such as the scope and duration of contracts and teaching commitments are at the centre of this. In addition, the university has a greater responsibility than ever to highlight career prospects after the doctorate - be it in science or business. It also wants to recruit young international talent in an even more targeted manner. Internationalisation is a cross-sectional task that affects all areas of the university. She will work to increase the international visibility of the university - in studies, in teaching and especially in the area of young academics.
In his speech to the University Senate, Holthaus emphasised that his area of responsibility, "Research and Transfer", is closely linked to the other departments. Examples of this include all tasks relating to early career researchers and research-oriented teaching. He is counting on teamwork to tackle the cross-cutting tasks that lie ahead. With regard to his department, he will work hard to initiate new research projects, particularly within the framework of research networks. These are particularly innovative and forward-looking with their interdisciplinary approaches - whether at regional, national or international level. He is also paying particular attention to the next round of the Excellence Initiative. Holthaus' goal is forward-looking research planning in order to "optimally harmonise the use of funds and development opportunities". This also includes, for example, identifying potential obstacles to research. He cited an adequate and modern infrastructure as a basic prerequisite for outstanding research work and results.
About the people:
Prof Dr Sabine Kyora has been a university lecturer in Modern German Literature at the University of Oldenburg since 2002. She is co-applicant and, since 2015, deputy spokesperson of the Research Training Group "Self-Formations" funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). She was Dean of School III - School of Linguistics and Cultural Studies from 2012 to 2015 and is currently Vice Dean. Kyora studied German Studies, Literature and History in Hamburg and Bielefeld. She completed her doctorate and habilitation at Bielefeld University, where she subsequently worked as a university lecturer.
Prof. Dr Esther Ruigendijk has been a university lecturer in Dutch linguistics at the University of Oldenburg since 2005. Since 2012, she has been a leading researcher in the "Hearing4all" cluster of excellence. The Vice Dean of School III - School of Linguistics and Cultural Studies studied Dutch Linguistics and Literature at the University of Groningen (Netherlands), where she also completed her doctorate in 2002. Before being appointed junior professor at the University of Oldenburg in 2005, she was a research assistant at the University of Utrecht. She was honoured with the Lower Saxony Science Prize and the University's Teaching Prize.
Prof Dr Martin Holthaus has been a lecturer in Theoretical Physics at the University of Oldenburg since 2000. From 2011 to 2013, he was Dean of School V - School of Mathematics and Science. He studied physics in Münster and Bonn, where he also completed his doctorate. In 1996, he habilitated at the University of Marburg. Before accepting the call to Oldenburg, he was a university lecturer and Heisenberg scholarship holder at the University of Munich. Holthaus has received several awards, including from the British Institute of Physics (IOP) and the American Physical Society (APS). He is also the editor in charge of the Zeitschrift für Naturforschung A.
