Prof. Dr. René Matzdorf new Vice President of the University of Kassel

Matzdorf takes over Hänlein's responsibilities, including the areas of study and teaching as well as teacher training and evaluation of university services. The experimental physicist was previously dean of students in the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The term is three years and begins April 1, 2017, and Matzdorf was the only candidate.

Matzdorf (52) has a distinct Kassel past: born in the northern Hessian metropolis, he studied at the local university, earning his doctorate and habilitation in 1997. After working in the U.S., he took up a professorship in Würzburg in 2000. He returned in 2003 and has since headed the Surface Physics Department at the University of Kassel. He has been a board member of the Center for Teacher Education since 2011 and its vice chairman since 2015. Matzdorf has also been dean of students in the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences since 2010. His other offices include chair of the accreditation commission of the ASIIN agency.

The university's president, Prof. Dr. Reiner Finkeldey, was pleased with the approval for Matzdorf, whom he had proposed to the Extended Senate as vice president. "With Mr. Matzdorf, the Executive Board once again gains a member who has many years of profound experience in the development of study programs. Through his involvement in a nationwide accreditation agency, he also brings an outside perspective. Both will be of great benefit to us in our goal of continuously improving the quality of studies at our university. In addition, Mr. Matzdorf will also bring valuable input from the Center for Teacher Education." Teacher education is one of the university's focal points; about one in five students is studying to become a teacher.

At the same time, Finkeldey thanked the retiring Vice President Hänlein for six years of work in the presidium: "With your objective, always thoughtful manner, you have helped shape the fortunes of our university and have rendered outstanding services in particular to the further development of the quality of studies. In addition, the entire Presidential Board has benefited enormously from your experiential knowledge over the past year." In 2015, Finkeldey himself, Chancellor Dr. Oliver Fromm, Vice President Prof. Dr. Ute Clement and Vice President Prof. Dr. Arno Ehresmann were four of the five new members of the presidium. "We will miss you - but we know you are close by when we need your advice." Hänlein (57) had not stood for re-election because he wants to concentrate in future on research and teaching in his specialist area of business, labor and social law.

Contact:

Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communications, Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 561 804-1961
E-mail: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
www.uni-kassel.de
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