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Kerstin Krieglstein to be rector of the University of Freiburg

Senate and University Council elect former dean of the Faculty of Medicine

Freiburg, May 27, 2020

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On 1st October 2020 the first female rector in the history of the University of Freiburg will assume office: the Senate and University Council have elected Prof. Dr. Kerstin Krieglstein, rector of the University of Konstanz and former dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Freiburg, for a period of six years. “I thank the electoral bodies for this clear vote and the confidence they have shown in me. I am extremely delighted as rector for the next period of office to lead the University of Freiburg into the future,” says Krieglstein.

“Working conscientiously, the Selection Committee proposed the candidates that appeared far and away the most suitable for the office from the applications received,” says Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Barner, chair of the University Council and the Selection Committee. “Kerstin Krieglstein has experience as a rector of a leading university, comes from Life Sciences – a particularly important field of research at the University of Freiburg – and her experience and personality represent the close partnership of the University Medical Center. The vote of the electoral bodies has confirmed this assessment, and I am sure that the University of Freiburg by electing her rector has made an excellent choice for the future.”

Kerstin Krieglstein has been rector at the University of Konstanz since 1st August 2018. She studied Chemistry and Pharmacy, completed her PhD at the University of Marburg in Pharmacology in 1990 and took her postdoctoral lecturing qualification in Anatomy and Cellular Biology at the University of Heidelberg in 1997. After holding chairs at the University of Göttingen and the University of the Saarland, in 2007 she took up the Chair of Anatomy at the University of Freiburg. In 2013 the Faculty of Medicine here elected her its first salaried dean. She held this post from 1st April 2014 until her move to Konstanz and was at the same time a member of the board of the Freiburg University Medical Center. In addition she has been a member of the German National Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina since 2007.

“My vision for the future of the University of Freiburg is to strengthen our competitiveness and further develop its leading position both nationally and internationally. Naturally this has to result in the success of the Excellence Strategy in the University of Excellence funding line in 2026. So it is important to me to develop the university with special attention to strengthening cutting-edge research and the university’s ability to renew established performance dimensions. In addition I want to make the University of Freiburg more visible and indispensable to the innovation cycle and the sustainability of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg,” Kerstin Krieglstein says of her project for the University of Freiburg.

“I congratulate my colleague Kerstin Krieglstein on her election,” says Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Schiewer, rector of the University of Freiburg, whose period in office ends on 30th September 2020. “I wish her good luck at all times and every success in the task of continuing to lead the University of Freiburg into a successful future.” Schiewer did not put himself forward for a third period in office. On 1st October 2020 he will be reassuming the Chair of Medieval German Studies.

“Under Schiewer the Rectorate stood for the transition to a new university culture with the theme of ‘Connecting Creative Minds’,” says Andreas Barner, “It intensified networking with universities and research institutes in the region and with strategic partners worldwide and significantly boosted the development of a European university with the associations Eucor – The European Campus and the European Partnership for an Innovative Campus Unifying Regions, or EPICUR for short.” The cooperation with the Fraunhofer Society is a national model for success and led in 2015 to the establishment of the joint High-Performance Center Sustainability as well as a joint Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering. Thanks to the support of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, in 2020 the world-renowned Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) was transferred to core funding. With the opening of the Student Service Center, the new University Library and the foundation of the University College Freiburg, Schiewer’s Rectorate also modernized study conditions and gave a groundbreaking and innovative boost to teaching. “The University of Freiburg has been in the top group of German universities for many years in the major international rankings because of its track record – with particular success in funding programs for outstanding researchers at an early stage in their careers.”

 

Press photo for download 
Photo: Patrick Seeger