New Vice Rector for Teaching and Curricular Affairs elected
In its meeting on 26 June 2019, the Senate of the University of Konstanz elected a new vice rector: Konstanz law professor Michael Stürner will begin his tenure as Vice Rector for Teaching and Curricular Affairs on 1 October 2019.
Michael Stürner will join the Rectorate for the next three years as its fourth Vice Rector. Current Vice Rector for Teaching and Curricular Affairs, Professor Malte Drescher, will assume the role of Vice Rector for Research and Academic Staff Development.
The election became necessary because the current Vice Rector for Research and Academic Staff Development, Professor Dirk Leuffen, is stepping down from this position on 30 September 2019. After four years in office, Leuffen will now renew his focus on research and teaching. Starting 1 October 2019, Professor Malte Drescher from the Department of Chemistry will become the new Vice Rector for Research and Academic Staff Development after serving as Vice Rector for Teaching and Curricular Affairs since 2018. "I congratulate Professor Stürner on his election and welcome him into the Rectorate team. At the same time, I would like to thank Professor Leuffen for his firm commitment, active support and creative contributions to our university in the context of the Excellence Strategy competition and beyond", emphasizes Professor Kerstin Krieglstein, the Rector of the University of Konstanz.
By virtue of his office, the Vice Rector for Teaching and Curricular Affairs chairs both the Committee on Curricular Affairs and Life-Long Learning (ALW) and the university’s Central Examination Board. He will continue to serve on the board of the Binational School of Education (BiSE), on the board of the Language Institute (SLI), and as chair of the Academy for Advanced Studies at the University of Konstanz (AWW).
Since 2012, Professor Michael Stürner has been a professor of civil law, international private and civil procedural law, and comparative law at the University of Konstanz. His research focuses on cross-border private legal transactions, especially legislative alignment through soft law, transnational mediation in judicial and extrajudicial proceedings as well as the Europeanization of contract law. He has been serving as dean of studies in the University of Konstanz’s Department of Law since 2017. Additionally, Michael Stürner is a judge at the Oberlandesgericht (higher regional court) in Karlsruhe since 2013. He provides expert advice to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection of the German Bundestag, the EU Commission and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Stürner is also a member of the DAAD’s LL.M. selection committee and the Extended Plenary Assembly of the University of Konstanz’s Cluster of Excellence "Cultural Foundations of Social Integration".
Professor Malte Drescher has been Professor of Spectroscopy of Complex Systems at the University of Konstanz since 2015 and a member of the Rectorate since 2018. He received one of the coveted Heisenberg professorships from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and works in the field of physical chemistry at the Department of Chemistry. Malte Drescher used an Emmy Noether scholarship to establish his research team at the University of Konstanz in 2008 and was awarded a Heisenberg scholarship in 2014. He is also a project coordinator in two of the University of Konstanz’s Collaborative Research Centres. In 2017, he was honoured with an ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC).
Key facts:
- Professor Michael Stürner elected Vice Rector for Teaching and Curricular Affairs. Tenure to begin 1 October 2019.
- Current Vice Rector for Teaching and Curricular Affairs, Professor Malte Drescher, to become Vice Rector for Research and Academic Staff Development on 1 October 2019 following Professor Dirk Leuffen, who is stepping down form this position on 30 September 2019.
- Starting 1 October 2019, the University of Konstanz’s Vice Rectors will be: Professor Silvia Mergenthal, Vice Rector for International Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Professor Malte Drescher, Vice Rector for Research and Academic Staff Development, Professor Marc H. Scholl, Vice Rector for Information and Communication Technology / CIO, and Professor Michael Stürner, Vice Rector for Teaching and Curricular Affairs.