The two long-standing Vice Presidents, Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Dallmann and Prof. Dr. Andreas Gissel, left office at the university's New Year's reception on January 14, 2019. Prof. Dr. Edith Rüger-Muck took over from Prof. Dr. Gissel as Vice President for International Affairs and Diversity on February 1, 2019, and Prof. Dr. Ellen Bareis took over from Prof. Dr. Ulrich Dallmann as Vice President for Education, Quality Management and Arts and Culture on March 1 of this year.
Vice President for Studies andEducation, Quality Management and Arts and Culture:
Prof. Dr. Ellen Bareis
Prof. Dr. Ellen Bareis, born in 1967, has been Vice President for Studies and Education, Quality Management and the newly created Arts and Culture department since March 1, 2019. The doctor of sociology and Professor of Social Exclusion and Participation at the Department of Social and Health Sciences is thus moving from the Dean's Office of the Department, which she led for four years, to the central management level. An important part of her new role will be to continue to fill the new university name with content in dialog with the committees and teaching staff: "We want to continuously develop the strategic orientation of the university, which is reflected in the renaming at the beginning of the year, and work more intensively on the formats that interlink the individual Departments. A first successful example of this is the good performance of our "Social Innovation Hub" project in a competition organized by the Stifterverband and the Daniel Schwarz Foundation," explains Bareis. This involves the interdisciplinary and cooperative processing of socially and economically challenging issues in research and education, especially in a regional context.
At the same time, in the area of studies and education, she is concerned with expanding special forms of teaching and learning in terms of university didactics, such as "research-based learning". In the area of study programs, Bareis is focusing on the further development of healthcare degree programs: "We want to make our offerings in the areas of nursing and midwifery, for example, even more visible and a Master's program in this area is also currently in the works," says Bareis.
Vice President for International Affairs and Diversity:
Prof. Dr. Edith Rüger-Muck
Prof. Dr. Edith Rüger-Muck, born in 1973, has been Vice President for International Affairs and Diversity since February 1, 2019 and is responsible for International Affairs, International Contacts and - as a new part - Diversity. With a doctorate in business administration, she has experience in committee work and international exchange as head of the Master's degree course in International Marketing Management and as a long-standing member of the Senate and Faculty Council: "I have already worked closely with Ms Gallenstein and her team from International Affairs in the past and look forward to continuing to work together," says Edith Rüger-Muck.
Rüger-Muck would like to focus her work on increasing student and lecturer mobility and further expanding international partnerships: "I am primarily concerned with improving the quality of existing partnerships, but also with acquiring new partner universities, including in English-speaking countries," explains Edith Rüger-Muck. The new Vice President would also like to increase the number of double degree programs. In spring 2018, she was already able to initiate a double degree program for students on her Master's degree program in cooperation with the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) near Brisbane (Australia), which gives students a degree from USC for the Master of International Business in addition to their degree from HWG LU.
When asked about the new "Diversity" area, Edith-Rüger-Muck relies on close cooperation with the university's Equal Opportunities Officer, Prof. Dr. Elke Raum: "Prof. Dr. Raum and her team from the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Coordination Office already cover a wide range of areas with a focus on equality, family friendliness and accessibility. I therefore see my part in particular in the area of interculturality," says Rüger-Muck.
