New Executive Board at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences

Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences has a new Executive Board. Three new vice-presidents will be joining President Dr Oliver Locker-Grütjen and Chancellor Michael Strotkemper: Professor PD Dr Tatiana Zimenkova, Professor Dr-Ing. Peter Kisters and Professor Jörg Petri.

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The Rhine-Waal University Electoral Assembly has approved the election of three new vice-presidents to the Executive Board of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. In addition to President Dr Oliver Locker-Grütjen and Chancellor Michael Strotkemper, the new Executive Board will include Professor PD Dr Tatiana Zimenkova as Vice-President for Internationalisation and Diversity; Professor Jörg Petri as Vice-President for Studies, Teaching and Continuing Training; and Professor Dr-Ing. Peter Kisters as Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Transfer. The latter two offices remain unchanged in their thematic focus from the previous Executive Board. “Professor Petri and Professor Kisters will, however, approach their areas of responsibility from new angles to continue the successful development of our University. Important objectives will be increasing student retention rates and strengthening our potential for research, innovation and collaboration with other organisations and institutions,” explained Dr Locker-Grütjen. The third office of vice-president has undergone significant thematic restructuring to better complement the other two offices. “Forming a third pillar, the new office is dedicated to internationalisation and diversity, which are key emphasis areas of our University. These areas offer great potential as unique features of our University, and Professor Zimenkova will focus on encouraging that potential. This new Executive Board configuration also reflects a broader collegial network among the vice-presidents, as each office represents core themes that permeate the entire University,” said Dr Locker-Grütjen. The new Executive Board will be officially constituted on 1 September 2019. The previous Executive Board will remain active until then.

Professor Jörg Petri

Born in Neckarau, a district of Mannheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Professor Petri began his academic career with an apprenticeship as a typesetter and a degree in informatics from the Technische Fachhochschule Berlin. He earned his PhD from HBK Braunschweig in 2019 with his work on typographical classifications. Between the years of 2005 and 2010, Professor Petri worked for HBK Braunschweig in the university’s specialist committee for typography and book design. At the same time, he worked, and continues to work, as an independent graphic artist, designer and typographer.

In 2010 Professor Petri was appointed Professor for Media Production in the Faculty of Communication and Environment of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. He is also a member of the University’s Senate and Commission for Planning and Construction. Professor Petri is active in a number of notable extramural organisations, including the German Institute for Standardisation (DIN), where he is a member of the Standardisation Committee, the German Society for Design Research and Transfer (DGTF) and the International Institute for Information Design (IIID).

Professor Petri has been elected Vice-President for Studies, Teaching and Continuing Training at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. His duties will include promoting teaching quality, improving academic conditions and developing steps to improve the academic success of students at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.

Professor Dr-Ing. Peter Kisters

A native of the Lower Rhine from the nearby city of Geldern, Professor Dr-Ing. Peter Kisters studied mechanical engineering at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), holding various positions in the Department of Drive Engineering and Material Handling Systems from 1996 and eventually earning a doctorate in mechanical engineering in 2001. From 2001 to 2004, Professor Kisters headed the Department of Development and Computation at the IBAF Institute for Construction Machinery, Drive Engineering and Material Handling Systems in Bochum, Germany. Afterwards, he joined AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH in Rheinberg, Germany, where he headed the company’s research and development into material handling and conveying systems designed for use in the cement industry, power plants and the steel industry, and was responsible for patents and trademarks as well.

Since 2011, Professor Kisters has taught and researched in Faculty of Technology and Bionics of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences as a Professor for Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis on Product Design. In his first five years with Rhine-Waal University, Professor Kisters also held an endowed professorship of regional industry. At the moment he holds the office of vice-dean in his faculty and is the head of the degree programme Mechanical Engineering, B.Sc. In addition, Professor Kisters is a member of the board of education and science of the Lower Rhine branch of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) and a jury member for “Schüler machen MINT”, an annual junior engineering competition for regional schools organised by the Duisburg Business Association.

Professor Kisters has been elected Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Transfer at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. His areas of responsibility will include promoting and establishing new and existing cross-faculty research and developing custom-tailored research funding and services for professors. Promoting exchanges of knowledge and experience and exploring new collaborative opportunities with businesses, schools and other stakeholders in society will also make up core responsibilities of his office.

Professor PD Dr Tatiana Zimenkova

Born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, Professor PD Dr Tatiana Zimenkova began her academic career studying sociology at the State University of St. Petersburg, before earning her doctorate in 2006 from the Institute for Science and Technology Studies at the University of Bielefeld, Germany. After her doctorate, she taught and researched at the University of Bielefeld, chiefly in the areas of political participation and women's community education. From 2005 to 2012, Professor Zimenkova was the Appointed Representative of the German Director of the ZDES (Centre for German and European Studies in Bielefeld/St Petersburg). In 2014, she accepted a position as assistant professor for the Centre of Expertise for Teacher Training and Teaching and Education Research (DoKoLL), based at the Technical University of Dortmund, where she taught diversity and differentiation in teaching methodologies and conducted empirical research into teaching and schools. She earned her post-doctoral Habilitation, the highest academic qualification in Germany that entitles her to teach at any university in the country, at the Faculty of Sociology of the University of Bielefeld in 2016 and works as a consultant in the areas of “Diversity and Police” and “Diversity and Schools”.

Since 2018 Professor Zimenkova works as a Professor for Sociology at the Faculty of Society and Economics of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. She is a member of both the Faculty Council and, outside of the University, the extended managing board of the German Society for Political Education for North Rhine-Westphalia (DVPB NRW). Professor Zimenkova is also active in various other extramural organisations and societies as well, for example the European Sociological Association and the Society for Political Didactics and Political Education for Youths and Adults.

Professor Zimenkova has been elected Vice-President for Internationalisation and Diversity. Her responsibilities will include the promotion and expansion of diversity throughout the University and strengthening the internationality of the institution as a whole.

A selection committee was formed ahead of the election of the new vice-presidents. It consisted of an equal number of members pulled from both the Board of Governors and the Senate. The committee was responsible for finding and proposing suitable candidates for election to the Rhine-Waal University Electoral Assembly. “I am very pleased that the Electoral Assembly agreed with the recommendations of the selection committee. It shows that every participant in the process was convinced that the right choices were made. Chancellor Michael Strotkemper and me, we congratulate all three candidates on their election. With this new Executive Board we will be able to successfully continue the development of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences,” said President Locker-Grütjen, who is looking forward to working together with the new vice-presidents.

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