Prof. Dr. Marie-Louise Klotz

Professor Dr. Marie-Louise Klotz, a native of Aachen, Germany, began her distinguished career in academia at the renowned RWTH Aachen University, where she earned a degree in chemistry. She continued her studies in Karlsruhe at the Universität Fridericiana (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) before returning to RWTH Aachen University to earn a PhD in chemistry at the German Wool Research Institute (DWI) for her research on topochemistry in wool processing.

Professor Dr. Klotz’s career as a professor began in 1994, when she accepted a position at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Niederrhein) as Professor of Fibre Studies and Testing in the Department of Textile and Clothing Technology, recognised internationally for its unique, interdisciplinary degree programmes which combine the natural sciences, engineering, economics and design – the largest and most famous department of its kind in Europe. In 2000 she then became the department’s Professor of Textile Materials, Quality and Ecology, a professorship which she maintained until 2009.

Professor Dr. Klotz has gathered many years of extensive leadership and management experience in research and academic administration through numerous appointments and positions within both the Department of Textile and Clothing Technology and Hochschule Niederrhein. In 1996 she was appointed head of the Physical Materials Department at the faculty’s Public Institute for Textile Testing, a position which she held until 2001 when she was appointed the director of both the Public Institute for Textile Testing and the Textile and Fashion Institute.

From 1996 to 2002, Professor Dr. Klotz was the Vice-Rector for Teaching, Studies and Reform at Hochschule Niederrhein. During this time she developed and implemented numerous initiatives within the university, including a comprehensive system for evaluating the quality of teaching as well as two new, innovative degree programmes in the field of health care, which later served as the foundation for the university’s new Faculty of Health Care. As Vice-Rector Professor Dr. Klotz consistently strove to promote further education among educators and in the private sector, for example by establishing the Institute for Further Education and making significant contributions to the development of the state-wide initiative “Hochschuldidaktische Weiterbildung”, which provides a network of pedagogical training opportunities for university professors and lecturers in all of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In 2002, Professor Dr. Klotz was appointed dean of the Department of Textile and Clothing Technology. Here she was responsible for over 2,000 students from 52 countries and a staff of close to 100 professors, lecturers, research assistants and administrators. As dean she expanded the department by establishing the Research Institute for Textiles and Clothing and managing it as its first director, supported the development of a new alumni network to connect the department's some 9,000 graduates and was responsible for overseeing and implementing numerous structural changes to degree programmes in accordance with new statutory regulations implemented by the Ministry of Science of NRW.

In 2009 Professor Dr. Klotz left the Hochschule Niederrhein and was selected by the state of NRW to be the first president of the newly-established Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences in Kleve. Under her leadership, Rhine-Waal University has grown into a thriving contributor to the economic and educational landscape of the Lower Rhine region and become an internationally recognised university with cooperative agreements in Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia and an excellent network of contacts in research, economics and politics.

Professor Dr. Klotz continues to collaborate with institutions and organisations in academia and elsewhere. Since 2008, for example, she has been an official advisor to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) on the textile and garment industry in Bangladesh. In 2013, she was elected the head of the University Council of the Hochschule Fresenius, a private university of applied sciences in Cologne, Germany.