Change in the Senate chairmanship

Kleve/Kamp-Lintfort, 1 April 2016: “We are delighted to have found in Prof. Kehrein a highly capable successor to the post of Chair of the Senate. I look forward to working with him in the future and am confident that we will be able to build seamlessly on the successful work carried out by Prof. Klapdor to date,” said University President Dr Heide Naderer following the Senate meeting.

Prof. Kehrein, who has served as an elected representative for the group of university lecturers since the Senate’s inception and held the post of Deputy Chair of the Senate during the previous term of office, has been Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Faculty of Technology and Bionics at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences since 2011. A father of two, he was born in Goch and has strong ties to the region, whilst also possessing international experience. He studied in three different countries, in three languages.

After completing his degree in Mathematics with a minor in Physics at the University of Duisburg – including a one-year Erasmus placement at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium – Prof. Kehrein spent three years conducting doctoral research at Auburn University in the USA. He subsequently worked as a research assistant at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, as a research assistant at Dortmund Technical University, as a Senior Research Mathematician at the research centre of Shell International Exploration and Production in Rijswijk, the Netherlands, and as a lecturer on special assignments at the Technical University of Wildau in Brandenburg.

In 2011, he returned to his home region following his appointment at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences. In addition to his role as a professor at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, he is a lecturer for the hdw network (Further Training in University Teaching) of the universities of applied sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia and a voluntary lecturer at the annual, week-long summer academy organised by the North Rhine-Westphalia State Association for Mathematics Competitions in Kranenburg (www.soak-nrw.de). At the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences’ Children’s University, he presented ‘Mathematics to colour in, cut out and touch’ and is actively involved in the university’s partnership with Goch Grammar School, where he regularly teaches in the school’s maths club. Among other things, the club prepares pupils for participation in the Mathematics Olympiad and the National Mathematics Competition. 

 “My aim is to carry out the challenging organisational and leadership tasks professionally and effectively, and I am particularly looking forward to working with Mr Kamelski. I supported his election as Deputy Chair of the Senate because it is important to me that highly motivated and high-achieving students help shape our university and receive special support,” says Prof. Kehrein, Chair of the Senate.

Tobias Kamelski, a fourth-semester student on the “Gender and Diversity” programme at the Faculty of Society and Economics, was born in Moers and has been living in Kevelaer for six years now. After obtaining his university entrance qualification at the Vocational College for Technology in Moers, he first completed extended military service before beginning his studies at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.

Tobias Kamelski has served as an elected student representative on the Senate since March 2015 and is now in his second term of office. He has also been involved as a tutor at the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences’ Welcome Centre since September 2014, where, amongst other things, he supports students with administrative and social issues. “Being elected Deputy Chair of the Senate is a great pleasure for me, both in practical and symbolic terms. I would like to use this opportunity to work alongside Prof. Kehrein to make the Senate’s work even more transparent for all groups at our university,” says Tobias Kamelski.

As the university’s central governing body, the Senate is entrusted with various tasks. Together with the University Council, it forms the University Electoral Assembly, which elects the members of the Executive Board and comments on the Executive Board’s annual report. It is responsible for enacting the university’s constitution and other regulations, and issues recommendations and statements, such as on the draft university development plan or the university agreement between Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences and the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.