Well-known members: The University Advisory Board

Renowned experts from science and university administration

With the rector of Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Professor Jens Strackeljan, TU Ilmenau has gained a long-standing reliable partner for its University Council. Professor Strackeljan would like to contribute his extensive expertise and experience in the cooperation of technical universities and in the implementation of joint projects to his work as a member of the Ilmenau University Advisory Board: "There are long-standing cooperative relationships between the universities of Ilmenau and Magdeburg, and the university administrations have maintained a close exchange for many years. With the joint GRIAT project, this cooperation has also expanded into the international arena. As a former member of a smaller technical university, I am well aware of the challenges facing the TU Ilmenau in the coming years. Through my work on the University Advisory Board I would like to contribute to the positive development of TU Ilmenau."

Professor Birgit Dräger also combines extensive experience from top positions in teaching and research as well as in high-ranking management positions. After studying pharmacy, obtaining her doctorate and habilitation in Münster, she accepted a professorship for "Biogenic Drugs" at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in 1996. In Halle she was, among other things, Dean of the Department of Pharmacy and Managing Director of the university's Biocenter. In 2010 she was elected Prorector for Structure and Finance at MLU. With her appointment as chancellor in 2015, she moved to the top of the university administration at the University of Leipzig. In her own words, she was very happy to comply with her Ilmenau counterpart's request to serve on the TU's University Advisory Board: "I'm delighted and honoured to be able to contribute my university experience to the University Advisory Board of the TU Ilmenau."

Professor Gerhard Vowe, a nationally renowned communications and political scientist, is a member of the University Advisory Board. He also has a close connection to the TU Ilmenau. From 1997 to 2004 Professor of Politics and Media at the Institute for Media and Communication Science at the TU Ilmenau, which had been founded only two years earlier, he made important contributions to the expansion and reputation of Ilmenau's media education. In 2004, he accepted a call to Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf where he was Professor of Communication and Media Studies until 2019 and has since continued as Senior Professor. He has also been working at the Centre of Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) since 2021, a research institute newly founded by universities in North Rhine-Westphalia. Commenting on his motivation for joining the University Advisory Board, Professor Vowe says: "I am delighted to be able to play a part in further raising the profile of TU Ilmenau - a university that is of outstanding importance to the higher education landscape in germany."

Two members from the university itself with a sharpened view from "inside".

Since the recent amendment of the Thuringian Higher Education Act, the University Advisory Board also includes two members from the university itself. While the President, the chairperson of the staff council and the Equal Opportunities Officer only have advisory status, the Board includes two voting representatives from different groups within the university.

Professor Matthias Hein was elected to represent the professors. Appointed in 2003, the Head of the Department of High Frequency and Microwave Technology at the department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and Director of the Thuringian Innovation Center for Mobility (ThIMo) stands for both outstanding scientific achievements and a high level of commitment to academic self-administration and the university's strategic development planning. He brings to the work of the University Advisory Board his extensive experience from his work as a scientist, in management positions and committees of the TU Ilmenau, but also in scientific associations, working groups and industry advisory boards. He logically connects his work in the University Advisory Board with the credo: "In the connection of the viewpoints from the outside and inside lies the key for a successful development of our university."

Dr. Sandra Pöschl-Günther was appointed to the University Advisory Board as a representative of the academic staff group. The habilitated scientist is an academic councillor in the department of Media Psychology and Media Conception in the department of Business and Media. She also has a clear vision of her work on the board. "As a university councillor, I want to help our university become known nationally and internationally for outstanding research and teaching."

Bridge between Ministry and University

According to the new Thuringian Higher Education Act, which came into force in 2018, the University Advisory Board also includes a representative of the Thuringian Ministry of Economy, Science and Digital Society (TMWWDG). For TU Ilmenau this office is held by the Head of the Higher Education Department in the TMWWDG, Ministerialdirigent Peter Gemmeke. The expert in science and education policy, higher education planning/management and higher education law has held various management positions in the Thuringian Ministry of Science since 1996. Since 2014, he has been head of the Higher Education Department and thus presides over a total of five departments for higher education issues. In the University Advisory Board of TU Ilmenau, he wants to further promote the long-standing good cooperation with the university: "As a member of the University Advisory Board of TU Ilmenau, I would like to exercise a bridging function between "state and university" as a representative of the Ministry of Science, but in the interest of the entire university, to increase the flow of information and the connection to internal university procedures as well as to position the university for the future."