Professor Karl Beucke chosen to be the new vice-chancellor of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Professor Dr.-Ing. Karl Beucke will be appointed as new vice-chancellor of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in April 2011, succeeding the long-term vice-chancellor Prof. Dr. Gerd Zimmermann. The resolution for the new appointment was passed by the Senate on Wednesday, 1 December 2010 by secret ballot, confirming the corresponding election by the University Council.
In receiving word of the Senate's decision after its special joint session, Professor Karl Beucke expressed his appreciation, saying, »I wish to thank the University Council and the Senators for placing their trust in me. I look forward to this new task and shall take it up with the utmost responsibility. Great challenges lie ahead, and as vice-chancellor, I look forward to meeting them together with all the members of the university.«
Professor Beucke will begin a six-year term as vice-chancellor starting in the summer semester 2011. The 59-year-old has been the Dean of Research in the Executive Board of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar since 2005. As Dean of Research he significantly expanded the university's research department and improved the visibility of its research activities at the international level. He was also strongly committed to expanding scholarship funding for students in the artistic and design-related disciplines at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
Karl Beucke was appointed Chair of Information Studies in Construction at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in 1995. His main areas of research include communication in building planning and construction, network distributed collaboration in the construction sector, construction process modelling and construction-related business and management IT systems. He also supervised several important, externally-funded projects at the faculty.
Professor Beucke has an excellent relationship with internationally renowned universities, such as the University of California in San Diego and the Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In the winter semester 2006/07, he was a guest lecturer at the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California. In 2008 Professor Beucke was elected president of the International Society for Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ISCCBE).
Apart from a short hiatus, Gerd Zimmermann, Professor of Architectural Theory and Architectural History, has been the vice-chancellor of the university since 1992. At the end of his current term, he will transfer his official duties to his successor at an investiture ceremony in April 2011.