First Session of the New University Council: HG Merz Selected as Chairperson

"It is a great honor for me to be selected as a member of the university council of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar", said Prof. Merz about his selection for chairperson. "As an architect, the names Bauhaus and Bauhaus-Universität Weimar have a special resonance and a singular meaning, because they reflect a long tradition. A tradition in Weimar is the Avant Garde of yesterday. It can be a burden, but it shouldn't be. We would like to help take on this responsibility. The current university council is very interdisciplinary, which is exactly what we would like to promote here at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar – the joint creativity of the disciplines.«

Prof. Hans Günter Merz was born in 1947 in Tailfingen and works as an architect and museum designer in Stuttgart and Berlin. In addition, he holds a chair at the Technical University of Darmstadt. The deputy chairperson, Prof. Dr. Christiane Voss, has taught since 2010 as a professor for Philosophy of Audio-Visual Media at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

The university council, as stipulated by Thüringian university laws, is composed of six members with voting rights. Four of the members are external and two are internal.

Prof. HG Merz, architect and museum designer (chairperson of the university council )
Prof. Dr. Christiane Voss, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Chair, Philosophy of Audio-Visual Media (deputy chairperson)
Dr. Rainer Ambrosy, Registrar of the University of Duisburg -Essen
Prof. de. -Ing.  Carsten Könke, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Chair, Structural Engineering and Component Strength
Tom Tykwer, director
Franciska Zólyom, Director of the Gallery for Contemporary Art Leipzig

In addition to choosing its chairperson, the university council members learned about current topics as well as as issues about university financing. On the occasion of the first meeting of the new  members, President Prof. Dr. -Ing.  Karl Beucke emphasised: "I'm looking forward to collaboration with our new university council. The professional spectrum of the members excellently portrays the focal points of our university. We are certain that the members will be competent advisers for important pending decisions and the first conversations give me confidence that we will have constructive collaboration."

As a rule, the university council meets twice per semester.

For further questions, you can contact Barbara Michel in the Office of the University Council:

Geschäft

Office of the University Council in the President's Office
Barbara Michel

Tel. : +49 (0) 36,43 / 58,11,
E-Mail: barbara.michel@uni-weimar.de

Background

The university council is the highest committee of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and council members have a tenure of four years. Similar to a supervisory board of a company, the council has advising and/or controlling functions. Essential internal university or strategic decisions cannot take place without its approval or confirmation. Those decisions, for example, include the selection of the president and the registrar or the confirmation of structure and development plans of the university.

For the selection of the members of the university council, a selection committee was formed in 2012. It consisted of representatives of the senate, the previous university council and a representative of the Thüringian Ministry for Education, Science and Culture (TMBWK).

The selected members of the committee reflect the profile and the self-concept of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Notable figures from culture, science and economics belong to the new council and represent the disciplines of the university.

You can find biographies of the members as well as current information on the university council website:

www.uni-weimar.de/universitaetsrat