Press release: University Senate decides about personnel

No. 180 - 18.09.2019

Reinhard Jahn takes over President's duties - Peter Strohschneider becomes a member of the University Foundation Committee

At its meeting today, the Senate of the University of Göttingen unanimously agreed that Professor Reinhard Jahn should be entrusted with the rights and duties of President for a period of approximately one year starting on 1 December 2019. Jahn's appointment is intended to bridge the period until a new president takes up office. The University Foundation Committee still has to confirm the vote. 

Reinhard Jahn, born in 1950, is a neurobiologist and emeritus director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen. He is an honorary professor and alumnus of the University of Göttingen, where he studied biology and chemistry and where he also completed his doctorate. Jahn was Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen from 1997 to 2019 and has been awarded many important prizes and distinctions. In fact, this spring (2019) he received the University medal Aureus Gottingensis for his outstanding commitment to the Göttingen Campus and his support of early career scientists.

In addition, the Senate today unanimously approved the appointment by the Niedersachsen Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK) of Professor Peter Strohschneider as a new member of the University of Göttingen Foundation Committee with effect from 1 January 2020.

The MWK appoints the five external members of the University Foundation Committee in agreement with the Senate. The election of the new chair is made by the members of the University Foundation Committee. Membership of the University Foundation Committee also means membership of the Foundation Council.

Strohschneider is President of the German Research Foundation (DFG) until the end of the year. He was previously Chairman of the German Science Council from 2006 to 2011.

Professor Barbara Ischinger has taken on responsibility as deputy chair until the election of a new chair of the University Foundation Committee.