Professor Ulrich Rüdiger Elected Rector of RWTH for a Second Term
The University Election Assembly has voted in favor of a second term for the rector. This term shall last four years.
Professor Ulrich Rüdiger is to remain Rector of RWTH Aachen University. He was elected for a second term of four years on Thursday afternoon by the University Election Assembly, consisting of the members of the Senate and the University Board of Governors.
"Of course I am very pleased," said Ulrich Rüdiger after the election. "I have been very happy to be Rector of RWTH right from day one, and this joy also certainly applies to my second term in office. After all, we have many exciting and challenging subjects to deal with," said the 57-year-old physicist. At the moment, he is particularly interested in applying for Clusters of Excellence as a further development of RWTH's areas of focus. Rüdiger mentions the strengthening of the fields of life, data, and simulation sciences as well as the merging of medicine and engineering sciences. Rüdiger will also continue to champion the issue of sustainability: "Society and business rightly expect us to impart knowledge and provide ideas on how to reconcile public welfare and sustainable action." He said the aim is to make RWTH the most sustainable of all German universities of technology. Other important topics are the development of Campus West as "the largest development project not only for RWTH, but for the city and the district as a whole," as well as the expansion of networks. Here, the RWTH Rector mentions the Jülich Aachen Research Alliance and the Leibniz and Fraunhofer site.
Professor Rüdiger was invited by the Senate and the Board of Governors to run for another term. This invitation, and the simultaneous approval of the Equal Opportunities Officer, enables the University to dispense with a public advertisement and a search process as per the Higher Education Act. The current term runs until July 31, 2024, so the new term will begin on August 1, 2024.
Rector of RWTH Since August 1, 2018
Ulrich Rüdiger has been Rector of RWTH since August 1, 2018. Previously, he was Rector of the University of Konstanz. After his physics studies, doctorate, and post-doctorate at RWTH, in New York, San José, and at Cornell University, he was appointed Professor of Experimental Solid State Physics at the University of Konstanz in 2002. He represents RWTH as a member of the TU9 as well as the German Rectors' Conference, among others. During his tenure, RWTH was again named an Excellence University under the second funding line of the Excellence Strategy in 2019. In 2012, he was awarded the Ordre des Palmes Académiques, one of France's highest honors, honorary doctorates from Taras Shevchenko University and Kyiv National Economic University, both in Kyiv, for his special services to science. Ulrich Rüdiger was born in Helmstedt in 1966, is married and has four children.