As part of the traditional New Year's reception at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society, the two long-standing Vice Presidents of the university, Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Dallmann (59) and Prof. Dr. Andreas Gissel (53), were bid farewell from office this year. After University President Prof. Dr. Peter Mudra looked back on an eventful 2018 and looked ahead to 2019, Mudra paid tribute to the achievements of his two Vice Presidents.
In his New Year's speech, University President Professor Dr. Peter Mudra looked back on an eventful and moving 2018: "2018 was not a child's birthday party, but an extraordinarily challenging year," summed up Mudra, referring, for example, to the delays in the new building, the discussion about an alternative "City Campus" in Ludwigshafen's city center or the strategic further development and sharpening of the profile as part of the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Science's university development plan. At the same time, however, it was also an incredibly successful year if one uses the traditional indicators for the performance of universities as a yardstick, according to Mudra: "Student numbers and third-party funding are currently at an all-time high. Furthermore, the university has once again received funding approval for two projects in the second stage of the prestigious application line of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) "Advancement through Education - Open University". And we have held more events outside of education than ever before." According to the President, it was the team spirit, the good and effective cooperation in the self-administration that created the basis for this.
Looking ahead to the new year, Mudra focused in particular on the state's University Future Program and the resulting University Future Act, which is due to come into force in 2020. We are eagerly awaiting the concrete specifications from Mainz. However, it is already clear that there will be more intensive cooperation with Worms University of Applied Sciences - "while retaining autonomy" - as well as further profiling in the areas of health and nursing. In addition, the negotiation processes for the fourth higher education pact between the federal and state governments are pending, from which the university management would particularly like to see solid basic funding for universities, more flexible study programs and an expansion of research professorships.
The second part of the event was then dedicated to bidding farewell to the long-standing Vice Presidents for University Development and International Affairs, Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Dallmann and Prof. Dr. Andreas Gissel - "both a stroke of luck for the university, which they have decisively helped to advance", as University President Mudra and the two laudators, Prof. Dr. Arnd Götzelmann from the Department of Social and Health Care and Prof. Dr. Klaus Blettner, Dean of the Department of Marketing and Human Resources Management, emphasized in unison.
Dr. Hans-Ulrich Dallmann, Professor of Theology and Ethics at the Department of Social and Health Care, has held the office of Vice President since 2008. His areas of responsibility include quality management (QM), diversity and program development. In addition, the doctor of theology has been educating and researching in the fields of ethics, social science foundations, scientific theory, systems theory approaches and migration in Ludwigshafen since 1991. Hans-Ulrich Dallmann will now hand over the position to the current Dean of the Department of Social and Health Sciences, Professor Dr. Ellen Bareis, on March 1, 2019. He will remain at the university as a lecturer in the Department of Social and Health Care.
Since January 2015, Dr Andres Gissel, Professor of Business Administration, in particular Logistics and Organization, at the Department of Marketing & Human Resource Management, has been active as Vice President for International Relations and International Affairs. During his four-year term of office, Gissel traveled from Europe and America to Asia, Africa and Australia in addition to his teaching activities in Ludwigshafen. Now, at his own request, he is handing over the office to his successor, Professor Dr. Edith Rüger-Muck, head of the Master's degree program in International Marketing Management. Like Dallmann, Andreas Gissel will continue to teach at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society.
