Professor Katharina Holzinger was elected rector of the University of Konstanz on 9 December 2020. Dr Henrike Hartmann (left) was chair of the search committee. Image: University of Konstanz

New rector elected

Political scientist Professor Katharina Holzinger was elected in a joint meeting of the Senate and University Council

The University of Konstanz has a new rector: Today, on Wednesday, 9 December 2020, the Senate and University Council elected Katharina Holzinger, professor of international politics at the University of Konstanz, to this office. The new elections had become necessary as Professor Kerstin Krieglstein, the university’s rector until the end of September, became rector of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg on 1 October 2020. Katharina Holzinger’s term of office will begin immediately after the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, appoints her. Holzinger was elected in the 2nd round of voting. Her term of office will be six years.

“I would like to sincerely thank the members of the Senate and the University Council for all the trust they put in me and I look forward to implementing all the ideas and plans for the future of our university”, says Katharina Holzinger, professor at the University of Konstanz since 2007 and the university’s Vice Rector for International Affairs and Equal Opportunities from 2009 to 2012.

Dr Henrike Hartmann, Chair of the University Council, congratulated Katharina Holzinger on her election and emphasizes: “Through her extensive experience, her international commitment and her confident clarity, our new rector, Professor Holzinger, will move our university forward. The next few years as a University of Excellence will have to be planned with foresight, involving all our members. The University Council is glad that the university is in good hands and is looking forward to a successful collaboration.”

Holzinger's plans for the university
“For me, further advancing the international visibility of the University of Konstanz is a very central task. An absolute focus will be on preparing the university for the next round of the Excellence Strategy, the Excellence competition our university has been successful in since it kicked off in 2007. The further internationalization of our university’s research and studies should support this process”. Katharina Holzinger also views as crucial the development of a sustainability strategy for the university as well as the advancement of the next generation of researchers. She intends to be a bridge-builder for the University of Konstanz: “I attach great importance to a transparent and inclusive management style, especially as our university members have a variety of suggestions for the further development of our institution”, Holzinger continues. In addition, she intends to promote an inclusive atmosphere at the university that is free from discrimination and gives all its members fair access to opportunities and participation, whether they are students, staff or professors.

The appointment process
A search committee, led by Dr Henrike Hartmann, took up work early this summer with the goal of compiling a nomination list with possible successors. Following a public call for applications, a total of 17 individuals applied for the position, of which six were invited to a personal job interview. On the basis of uniform criteria, the search committee nominated two candidates for the election of the rector: Professor Katharina Holzinger and Professor Malte Drescher, both from the University of Konstanz. The Ministry of Science, Research and Arts (MWK) agreed to this nomination list. Katharina Holzinger and Malte Drescher presented themselves to the university’s members in an online session on 19 November 2020.

About Professor Holzinger
Katharina Holzinger has been a W3-professor for international politics in the Department of Politics and Public Administration since 2007. Her research priorities are internal conflicts, the theory of political decision-making and conflict management, the European Union as well as international environmental policies.

In 2012 she acquired funding for the Reinhart Koselleck Project „Traditionale Governance und moderne Staatlichkeit: Die Auswirkung ihrer Integration auf Demokratie und inneren Frieden“ (traditional governance and the modern state: the impacts of their integration on democracy and internal peace). From 2018 to 2020 she was involved in the establishment of the “Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa”. In 2013 Katharina Holzinger was elected as a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. In 2018 she was elected as a member, and, in 2020, as board member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW).

Katharina Holzinger studied political science and German studies in Munich before earning her doctorate in 1993 at the University of Augsburg. From 1993 to 1997 she worked at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) before joining the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn. In 2002 she completed her habilitation (postdoctoral qualification) at the University of Bamberg. In 2002/2003 she finished a Jean Monnet Fellowship at the European University Institute in Florence (Italy) before being appointed professor for political science at Universität Hamburg in 2004.

After joining the University of Konstanz, she was vice dean of the Faculty of Politics, Law and Economics from 2018 to 2020 and Vice Rector for International Affairs and Equal Opportunities from 2009 to 2012. She is a member of the Konstanz Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” and was involved in various capacities in the second round of the Excellence Initiative as well as the Excellence Strategy competition.

Key facts:

  • Professor Katharina Holzinger, professor for international politics at the University of Konstanz, elected rector of the University of Konstanz today (9 December 2020).
  • Elected in a joint meeting of the Senate and University Council: Holzinger was elected with the required majority in the second round of voting.
  • Katharina Holzinger’s term of office will begin immediately after the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, appoints her.
  • Term of office: six years