Two of the Vice Presidents at Mainz University of Applied Sciences have officially been re-endorsed: Prof. Kerstin Molter has been re-elected as Vice President, Studies and Teaching. Prof. Gregor Ade has also been confirmed in his position as Vice President, Communication and Community Outreach. On Wednesday, December 18, 2024, the Senate re-elected the two incumbent Vice Presidents to the Executive Board with a strong majority at the suggestion of the University President. Prof. Kerstin Molter and Prof. Gregor Ade are delighted with their re-election and look forward to many exciting challenges over the next four years. Both will begin their second term of office on March 1, 2025.
The elections took place under the direction of the Chair of the Election Committee, Prof. Dr. Bianca Baldus. University President Prof. Dr. Susanne Weissman had previously nominated Prof. Kerstin Molter and Prof. Gregor Ade for a further term of office. “My heartfelt thanks go to Prof. Kerstin Molter and Prof. Gregor Ade for their outstanding achievements and great commitment. I look forward to the coming period during which we will continue to make decisive progress at Mainz University of Applied Sciences in the areas of studying and teaching and in communications and community outreach. Thanks to their re-election, the Executive Board team can rely on continuity in its collaboration, which will strengthen the further development of the university,” emphasized Professor Susanne Weissman.
Vice President, Studies and Teaching
As Vice President, Studies and Teaching, Prof. Kerstin Molter is responsible for the strategic development of studies and teaching. Her area of responsibility includes the management of the Competence Center for Innovation in Studies and Teaching for the further development of innovative teaching and learning methods, quality management for the further development of degree programs, and the library as a place of knowledge and exchange.
In her second term of office, Prof. Kerstin Molter intends to direct her focus in studies and teaching towards an interdisciplinary way of thinking and working and a reflective approach to future technologies. In particular, she will focus on networking the schools with regard to the challenges arising from social and economic change as a result of climate change and digital transformation, cooperative curriculum development, and the high-quality design of degree programs.
Another objective is to use AI as a key technology of the 21st century in all degree programs in a skills-oriented manner and to develop further support structures to achieve this. Part of this is the conceptual and spatial implementation of the (analog) Learning LAB, which will be another priority in the new teaching/learning landscape on campus alongside the library.
“Shaping change,” says the Vice President, ”means that everyone can participate in change. The new campus will offer optimal opportunities for interdisciplinary, innovative work by students and teaching staff and collaboration with our external partners from the society and the scientific, cultural, and business sectors.”
Prof. Kerstin Molter was appointed to a Professorship for Construction and Design at Mainz University of Applied Sciences in 2013. She regularly takes on advisory roles, for example as a member of the Design Advisory Board of the City of Mainz from 2011-2017 and as a judge in architectural competitions. She has been a member of the German Association of Craftsmen (Deutscher Werkbund), Rhineland-Palatinate and the Association of German Architects (Bund Deutscher Architektinnen und Architekten), Rhineland-Palatinate since 2009. She studied architecture at the Technical University in Kaiserslautern and started her own architecture firm there in 2003.
Vice President, Communication and Community Outreach
As Vice President, Communication and Community Outreach, Prof. Gregor Ade is responsible for the strategic development of public relations at Mainz University of Applied Sciences. His key areas are internal and external communication, marketing, corporate design, digital and analog communication channels, the Mainz University of Applied Sciences Forum magazine, the operation and continued development of the LUX Pavilion and dialog with the city of Mainz, the region, and numerous other partners.
In his second term of office, Prof. Gregor Ade intends to strengthen university marketing and to focus it across all schools. In particular, marketing and communication measures relating to student recruitment are to be developed in an even more targeted manner in the future, based on a long-term and regular market evaluation. Prof. Ade intends to make the modernization of the university website and internal communication channels a second focal point.
He sees an additional priority topic in science communication, such as the revised university magazine Forum and the even broader anchoring of the LUX Pavilion in the public sector with the aim of presenting results and discourse from research, teaching, and transfer in the community of Mainz and beyond. The fourth key area is the forthcoming opening of the joint campus of Mainz University of Applied Sciences and the related communication measures.
The Vice President emphasizes the opportunities of the joint campus: “As an exciting, new place for future topics and exchange, and as an attractive, lively campus that is unique in this region.”
Prof. Gregor Ade was appointed to a Professorship for Corporate Identity and Corporate Design at Mainz University of Applied Sciences in 2017. From 2019 to 2021, he was Dean of the School of Design until he assumed the position of Vice President for Communication and Community Outreach on March 1, 2021. Together with students in the Communication Design department and the Designforum Rheinland-Pfalz, he developed the periodically held format “Open Festival Mainz” to make it easier for students to enter the design industry at an early stage. Gregor Ade graduated with a degree in Communication Design from Offenbach University of Art and Design and worked as a managing partner in various brand agencies.
