In today’s meeting, the WU University Board, by unanimous vote, elected Professor Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger as WU’s new Rector for the period from October 1, 2015, to September 30, 2019. Professor Hanappi-Egger will succeed Christoph Badelt, who has led WU for many years with great success. She will be the first female Rector in WU’s 117-year history.

The University Board believes that as a dedicated researcher with extensive experience in the national and international academic environment and intimate knowledge of WU’s specific goals and challenges, Professor Hanappi-Egger has everything it takes to lead the university in the future. “The newly elected future Rector has not only a strong desire to shape the future development of WU, but also enough integrative strength to lead this large institution. WU is home to 2,100 employees performing many different jobs and to 22,000 students. Professor Hanappi-Egger’s valuable work and her commitment to WU have earned her strong support from the University community. I believe this is an important asset and a very solid basis for WU’s successful future development,” Brigitte Jilka, Chair of the University Board, said about the election result.

The University Board elected the new Rector on the basis of a shortlist of three candidates drawn up by the Search Committee and approved by the WU Senate on January 14. The shortlist included the following candidates (in alphabetical order): Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger, Bernd J. Hoefer, and Ada Pellert.

The University Board would like to thank all of the highly qualified candidates for their bids and for participating in the selection process. The Board would also like to express its gratitude to all those who contributed to the professionally executed and thorough selection process, particularly the members of the WU Senate and Senate Chair Helmut Strasser.

About Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger

Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger completed her doctoral degree in computer sciences at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) and Stockholm University. She spent research periods in Toronto and Oslo, among other places, and received a fellowship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences from 1993-1996. She obtained her habilitation in applied computer sciences from the Vienna University of Technology in 1996. In October 2002, she became Professor of Gender & Diversity in Organizations at WU, where she also heads the institute of the same name. Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger has extensive experience in management and leadership positions: She served as Chair of the WU Senate from 2006 to 2009, was a member of the University Board of the Graz University of Technology in the 2008-2013 period, and chaired WU’s Department of Management from 2012 to 2014. She also holds a Jean Monnet Chair awarded by the EU.

Brigitte Jilka, Chair of the WU University Board

Contact information:

Cornelia Moll
Press Relations Officer
Tel: + 43-1-31336-4977
Email: cornelia.moll@wu.ac.at

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