Academic Anniversary Celebration Focuses on Peace and Freedom

After welcoming the guests, President Prof. Manfred Bayer first asked for a silent remembrance of the recently deceased former President  Prof. Paul Velsinger, who, during his term of office from 1978 to 1990, had led the integration of the Pedagogical Institution of Higher Education Ruhr (Pädagogische Hochschule Ruhr) and helped to initiate the establishment of the neighboring Technology Center. In his speech, Bayer also referred to the war in the world, in particular the conflict in the Middle East, which is currently affecting universities worldwide. He emphasized: “TU Dortmund University is a place of respectful cooperation. There is no place for hostility here. In particular, we do not tolerate any form of antisemitism,” he said with applause from the numerous guests. The university had strongly condemned the Hamas attack on Israel at the beginning of October and at the same time made it clear that it recognized the suffering of all victims of the resulting escalation of violence. “We are grateful that people from over 130 nations learn and conduct research together peacefully on campus. We firmly oppose discrimination based on origin, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.”

Awards

„Despite everything, we also want to focus on the positive and recognize the achievements in teaching and research at TU Dortmund University this year,” he said, leading to the award presentations. To begin with, various speakers presented the TU Dortmund University Teaching Awards in four categories. Sarah Toepfer, AStA Chairwoman, awarded Prof. Jan Nagel from the Department of Mathematics in the category “Courses with more than 60 participants.” In the category “Courses with up to 60 participants,” Dr. Katrin Stolz, Head of the Division of Academic Teaching and Faculty Development in the Center for Higher Education, presented the award to Dr. Julia Sattler from the Department of Cultural Studies. Last year’s teaching award winner Prof. Mario Botsch congratulated Alina Bähr from the Department of Cultural Studies on winning the teaching award in the category “Student Engagement”. Prof. Wiebke Möhring, Vice President Academic Affairs, presented the teaching award in the category “Teaching support from technical and administrative staff,” which was awarded for the second time this year. This prize went to Markus Alex, Volker Mattick, and Andrea Martin from the ITMC Media Services division, as well as Dr. Katrin Stolz and Dr. Stephanie Steden from the Center for Higher Education.

Guido Baranowski, Chairman of the Association of Friends of TU Dortmund University, presented the best of the year awards for outstanding theses in the 17 departments. The prize winners are: Helene Auguste Götz, Frederik Vonhoff, Katrin Bolsmann, Tabea Sofie Heil, Jana Kristin Gödeke, Merle Munko, Hannah Stieber, Klas Feike, Oleksii Molodchyk, Melissa Sarah Tanklay, Leon Marian Schäfer, Nina Carolin Bieling, Carlota Yoke-Lee Roth, Johannes Michael Zensen-Möhring, Magdalena Franz, Lennart Kersting, Nana Seeber, and Henrik Laumert.

Prof. Nele McElvany, Vice President Research, presented the dissertation prizes. She recognized the outstanding doctoral theses of Dr. rer. nat. Alexander Dicke, Dr. rer. nat. Florian Mentzel, Dr. rer. nat. Elia Salibi, Dr. rer. nat. Lukas Pfahler, Dr. rer. nat. Karsten Reichold, Dr.-Ing. Lea Lynn Winand, Dr.-Ing. Kai Langenfeld, Dr.-Ing. Anika Henke, Dr.-Ing. Daria Katharina Benden, Dr. phil. Katharina Böhm, Dr. phil. Meike Neuhaus, Dr. phil. Andreas Johannes Weilinghoff, Dr. rer. nat. Mathias Kolodziej, and Dr. phil. Svenja Ruth Erika Helten. The Vice President also honored Dr. Giulio Mattioli from the Department of Spatial Planning with the TU Dortmund Young Academy Research Prize, which was awarded for the second time this year.

Ceremonial speech on the topic of freedom in the university

Prof. Christian von Coelln, Director of the Institute for German and European Academic Law at the University of Cologne, gave the ceremonial speech. Under the title “Freedom in the University”, he spoke about how important it is for academic freedom and freedom of opinion to be practiced as fundamental rights at universities.  He also emphasized that even non-purposeful research and unpopular opinions contribute to the well-being of a democratic society, as they can promote discourse.

The “United Harriet Colliery Band” provided the musical accompaniment to the Academic Anniversary Celebration under the direction of Prof. Christopher Houlding. The evening ended with a festive reception in the Main Cafeteria. As in previous years, the Academic Anniversary Celebration was supported by the Association of Friends of TU Dortmund University.