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Panoramic view on the North Campus © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
Special Anniversary

Faculty of Mathematics Celebrates 50th Anniversary

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Four gentlemen in dark suits stand behind a large TU logo and smile at the camera © Oliver Schaper​/​TU Dortmund
Professor Eberhard Becker, chairman of the “Association of Friends of the Faculty of Mathematics”, Professor Charles K. Chui of Hong Kong Baptist University, Professor Kurt Jetter from the University of Hohenheim and Professor Stefan Turek, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics (from left to right).
In the winter semester of 1969/70 – exactly 50 years ago – the newly founded University of Dortmund introduced its mathematics programs. This special anniversary was celebrated among others with an official event on 18 October, during which Professor Charles K. Chui of Hong Kong Baptist University was awarded an honorary doctorate from TU Dortmund University. The faculty band sounded in the celebration on 18 October with a musical interlude. The premiere of the anniversary film which followed showed a retrospective of the faculty’s 50-year history.

As one of the first faculties of the University of Dortmund founded in 1968, the Faculty of Mathematics was inaugurated in 1969. Already at that time, mathematics education for students of other subjects was an important task alongside teaching the math students themselves. Since the integration of the former Ruhr University of Education in 1980, teacher training at the faculty has included teacher training for all types of school – from elementary school to vocational college. Of all students studying for a bachelor’s degree at TU Dortmund University, the Faculty of Mathematics will take care of about two thirds of them for at least part of their studies (three degree programs in Mathematics, Technomathematics, and Mathematics and Economics as well as mathematics for trainee teachers and mathematics for other STEM subjects).

Today, over 20 professors are engaged in research and teaching at the Faculty of Mathematics. The faculty’s current priorities in mathematics research are numerical and applied analysis, simulation, optimization and stochastics. The Faculty of Mathematics has long been the leader nationwide for subject didactics in the field of mathematics.

Best wishes and accolades on the faculty’s anniversary

“Without mathematics, our university would simply be unthinkable,” said Professor Ursula Gather, President of TU Dort­mund University, in her congratulatory speech that was delivered by Professor Stefan Turek, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics. “The natural sciences and technical faculties need a strong faculty of mathematics as a partner at their side. This has always been true for teaching, and with the growing importance of data science, it is also becoming increasingly important for research.”

In the framework of the event, mathematician Professor Charles K. Chui from Hong Kong Baptist University was awarded an honorary doctorate from TU Dort­mund University. Professor Chui is a highly regarded scholar in the field of applied mathematics, in particular approximation theory. His achievements can be seen in research, teaching, training for early career researchers and the transfer of theory into practice. As a Gambrinus Fellow, he has been associated with TU Dortmund University for over 15 years. “Charles K. Chui has decisively shaped the entire line of development in practice-related approximation processes for 50 years,” established one of the reviewers in the award procedure, honoring Professor Chui’s special achievements.

In addition, two individuals were distinguished who have left their mark on the Faculty of Mathematics for many years: Professor Manfred Reimer, who was appointed as one of the faculty’s first three professors in 1969, was later its dean and has continued to actively support the faculty after retiring too, and Professor Eberhard Becker, who was also dean of the faculty and President of TU Dortmund University from 2002 to 2008 and has been chairman of the faculty’s alumni association since his retirement.

 

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