Martina Stackelbeck Bids Farewell after 15 Years as Equal Opportunities Officer
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Since 2010, Martina Stackelbeck has significantly shaped the equal opportunities work at TU Dortmund University. Her approach was characterized by cooperation, clear legal guidelines, and the awareness that equality is a shared task of all university members. Under her leadership, the university’s appointment procedures were further developed in terms of gender justice: she initiated the first comprehensive appointment guidelines and the appointment portal, as well as accompanying measures such as gender trainings and checklists for supporting appointment procedures by the departmental Equal Opportunities Officers.
The mentoring program “MinTU – Girls into TU Dortmund University,” which is regarded nationwide as an exemplary project in the field of study orientation, also was developed on her initiative. With “female.2.enterprises” she launched a project that supports female graduates in their transition into non-university career fields. In addition, she drove the expansion of equal opportunities work to include topics such as gender diversity and diversity in general. Together with various cooperation partners from the city, she carried out campaigns such as “She for Democracy” and “Give Violence No Chance on the Campus.”
“I would like to thank all cooperation partners within TU Dortmund University for the good collaboration,” Stackelbeck said at her ceremonial farewell from office. “I almost always felt understood and well supported with my equality concerns. Together we have contributed to making TU Dortmund University more gender equitable.” The graduate economist was employed at the university for a total of 38 years, initially as a research assistant at the Social Research Center Dortmund, where her focus was on labor research, organizational culture and gender issues, and finally for 15 years as the central Equal Opportunities Officer.
On behalf of the Rectorate, Professor Petra Wiederkehr, Vice President Diversity, honored Stackelbeck’s long-standing commitment: “Martina Stackelbeck has made a crucial contribution to making our appointment procedures more gender equitable. This is necessary in order to recruit excellent female scientists and to sustainably increase the proportion of female professors.” The handover of office to Elisabeth Brenker is a successful example of a well-prepared passing of the baton.
Elisabeth Brenker Newly Elected to Office
The 36-year-old Cultural Studies scholar Elisabeth Brenker has worked for nine years in the TU Dortmund University Equal Opportunities Office, where she, among other things, coordinated the “female.2.enterprises” project. She contributes long-standing expertise in equality issues as well as comprehensive knowledge of university structures. From 2022 to 2024, she served as deputy Equal Opportunities Officer and advisor for the fields of technology and administration. At the beginning of June, she has been elected by TU Dortmund University’s female staff and students for an initial three-year term as the new central Equal Opportunities Officer. “Gender equality is not an add-on but a basic prerequisite for a future-proof university, and the diversity of a research team has by now often been decisive for the approval of funding,” she emphasized. “An intersectional perspective on all measures that we, as a university, initiate is obligatory and more relevant than ever. I look forward to supporting TU Dortmund University in this.”
About the Office of the Central Equal Opportunities Officer
By law, the central Equal Opportunities Officer supports TU Dortmund University in its mandate to promote the actual enforcement of equality between women and men. In doing so, she considers all genders and specifically ensures the dismantling of structural disadvantages faced by women. To fulfil her duties, the central Equal Opportunities Officer participates in committee meetings—such as those of the University Council, the Rectorate, the Senate, the Department Conference, and numerous appointment committees. She also carries out actions and projects together with the Equal Opportunities Office team and provides information on gender issues.