Ceremonial event marking the change of rectorship at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences with the Minister for Regional Identity, Local Government, Building and Digitalization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Under the motto “Welcome & Farewell,” Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter near Bonn celebrated the handover of office to Prof. Dr. Thomas Maschke as the new university rector on 11/10/2024 in the fully occupied foyer of Campus II – Villestraße. Prof. Dr. Maschke thus succeeds Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Pieper, who is retiring after successful years as university rector. Together with guests from politics, society, and business, as well as companions of the university over the years, the ceremonial event was marked festively with music and performance. Bettina Scholz, Professor of Painting at Alanus University, guided the audience through the event as moderator.

“Alanus University is truly a predestined place for creativity, diversity, plurality, and tolerance. With this in mind, I have tried to serve Alanus University as a professor of philosophy and as rector, and in this spirit I will remain connected to the university in the future as well.” With these words, Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Pieper bids farewell to his role as rector of the university as he retires. Successful years lie behind Prof. Dr. Pieper, during which he helped strengthen the university’s position as a place for students’ personal development and for the active shaping of social processes.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Maschke now continues these principles as the new university rector. In his inaugural speech, he makes one thing unmistakably clear: “We Can Shape the Future!” For Prof. Dr. Maschke, the future is something to be actively shaped. “A university of arts and social sciences must and should be a place of enabling, again and again: a place and a community that enables future viability.” In his speech, Prof. Dr. Maschke advocates empowering young people to form their own judgment through differentiated approaches to the world, and he clearly takes a stand for inclusion, diversity, and interdisciplinarity. His laudator Rafael Walter, member of the board of trustees of the Emil Molt Foundation, says: “He is an enabler.”

As part of the ceremonial event, personalities from politics, society, and business, as well as long-standing companions of Alanus University, delivered greetings and tributes, including Ina Scharrenbach, Minister for Regional Identity, Local Government, Building and Digitalization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia; Axel Voss, Member of the European Parliament; Oliver Krauß, Member of the State Parliament for the Rhein-Sieg district; Dr. Rolf Schumacher, Mayor of Alfter; Prof. Dr. Hartmut Ihne, President of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences; Jürgen Nimptsch, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Alanus University; Markus Ziener, member of the executive board of the Software AG Foundation; and Rafael Walter, member of the board of trustees of the Emil Molt Foundation.

Today, around 1,600 students study at the state-recognized private university of the arts at two locations in Alfter and at the Mannheim Study Center in more than twenty degree programs, as well as in an interdisciplinary Studium Generale open to all students. As part of the ceremonial event, guests were able to experience firsthand what Alanus University has stood and continues to stand for: Prof. Iru Mun, together with students Tabea Bläsing and Michaela Sattler, performed a selection of musical pieces. Student Joanna Park performed the “Prologue The Upright Gait” from the play “Bandscheibenvorfall” by Ingrid Lausund about asserting oneself against role stereotypes and developing an independent, critical perspective. Laudator Prof. Dr. Hartmut Ihne sums it up succinctly: “At Alanus University, scholarship and art merge in a way that is unique in Germany.”

Caption, from left: Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Pieper, former rector, and Prof. Dr. Thomas Maschke, new rector of Alanus University, with Minister Ina Scharrenbach and Senate Chair Sascha Liebermann. Photo: Alanus University / Benjamin Westhoff

Contact for press inquiries:
+49 (0)2222 9321-1944
presse@alanus.edu

Subscribe to our newsletter!

You will receive selected events and news from Alanus University directly in your inbox every month.

→ Sign up now