Ceremonial inauguration of TU President Angela Ittel "The entire university should shine"

With a festive ceremony in the Main Lecture Hall of Technische Universität Braunschweig, Professor Dr. Angela Ittel was officially inaugurated on Thursday, 2 September 2021. The number of mainly external guests in the university’s largest lecture hall was severely limited due to the applicable corona regulations. Carolo-Wilhelmina members were invited to follow the ceremony on the internet as a livestream in German and English.

Professor Angela Ittel already took office as President of TU Braunschweig on 1 July. The Senate unanimously elected the psychologist and experienced science manager and long-time Vice-President of the TU Berlin on 10 March. Professor Angela Ittel succeeds Professor Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla as President. Since Kaysser-Pyzalla’s withdrawal on 30 September 2020, Professor Katja Koch, Vice-President for Teacher Training and Knowledge Transfer, has held the office in an executive capacity.

Already at noon, the President had invited employees and students to a Meet Up on the roof terrace of the Main Lecture Hall. In addition to the President, the Vice President for Human Resources, Finance and Infrastructure, Dietmar Smyrek, and the Chair of the Staff Council, Regine Stegemann, spoke on behalf of the employees.

At the evening event, to which the Senate, the University Council and the Executive Board had invited, students welcomed the guests. The president of the student parliament, Sabrina Ammann, and Luca Kienel from the AStA executive board introduced the evening and addressed current challenges, in particular the return of students to classroom studies. They made requests such as another solidarity semester to the Lower Saxony Minister of Science.

Braunschweig’s Lord Mayor Ulrich Markurth emphasised that he was pleased to be able to attract a scientist and science manager with outstanding expertise and great élan to head “our” Technische Universität. He pointed out the very close connection of the city and the region with the “excellently positioned university”. A new era is now beginning “in this well-positioned institution“.

Lower Saxony’s Minister for Science and Culture, Björn Thümler, pointed out the advantages of Lower Saxony as a science location and pledged support for the Carolo-Wilhelmina. He said that the state was making 4 million available to TU Braunschweig to support the next excellence process.

The President of the German Rectors’ Conference, Professor Peter-André Alt, emphasised the outstanding expertise that Professor Ittel brings to the position and that she has prepared her very well for it. He particularly emphasised her communication skills, which are so enormously important for the leadership of a university.

Professor Wolfram Ressel, President of the TU9 and Rector of the University of Stuttgart, conveyed the congratulations of all TU9 leaders on behalf of the TU9. TU President Angela Ittel could bring her wealth of experience from the successful Excellence Strategy of the Berlin universities, but also in DFG project research, at the DAAD and as TU9 spokesperson for internationalisation to the office.

The Chairman of the University Council, Professor Lothar Hagebölling, emphasised the great unity shown by TU Braunschweig in the election of Professor Ittel. This constructive agreement was also easy due to Professor Ittel’s inspiring and forward-looking ideas.

In her speech, Professor Angela Ittel outlined what guides her work as President: “I would like to accompany TU Braunschweig on its way to becoming a globally thinking educational institution. To an institution that has recognised that a successful university must also address current challenges in research and teaching in the short term. To a university that acts agilely and dynamically.”

According to Ittel, her vision for TU Braunschweig is that “TU Braunschweig, as a motor for location development, acts as a strong collaborative partner and as a globally visible research university, which, as an unconditional supporter of inter- and transdisciplinary research, humanitarian values and academic freedom, works day after day to achieve holistic excellence”.

Her goal, which she would like to achieve with the Executive Board: “Our entire university should shine, with all its facets. And not just the lighthouses that are to be strengthened, but we want to tackle all our development potentials together with confidence. This is the basis for holistic excellence. We can only achieve this together,” emphasised TU President Angela Ittel.

The event was musically accompanied by Oxana Voytenko and Niklas Wohlt from the Institute for Music and Music Education.

In the evening, the university was already shining: the Main Lecture Hall and the Historic Main Building glowed in bright colours.