After the formal establishment of KIT on October 01, 2009, the founding bodies are now taking up work. Until autumn 2011, prerequisites shall be established for formal elections of all KIT bodies. According to the Act on Establishment of KIT, this also includes the Supervisory Board. The Founding Supervisory Board is meeting today at KIT for the first time under the direction of its chairman Professor Dr. Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers.
The organs of the former Universität Karlsruhe and Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe stopped their work with the foundation of KIT. It is now required to establish new bodies, the composition of which corresponds to the tasks of KIT. For this purpose, the legislator has appointed a Founding Supervisory Board that is now starting work. It consists of eleven members, who will meet two times per year. Apart from representatives of the federal and state governments, four members each have been appointed for the university and large-scale research sector. “I am very much looking forward to accompanying the development of such a unique institution in Germany like KIT,” underlines the Chairman of the Supervisor Board, Professor Dr. Jürgen Mlynek. “Bringing together the two missions of a university and a Helmholtz Center under one roof is a rather exciting challenge”.
The Founding Supervisory Board is responsible for taking all measures required for KIT to work. It has to ensure that regular organs will be established according to election conditions to be specified. It is also responsible for the development and profiling of KIT, the increase in performance and competitiveness, and a review of the funding and investment plan.
Members of the Supervisory Board:
Dr. Dietrich Birk, Staatssekretär, Ministry of Science, Research, and Art of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg
Dr. Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt, Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court
Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, Member of the Board of BASF
Susanne Kunschert, Member of the Management of PILZ GmbH & Co. KG, Ostfildern
Dr. Georg Schütte, Staatssekretär, Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mlynek (Chairman), President of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers, Bonn
Professor Dr. Ferdi Schüth, Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, Mülheim/Ruhr
Dipl. Wi.-Ing. Stefan Quandt, Entrepreneur
Professor Dr. Johanna Stachel, University of Heidelberg
Professor Dr. Jürgen Troe, Head of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen
Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chief Executive Officer of Daimler AG
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.