The Faculty Council of the Faculty of Managerial and Cultural Studies elected Prof. Maiwald as the new Dean on 14 July 2021. From September 1, he will be supported by the new Vice Dean Prof. Kaspar and the new Dean of Studies Prof. Knoll.
Prof. Maiwald thus succeeds Dean Prof. Pflicke. She has held the position since 2018 and will end her active time as a professor in the next two years, which is why she did not stand for re-election.

Prof. Pflicke held the office of Dean for three years. However, many students know her not only in this role, but also as a committed teacher. She managed the balancing act between management and teaching seemingly effortlessly:

"I am passionate about tourism at heart, I could never have imagined giving up teaching, contact with students and the exciting content of the industry." (Prof. Pflicke)

Dean Pflicke pursued ambitious goals during her time in office. One focus was on internal communication. "Transparency between colleagues and towards students is particularly important to me. This is the only way to create respectful, trust-based collaboration and a healthy working basis. Team building plays an important role in this." Prof. Pflicke organized the first closed meeting in Bad Flinsberg right at the beginning of her term of office. Together with the faculty, objectives for the faculty were developed in a transparent process.

Two central points on her seemingly endless list of tasks as Dean were her involvement in the system accreditation of the university and the development of new degree programs. In particular, the "Nursing" and "International Business Communication" (IWK) degree programs were prepared during her term of office. Thanks in no small part to Prof. Maiwald's leadership, the IWK degree course will start in the winter semester of 2021 and the Nursing degree course will also enrol its first students next year.

Internationalization processes have also been initiated over the past three years.

"I am proud to have held the first DAAD summer school with partners in Vietnam in March 2019 with the Tourism Management degree program." (Prof. Pflicke)

The participating students are still raving about the experience of the mutual exchange and the class / course in the destination.

Last but not least, Dean Pflicke was also keen to improve the quality of teaching. Teaching methods in online and hybrid teaching were harmonized and permanent positions were created despite pandemic-related cost-cutting constraints. Cross-faculty / trans-faculty synergy effects were created, which are to be further expanded in the future.

However, her term of office was not always under a good star. The past three semesters have been shaped by the pandemic and have had far-reaching consequences. In order to enable teaching to continue seamlessly, rapid, interdisciplinary action was required. Together with the teaching staff, comprehensive solutions were quickly implemented.

Prof. Pflicke's term of office is now coming to an end and we will now see more of her in the role of professor again.

"I am delighted that I can now devote myself fully to teaching again. There are many exciting topics to work on in tourism right now due to the pandemic." (Prof. Pflicke)

Prof. Maiwald will formally take office on 01.09.2021. However, he is already preparing for his three-year term, developing goals and ideas. Thanks to his previous role as Dean of Studies and Vice Dean, and not least due to the effective and transparent work of the previous Dean's Office, a smooth transition of leadership has been achieved. But what changes accompany this transition? Prof. Maiwald has already thought about this in detail.

"Our most important concern and, as it were, the greatest challenge is and remains to lead our students to a successful degree and the skills required on the job market. To achieve this, further innovative formats must be established that align our degree programs with the requirements of the modern working world." (Prof. Maiwald)

In this modern working world characterized by interdisciplinarity, for example, the spectrum between conventional office work and the often described "modern workspace" between coworking areas and start-ups should be integrated into existing teaching and learning formats.

"Of course, this doesn't work so good with, for example, the still relevant classic basic lectures in which several classes meet in large lecture halls. However, the "HIT"(University Information Day) organized by Tourism Management students last semester was an excellent example of how good applied teaching and interdisciplinary cooperation can work." (Prof. Maiwald)

Dean Maiwald wants to build on such formats and integrate transfer aspects not only more strongly into teaching, but also into research in the context of project work and research seminars as well as Bachelor theses - if possible across degree programs. The topics and results of applied research should also be communicated more to potential students, companies, partners and networks - on the one hand to create points of contact for internships, working student jobs or final theses and on the other hand to position the faculty and thus the university even more visibly as an important regional and cross-border player in the training of employees and in answering questions of structural change.

The internationalization work that is already very well established in the faculty will be further strengthened. International relations are to be intensified in order to establish exchange formats such as summer schools, digital events with international lecturers or Erasmus programs - possibly also across degree programs. There will be a kick-off workshop on this in the near future, which will also deepen communication between teaching staff in the degree programs. Primarily, existing and planned projects with international partners will be discussed and future exchange formats examined.

In order to develop such processes even better in the future, the further development of digitalization also plays an important role. The aim is not only to further improve internal information and knowledge management and streamline processes in order to make collaboration via digital media more efficient. Teaching will also be put to the test.

"We need to reconcile the goals of students, lecturers, the faculty and the entire university and examine which digital formats will remain in normal operation or be transferred to them regardless of the pandemic. To this end, we are developing a strategy and concrete measures that digitally underpin teaching content and supplement it with recording formats, for example, without counteracting the overall strategy of our face-to-face university. We want to learn from other faculties here, but also set innovative impulses for our university." (Prof. Maiwald)

Another main task is the very demanding introduction of the "Nursing" degree course, which has already begun under Dean Pflicke. In addition to completing the complex curriculum, new professorships need to be filled and teaching staff recruited. In addition, the university has rented premises for seminar rooms, lecture halls, laboratories and offices at Postplatz, which will create the working and study conditions for the nursing degree course at the start of the course. At the same time, a permanent solution is being worked on to provide future-proof real estate for the faculty close to its location. This project is already being prepared intensively by the university and will be finalized in the coming legislative period with the continued constructive and persistent involvement of the faculty management.

In his new task, Prof. Maiwald relies on a trusting relationship and good cooperation at all levels.

"I am looking forward to my task in the Dean's Office with my colleagues Prof. Kaspar, Prof. Knoll and Faculty Manager Gregor Hummel. I hope that we will continue to meet with enthusiasm at the workplace, in lecture halls and seminar rooms, in virtual space and in team-building measures throughout the Faculty and that we will maintain the enthusiasm and joy of working and fulfilling our mission despite all the changes. I would like to invite all colleagues, staff and students to continue to contribute with such ambition and commitment and look forward to working with you."

With this in mind, we would like to congratulate Prof. Maiwald, Vice Dean Prof. Kaspar and Dean of Studies Prof. Knoll on their election and wish them all the best for the upcoming term of office. At the same time, we would like to thank the outgoing faculty management under Dean Prof. Pflicke, Vice Dean Prof. Maiwald and Dean of Studies Prof. Muschner for their work during this challenging term of office, which has now come to an end.