Professor Dr Katharina Lorenz to become President of JLU
Success in the second ballot: Extended Senate decides in favor of the First Vice President
No. 13 • 24 January 2024 - Deutsch
Professor Dr Katharina Lorenz is to become President of Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU). The Extended Senate elected the 49-year-old archaeologist and to date First Vice President of the University on Wednesday with 18 out of 34 votes. At the hearing last week, the future President had asked for the trust of the members of the body: "You know me. I am ready to take on responsibility for this university". Professor Lorenz, who had outlined a vision for the future of JLU until 2036 in her speech, was able to prevail against three competitors in the second round of voting, making her the first woman to lead JLU. Another candidate had withdrawn his application before the election meeting.
Professor Dr Katharina Lorenz comes from Berlin and has been a member of the JLU Executive Board as Vice President since 16 December 2021. She is primarily responsible for studies and teaching. As First Vice President, she has led the university since October 2023, standing in for the previous President Professor Dr Joybrato Mukherjee, who went to the University of Cologne as Rector.
Professor Dr Katharina Lorenz has held the Chair of Classical Archaeology at JLU's Faculty 04 - History and Cultural Studies since April 2018. Katharina Lorenz studied Classical Archaeology, Ancient History and Greek Philology at the Free University of Berlin, Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and at the University of Heidelberg, where she received her doctorate in 2002. She then worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Classical Archaeology at JLU. From 2005 to 2018, she taught at the University of Nottingham, UK, most recently as a professor, where she was the founding director of a Center for Digital Humanities.
In her research, she deals with the functioning of ancient visual cultures, for example in the portrait practice of the Roman Empire, and with the implications of digital technologies for the production of knowledge in the humanities.
JLU is aiming for a swift appointment and will announce the date shortly.
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