Arts newsletter

11. maj 2011 af Ulrik Vosgerau

Dear Arts staff

The last two vice-dean positions have been filled; the new vice-deans are Marianne Ping Huang and Anne Marie Pahuus. This means that the Dean's Office is now fully staffed. I am convinced that this team will develop a good working relationship with all staff members at Arts. The new vice-deans will contribute experience both from AU and other universities, intense engagement and clear visions. The three new department heads will be appointed before the summer holiday, and the position of director of the Centre for Teaching Development and Digital Media will be advertised internally at Arts.

The new administrative structure is also beginning to take shape. The division managers have been selected, and we are beginning to organise the new Administrative Centre for Arts (ACA). It has also been decided that all of our librarians will be participating in a preference clarification round and vision process for the library services area at AU.

The senior management group has announced a clear-cut plan for the last phase of the preference clarification round for administrative staff: everyone's situation will be clarified before the summer holiday. I look forward to this, so that all of our hard-working administrative colleagues will soon know what their place in the organisation is to be and what they'll be working with in the future.

The Arts implementation working groups are well under way, and I have just received progress reports from all groups. The groups' important work is progressing satisfactorily, and I look forward to their final reports. After the final reports have been submitted, proposals on the organisation of the departments will be discussed at café meetings as well as in the academy councils and liaison committees before the final decision is taken by the faculty's senior management. More information on this process will be forthcoming.

I expect the new department heads to be appointed as of 1 July or 1 August. The current department heads will retain responsibility for personnel and daily management until year-end, when their notice period ends. This will ensure that our core activities will not be negatively affected during the transitional period. From day one, the new department heads will assume managerial responsibility for their departments: they will be responsible for their successful integration, academically, administratively, and socially.

To strengthen our strategic academic development, we are planning to announce five new MSO professorships (professorships with special responsibilities). The application deadline will be 8 June. The calls for applications will, in the course of the week, be sent to the department heads and published on respectively the Danish School of Education’s intranet, the Faculty of Humanities’ FirstClass intranet and The Faculty of Theology’s intranet. (Read more about the position of professor with special responsibilities).

I've experienced one of the major AU traditions since the last newsletter: the annual boat race in the University Park. I met the captains of the Arts teams, Humbus and Theos bar, along with 20,000 other students - a wonderful day with perfect weather that showcased the best aspects of student life at AU. For more coverage of the boat race, see the student blog 'Rundt om religion' (in Danish).

The boat race is a sign that summer is just around the corner. This year, AU will mark the end of the academic year - and of course, the academic development process - with a party for all staff and students on 17 June. Major Danish names (including D-A-D and L.O.C) will perform, and there will be a pre-party for Arts staff, which is being planned as we speak. Keep an eye out for the invitation, which will be sent this month, and remember to sign up!

Sincerely
Dean Mette Thunø
Arts

Arts newsletter - 11 May