NTNU's board announced the appointment of 11 new leaders on Tuesday, 18 March. Three of the seven deans are women. All three pro-rectors will continue, while NTNU's Museum of Natural History and Archaeology will get a new director.
"We have a dynamic and competent management team that combines continuity with new blood," says incoming NTNU Rector, Gunnar Bovim, who headed the selection committee.
The newly appointed deans are Anne Borg at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology, Anne Kristin Børresen at the Faculty of Humanities, Marit Reitan at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management and Fredrik Shetelig at the Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts.
Reidar Andersen has been appointed as the new director of NTNU's Museum of Natural History and Archaeology. He is currently director of the Norwegian Nature Inspectorate (SNO). The Faculty of Engineering and Technology Management will continue to be led by Ingvald Strømmen, Geir Øien will continue to lead the Faculty of Information Technology, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering, and Stig Slørdahl will continue as dean of the Faculty of Medicine. Kari Melby, Berit Kjeldstad and Johan Hustad will continue as pro-rectors for research (Melby), education and quality learning (Kjelstad) and innovation (Hustad).
Competent women
"This is a motivated, ambitious and competent group of people, each of whom will help make NTNU better able to solve the many problems that face society. Together they form a dynamic whole, with a valuable combination of management experience from NTNU and other businesses," says Gunnar Bovim, who will also begin in his position as the university's rector on 1 August.
"I am proud that NTNU now has a management team with a good gender balance. Five of the eleven newly appointed leaders are women. This says first and foremost that we have many talented women at the university. I hope this will be a clear signal to our outstanding women colleagues to take on leadership roles," the incoming rector said.
And there are many positions to be filled at the university. The first task for the coming deans will be to select a total of 52 new department heads. This makes NTNU the only university in Norway that has appointed leaders at all three levels.
Passionate about the university's vision
Bovim notes that NTNU has a very ambitious vision: Knowledge for a better world."
As the newly appointed rector, I am passionate about this vision, and it is important for me to have leaders who feel the same. It is very tough to be a leader in the knowledge business. I am confident that this team has the ambition, skills and qualities that characterize good leaders. On behalf of the entire management team, I will say that we all look forward to taking on this job," Bovim said.
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