Senate advocates change at the top of the President’s Board
The Senate of the University of Basel has decided to seek new appointments to the President’s Board for the coming term of office and not to accept the President’s offer to extend her mandate.
13 March 2026
The President offered to continue for two years to oversee key strategic processes, especially negotiations with supporting cantons on 2030–2033 financing. Leadership continuity could have ensured a stable continuation of complex, ongoing processes.
Nevertheless, the Senate decided against extending the President’s term beyond the spring semester of 2027. At the same time, the committee expressly acknowledged Prof. Dr. Andrea Schenker-Wicki's dedicated and successful leadership. She will remain in office until the end of her current term in the spring semester of 2027.
Farewell to the Chief Financial Officer
The Senate also bid farewell to Dr. Jürgen Rümmele, who has been part of the University of Basel's senior management and finance team since 1998, serving as Chief Financial Officer and member of the President’s Board since 2021.
Rümmele has played a key role in shaping the university's current finance and controlling system. He will hand over his management role to his successor on 1 May 2026. The Senate thanked him for his many years of service, and he was given a standing ovation as he left.
Senate awards Venia docendi
At the request of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science, the Senate has granted the following persons the degree of Dr. habil. and the Venia docendi. The scientists are thus authorized to use the title of lecturer (Privatdozent) and the academic degree of Dr. habil.
Faculty of Medicine
- Dr. Justin Carrard for sports medicine
- Dr. Frédérique Chammartin for experimental medicine
- Dr. Matthias Diebold for transplant immunology and nephrology
- Dr. Nader Hejrati for neurosurgery
- Dr. Christoph Kümmerli for visceral surgery
- Dr. Severina Leu for neurosurgery
Faculty of Science
- Dr. Jitao David Zhang for computational biology and drug discovery
In addition, the Senate awarded the degree of Dr. habil. to Dr. Lukas Streese-Schüler for sports science at the request of the Faculty of Medicine, to Prof. Dr. Karin Madlener-Charpentier for German linguistics and general linguistics at the request of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and to Dr. Julia Maria Isis Barth for evolutionary biology at the request of the Faculty of Science.
