November 12, 2019
Jacobs University has gained an internationally experienced and worldwide respected university leader, lecturer and researcher as its new President. On 1 December 2019, Professor Dr. Antonio Loprieno, President of the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) and former Rector of the University of Basel, will assume office. Prof. Loprieno succeeds Professor Dr. Michael Hülsmann, who, in August of this year, announced his forthcoming departure from the private, international University after six successful years.
"Professor Loprieno is the perfect fit for this position. He will continue Jacobs University's successful growth course and further sharpen its academic profile," says Lavinia Jacobs, Chairwoman of the Board of Governors of the English-medium University. During its meeting on 5 November 2019, the Board unanimously approved the appointment of Prof. Loprieno as the new President of the University. Previously, a selection committee under the leadership of Lavinia Jacobs proposed Prof. Loprieno as candidate for this position.
"I am looking forward to this inspiring challenge, to the cooperation with the academic and administrative staff members and to meeting the students", says Prof. Loprieno. Born in Bari, Italy, in 1955, Antonio Loprieno knows Jacobs University well. He became a member of the Board of Governors of Jacobs University in August 2018. “As a member of the Board of Governors, I was able to closely comprehend that Jacobs University has a unique position in the European higher education market”, says Loprieno, who also insists that “after a period of consolidation, Jacobs University is now well positioned to achieve further academic success while maintaining economic sustainability.” Currently, over 1,500 students from more than 120 countries study and do research on the campus in Bremen. Academic quality, global orientation, and attention to the local social and economic context are the foundations of the young university.
Antonio Loprieno studied Egyptology, Linguistics and Semitic Studies at the University of Turin in Italy. In the 1980s, he taught at various European universities, including the University of Göttingen and the University of Perugia in Italy. He was also a professor of Egyptology in the United States at the renowned University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and later served as a professor at the University of Basel, where he was Rector from 2006 to 2015. From 2008 to 2015, Loprieno was also President of the Swiss Rectors' Conference. Since May 2018, he has been President of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and President of the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, an association of more than 50 academies in over 40 countries.