Our Extended Board of Directors

Prof. Dr. Juliane Besters-Dilger has served as vice president for academic affairs at the University of Freiburg since 2014. After completing a degree in Romance and Slavic studies in Freiburg, Cologne, and Grenoble, she earned her PhD in Slavic linguistics in 1987. Following her habilitation in 1990, she held the position of director of the University of Freiburg’s Center for French Studies. From 1994 to 2007 she was professor of Russian linguistics at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the University of Vienna. In 2007 she was offered the chair in Slavic philology at the University of Freiburg, which she held until her move to the Rectorate.

Prof. Dr. Masahisa Deguchi studied law at Chuo University in Tokyo and in Freiburg. After completing his doctorate in Freiburg, he was appointed to a professorship at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, where he served for many years as vice dean. A recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Deguchi was a member of the selection commission for the DAAD Scholarship and the commission for the State Examination in Law. Professor Deguchi represents the interests of the international alumni clubs in the extended board of directors as president of the Japanese Alumni Club.

After completing a degree at Connecticut College, Jeffrey Himmel came to the University of Freiburg on an American program in 1975 to study political science and economics. He worked in the steel industry in Detroit for many years, advancing to the position of president of a global steel import and export company in 1981. He is also a member of the board of directors of the American Institute for International Steel. He initiated efforts to establish an alumni club in North America in 2011 and is now president of the club. He represents the international alumni clubs in the extended board of directors.

Ex officio member

Prof. Dr. Gunther Neuhaus has served as vice president for research at the University of Freiburg since 2012. He studied biology in Salzburg, earning his PhD in 1980. His cell biology research has taken him to many places around the world, including Heidelberg, New York, Zurich, and Singapore. He earned his habilitation qualification in 1993 at ETH Zurich. Since 1993 he has held the post of professor of cell biology at the Institute of Biology II of the University of Freiburg. He has been a member of the German national academy of science Leopoldina since 2000. In addition, he has served since 2003 as European coordinator of the Harvest Plus Program, which promotes the development and distribution of improved seeds in third-world countries.

Prof. Dr. Ursula Schaefer studied English, history, and political science in Freiburg and Munich. After completing the state examination and a master’s degree, she went on to earn her PhD in 1976. She was a research assistant at the University of Freiburg’s Department of English and completed her habilitation qualification in 1989. In 1993 she was appointed as professor for medieval English literature at the Humboldt University in Berlin and served there as vice president from 1996 to 1999. She then accepted the professorship for English linguistics at the Technical University of Dresden. From 2010 to her retirement in 2013, she was the full-time vice rector of the TU Dresden. After giving lectures in medieval English literature and linguistics regularly since the 2013/14 winter semester, she was appointed by Rector Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Schiewer in January 2017 as an adjunct professor. Since April of the same year, she has also served as chair of the South Baden Alumni Club.

Ex officio member

As head of administration, Dr. Matthias Schenek has been responsible for legal, human resources, and financial affairs at the University of Freiburg since 2008. He studied law in Tübingen. The attorney earned his doctorate with a dissertation on European genetic engineering law and then went on to work at Baden-Württemberg’s State Ministry and Ministry of Science.

Prof. Dr. Marc Hanewinkel studied forest sciences at the University of Freiburg and ETH Zurich. After completing probationary training and gaining practical experience at Baden-Württemberg’s State Forest Administration, he earned his doctorate in 1998 at what was then called the Faculty of Forest Science of the University of Freiburg, where he also completed his habilitation training in 2002 with a thesis on decisions in restructuring and risk. Following several years of experience at the Forest Testing and Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg in Freiburg and at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research in Birmensdorf, Switzerland, Prof. Hanewinkel has taught forest economy and forest planning at the University of Freiburg’s Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources since 2014.

After completing his studies at the University of Freiburg, Hans Stalf began work as an economist in the human resources department of the chemical company Henkel. The main stages of his career at Henkel included responsibilities in human resources planning and controlling, a stint as employment manager for non-pay-scale employees, extended stays abroad in countries such as China, and then, starting in 1998, the position of director of task allocation and performance appraisal. He retired in 2005 and is president of the Alumni Club North Rhine-Westphalia. He represents the German alumni clubs in the extended board of directors.

Dr. Wolfgang Thost studied economics in Freiburg and Dortmund. After completing his doctorate, he held several partner and management positions at leading consulting and high-tech firms, including the post of vice president of international operations in Europe at Siemens AG. He has been a managing partner of Atreus GmbH in Munich since 2009. He represents the German alumni clubs in the extended board of directors as a member of the board of the Bavarian chapter of Alumni Freiburg and the Freiburg economists’ organization.

Marie Claudine Zangna completed the state examination degree program in pharmacy in Freiburg. After her studies she worked in France and Cameroon. Today she runs her own pharmacy in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital city. She is president of the Cameroon chapter of Alumni Freiburg, which is involved especially in efforts to promote environmentally friendly waste disposal at hospitals in Cameroon. Marie Claudine Zangna represents the international alumni clubs in the extended board of directors of Alumni Freiburg e.V.

Adnan Zogaj represents the institutionalized alumni organizations at the faculty level in the extended board of directors of Alumni Freiburg e.V. as a member of the registered society Freiburger Wirtschaftswissenschaftler e.V. This group of Freiburg economists was the first faculty-level organization to join Alumni Freiburg e.V. Zogaj studied economics at the University of Freiburg, where he now works as a lecturer under the professor of marketing and health management.