Rita Borromeo Ferri elected Vice President of the University of Kassel

University President Prof. Dr. Ute Clement had proposed Borromeo Ferri for election: "She is a didactician herself and an internationally networked scientist. As the initiator of the MINT-Hub Kassel, she also has a broad and practical approach to the question of how school, university and career can be meaningfully interlinked. I look forward to working with her."

Borromeo Ferri (49) has held a professorship for the didactics of Mathematics (lower secondary level) at the University of Kassel since 2011. Her research focuses in particular on mathematical modeling, cognitive psychological analyses of learning processes and teaching and learning with AI. In 2018, she received the Hessian University Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Borromeo Ferri is co-head of the MINT-Hub Kassel, which promotes exchange between schools, the university and non-university partners in the fields of Mathematics, Computer Science, Natural Sciences and Technology. Since 2019, she has also been a science advisor at Columbia University, New York.

"I am grateful for the trust placed in me and look forward to my term of office," said Rita Borromeo Ferri. "My goal is to continue to shape studies and teaching in a qualitative, international, digital and networked way. In concrete terms, this means, among other things, the continuous examination of teaching and learning with AI. For me, it's not a question of whether AI should be used, but rather how AI can be integrated in a meaningful, creative and learning-oriented way."

Other important points are the internationalization of studies and teaching, the possibility of establishing dual studies at the University of Kassel to further strengthen cooperation between companies and Faculties and the promotion of STEM education. "What is important to me in all of these points is that student success is paramount. I would like to further develop and expand measures and strategies to prevent students from dropping out. I would like to thank my predecessor René Matzdorf for his achievements in the area of studies and teaching."

Ute Clement also thanked the previous Vice President René Matzdorf for nine years of service on the Presidential Board: "With the modernization of the university's study programmes, the introduction of the sustainability study programmes, the technical conversion of the examination system and the teaching quality offensive, the workload would have been high even in normal times. But his time in office also saw the coronavirus pandemic and the emergence of generative artificial intelligence. Both had and continue to have enormous and fundamental consequences for the design of studies and teaching at universities. René Matzdorf has made an enormous contribution to the success of this transformation in Kassel." The President praised Matzdorf as a Vice President who has always approached his tasks in a very fundamental, structured and forward-looking manner despite his heavy workload.

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