Since May, the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS for short) at Landshut University of Applied Sciences has a new dean. President Prof. Fritz Pörnbacher is happy to have Prof. Roeren, an old dean colleague, as his new contact person at the head of the youngest of the six university faculties. The two already worked closely together when Roeren was Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering more than ten years ago and Pörnbacher himself was still Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Industrial Engineering. Sven Roeren succeeds Prof. Mona Riemenschneider, for whose commitment University President Fritz Pörnbacher and the new Dean Sven Roeren expressly thank her.
Developing a young and dynamic faculty
The Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, which was founded in 2016, has a wide range of scientific as well as practical competencies coupled to it to offer. The new dean, Prof. Roeren, would now like to strengthen the equally promising structures as well as the attractive portfolio of courses in the most meaningful way possible. Accordingly, a concrete profile for the faculty is to be prepared, on the basis of which the future orientation of the faculty will be carried out. In any case, Prof. Roeren is very much looking forward to the task: "In the run-up, I have dealt intensively with the status of the faculty, and this has led to a growing desire to tackle it. After all, it is incredibly complex. I like challenges like that."
One of the things that can be understood as complex is the faculty, which comes from a variety of scientific disciplines. After all, the faculty is emblematic of the overarching cooperation between the areas of expertise at Landshut University of Applied Sciences, which is entirely in line with Prof. Roeren's aspirations. He would like to commit himself and all others from the university community to always pull together. He is therefore particularly pleased about the internal faculty "support that one has from everyone. The task now is to use that to look at the whole thing together. It can only ever be done together. We put everything to the test together and then look at what can be continued in the same way and what may need to be readjusted in the faculty. Ultimately, the goal is to create a framework in which all faculty members find themselves adequately reflected."
A manager and "outsider" as a bridge builder
In addition to his university activities, Sven Roeren has always been anchored in the private sector and active both as an entrepreneur and in various management roles. He founded his first company at the age of 19 shortly after graduating from high school, and by the age of 29 he was managing a plant with 300 employees. He will build on this experience when it comes to identifying the right measures to further develop the strengths of the IDS faculty. Prof. Roeren answers why he is the right person for what he himself describes as a "complex" challenge as follows: "In terms of my personality, it fits like a glove because I don't claim to have to know everything. That is important for management tasks. I simply have to be able to trust my team. I also have a good sense for recognizing when something is starting to go wrong. It's important for me to analyze things clearly and, on the basis of that, take action for the faculty for which I'm responsible." Only in this way will he be able to make decisions in the future.
As the so-called external dean of the IDS faculty, Sven Roeren is no ordinary head of this department. The chairmanship of the Faculty Council IDS is now held by a dean who in fact remains a member of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and holds the new dean position on an interim basis for two years as an "external". This has no influence on his self-image as Dean of the Faculty IDS, and the motivation required for this. The plan is that a person from the faculty's own ranks will then take over the office permanently. Roeren would then like to be able to hand over an orderly and well-run faculty. Meanwhile, the implementation of the new dean was brought about by the faculty members of IDS themselves, who democratically elected Prof. Roeren. "The remedy of pulling someone from one faculty to another is a rather rare measure. But here it makes perfect sense because it was looked at who has managed something like this before," Prof. Roeren explains this circumstance. Based on his experience as an ex-dean who has already proven to have successfully developed a faculty, Prof. Roeren approaches with the claim to mediate in all directions. As a cross-university bridge builder, he accordingly states: "In the end, Landshut University of Applied Sciences should have six flourishing faculties".
Confidence in a strong team structure of the IDS faculty
When asked what his secret recipe is for turning the promising development of the IDS faculty into a sustainable success story, Roeren responds by referring once again to the consensus in a strong team structure already mentioned: "Let me classify the dean role once again at this point. What I have in mind is secondary at first. You have to see how it fits with the profile of the faculty." And this is formed by the self-image of the faculty members, he said. It is very important to coordinate bilaterally "on aspects where possible problems lie. I would never presume to say that I know anything better. Organizationally, things can only be worked out together. The next period will therefore be characterized by bilateral discussions, but also other formats."
In any case, the aspiration of Prof. Sven Roeren, the new Dean of the IDS Faculty, is that "you notice very quickly that something is changing."
