Rostock (dpa/mv) - With Elizabeth Prommer, for the first time in the more than 600-year history of the University of Rostock, a woman is at the head of the traditional educational institution. In the regular rector election on Wednesday evening, the 57-year-old communication and media scientist received the required number of votes from the 65 members of the council in the second ballot, the university announced. In the first ballot neither of the two candidates had reached the required minimum number of 33 votes.
Prommer prevailed over her competitor, mathematics professor Klaus Neymeyr. She will thus succeed the previous rector, Wolfgang Schareck. The 69-year-old doctor is leaving office in April 2023 after 14 years.
Born in the USA, Prommer studied in Los Angeles, Munich and Leipzig. She then worked and taught academically in Munich, Hamburg and Vienna, among other places, before becoming director of the Institute for Media Research in Rostock in 2011 and taking over the chair for communication and media studies.
The University of Rostock is one of the most traditional universities in Europe. It was founded in 1419 as "Alma Mater Rostochiensis", is the third oldest university in Germany and the oldest in the entire Baltic Sea region. It consists of nine faculties and today has around 13,000 students.
