Introducing...Sven De Maeyer, Dean

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great enthusiasm that I introduce myself as Dean of our faculty. I am one of the colleagues from the Department of Education and Research Sciences (OOW) with a very strong interest in methodology and statistics. Methodological challenges in investigations of (connections between) different concepts in educational sciences and beyond trigger me every time. In doing so, I am recently walking more and more on the fascinating path of Bayesian statistics. So I am always ready to ping-pong about modeling and estimation.After much consideration and discussions with colleagues, I have decided to take on this role as Dean, together with a team of three enthusiastic and dedicated colleagues: Heidi, Peter and Peter.Our faculty is a source of pride, thanks to everyone's efforts. We have strong, externally rated programs, a broad research portfolio, and we also have a voice in society. So a special thanks goes out to each and every one of you for your valuable contributions.Our new policy team wants to build on these strong foundations while continuing to innovate and improve. We have three core principles that are central to our policy:

1. Long-term perspective: We keep the long-term perspective in mind in every decision, even though a short-term solution may sometimes seem so tempting.
2. Mental well-being: Recognizing the pressures and stresses in an academic environment, we will pursue policies that discuss and actively address these challenges. We will launch initiatives such as regular wellness workshops, confidential counseling services and flexible work arrangements to promote a healthy work-life balance. In addition, we want to create a culture of open communication and support, where everyone feels heard and supported.
3. Efficiency: We want to carefully weigh new initiatives and eliminate existing tasks where possible to avoid overload.In addition, we want to emphasize that we strive to provide education of the highest quality, with innovation and student-centeredness naturally remaining central.

We invite you to dialogue with us about our plans and work together to create an even stronger faculty. Hope to see you soon!

Kind regards,
Sven

Koen Pepermans (Faculty Director)

The Faculty Director is responsible for the policies on personnel management, budget and infrastructure. For instance, in allocating office work space, the director acts as an intermediary between the different departments and research groups, individual employees and the faculty at large.

Also, a large task is the support offered in the preparation, implementation and follow-up of education & research policy. The merger of the faculties (see ‘History’), the visitations by the accreditation organizations in both education and research, the BaMa-implementation, … . You name it, and the Faculty Director has a hand in it.

A last responsibility is acting as the official representative of the Faculty in various internal and external Boards and Commissions at the University of Antwerp.