Prof. Jean-Marc Schlenker was elected as the new Dean of the Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication (FSTC) at the University of Luxembourg. He takes over from Prof. Paul Heuschling who served as FSTC Dean for a period of 10 years. His mandate started on 20 October 2018 for a five-year period.
Highly interested in geometry, Jean-Marc Schlenker started his career in France as assistant professor at University of Paris-Sud and then Professor at University of Toulouse. He joined the University of Luxembourg in 2013 as a Full Professor in mathematics, juggling between teaching and research activities. In addition to obtaining significant results in mathematics, Jean-Marc Schlenker has held scientific responsibilities in various countries, and high-level administrative responsibilities in France. In January 2018, he was appointed Head of the Research Unit in Mathematics (RMATH) to continue and reinforce this small but very active department.
Now Dean of the Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication (FSTC), he is very pleased to take up this new challenge.
Prof. Schlenker, what has motivated you to become FSTC Dean?
“I applied as a member of a team, together with Serge Haan, Professor within the Life Sciences Research Unit (LSRU) and Head of the Doctoral School in Science and Engineering (DSSE) and with Ludger Wirtz, Head of the Physics and Materials Science Research Unit (PHYMS). We are aware that taking on this task is a significant commitment of time and energy for the next five years. We are willing to make this effort because we are convinced that there is a real potential to turn FSTC into a leading place for teaching and research at the European level. Achieving this will be well worth our efforts.”
How do you see your new position (short and long term)?
“Together with Ludger and Serge, we will be at the service of the Faculty, of our colleagues and of the University. FSTC teaching and research activities have grown significantly since the creation of the University of Luxembourg in 2003, thanks to the dedication and efforts of all our colleagues, but particularly of Paul Heuschling during his ten years as Dean. Now, we would like to go further. We have already identified a number of tasks and we will work together with all our colleagues willing to invest time and energy for the faculty. We would like in particular to work closely with the Heads of the research units.”
What will you bring to the faculty?
“I believe that we have a wide spectrum of complementary expertise in various aspects of research and higher education. Having worked in different fields and different countries, we can bring a fresh perspective on some of the problems that FSTC is facing or will be facing in the next years.”
What will be your biggest challenges?
“In the teaching area, our programmes need to be more attractive to welcome excellent students at Bachelor and Master levels, from Luxembourg, from the Greater Region, and beyond. The University of Luxembourg must be recognised as a great place to study science and technology, offering benefits not found in many larger and older institutions. On a practical level, we are facing some immediate challenges such as the creation of the new Bachelor in Medicine which will allow students to complete three years of their studies in Luxembourg, instead of only one year so far.
In the research area, FSTC has made considerable progress in research over the last years, but further progress is possible. We will strive to use all possible occasions to attract top researchers to our Faculty, and to give to all researchers in the Faculty the best possible conditions, so as to make more and more excellent research.”