Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity
The Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity advises the Senate on questions regarding equal opportunity. The committee is responsible for promoting equal opportunity and gender equality in academia. The central equal opportunity commissioner is the chair of the committee. Other members who are eligible to vote are two persons elected from each of the four status groups “professors”, “academic staff members”, “doctoral students”, and “students”. The Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity meets at least once every semester.
Current focus of work
According to a current survey, the equal opportunity commissioners at the University of Mannheim would like to focus their activities on the topics listed below. Summaries of the state of research as well as recommendations derived from them (fact sheets) have been compiled on some issues. These form the basis for the revision and update of the guidelines for appointment. For further information, please see Empirical Evidence.
Recruitment of female researchers
How can job advertisements be formulated and designed in a way that attracts more female researchers? How should the university add periods of family leave to the academic age? What are the best strategies to actively recruit female researchers? How can these aspects be implemented in a revised version of the guidelines for search committees? How can the central equal opportunity commissioner be involved in hiring procedures for all permanent positions?
Summaries of the state of research as well as recommendations derived from them (fact sheets) have been compiled on some issues:
Female researchers working in university bodies
How can the workload for female researchers who are working excessively in university bodies be reduced? How is it possible to hire more female researchers for central positions (e. g. as deans)?
For the revision and update of the guidelines for appointment, a summary of the state of research and recommendations on the quota of women on search committees (PDF) were drawn up.
Reconciliation of family and research
Which innovative measures can be applied to promote the reconciliation of family and research? How can the university reduce the workload of early-stage researchers with family-related responsibilities?
Incorporating the principles of equal opportunity in the organizational culture
How can we incorporate the principles of gender equality and equal opportunity in the minds of leaders and executives even more? How can we raise awareness for this topic? What do we do in case principles of equal opportunity are disregarded? How can we promote the usage of gender-neutral language in documents?
Members
The following nine persons are eligible to vote in the Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity:
Chair
1 January 2023 to 31 December 2024
Professors
Deputies:
Prof. Dr. Lea Tochtermann1 August 2023 to 31 July 2025
Academic staff members
Deputies:
1 August 2023 to 31 July 2025
Doctoral candidates
Melanie Tissot
Jan Menzner (starting 1 August 2024)Deputies:
Wiebke Juliane Elter1 August 2023 to 31 July 2025
Students
Charlotte Grünen
Sophia SchäferDeputies:
Emily Schönenborn1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025
Participate in the Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity an advisory function:Equal opportunity commissioner of the Department of Law and Economics
Deputy:
Equal opportunity commissioner of the Business School
Equal opportunity commissioner of the Dean’s Office of the Business School
Equal opportunity commissioner of the School of Social Sciences
Prof. Dr. Beatrice G. Kuhlmann
Deputies:
Clara Husson
Johanna HölzlEqual opportunity commissioner of the School of Humanities
Prof. Dr. Johannes Müller-Lancé
Deputy:
Prof. Claudia GronemannEqual opportunity commissioner of the School of Business Informatics and Mathematics
Deputy:
Prof. Dr. David PrömelEqual opportunity commissioner of the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES)
Deputy:
Dr. Constantin WurthmannRepresentative of the GESS
Head of the Department of Gender Equality and Diversity
Vice President for Strategic Planning, Internationalization and Equal Opportunity
Prof. Dr. Thomas Fetzer WUMAN
Equal opportunity commissioner of the AStA Yagmur Yeic Organization
The executive assistant to the central equal opportunity commissioner is responsible for supervising the organization of the Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity.