At its meeting on 19 November, the faculty council of the Faculty of Science elected Professor Jouko Väänänen unanimously for the post of dean of the faculty for the four-year period starting on 1 January 2014.

 

The decision of the faculty council will be delivered to the Rector. The faculty requests the Rector to verify the election of the dean (university regulations, paragraph 48).

 

In the introduction of candidates for the post of dean (https://flamma.helsinki.fi/fi/HY305058, in Finnish), Professor Jouko Väänänen declared that, as dean, he would focus on research cooperation across department and faculty borders. ‘There are many good things about the teaching at our faculty, and I would try to spread the best practices, such as collaborative teaching, to the rest of the faculty,’ he said.

 

As a challenge, Väänänen mentioned the sufficiency of the funding. ‘The faculty has a strong standing at the university, thanks to its top research, award-winning instruction, and effective administration. It is a challenge for the dean to make these factors affect the resources it receives,’ he stated.