Prof. Dr. Birgitta Wolff

Biography

After an apprenticeship in the banking sector, Birgitta Wolff studied economics and philosophy at the University of Witten-Herdecke and obtained her doctorate at the Munich School of Management at LMU Munich.

Following her post-doctoral qualification (habilitation) in 1999, she was appointed J. F. Kennedy Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, became Visiting Professor at the Center for European Studies at Georgetown University, and Professor of Business Economics and International Management at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. Further visiting professorships took her to Eastern Europe, South America and China. She also spent a research semester at Stanford University. 

From 2010 to 2011, Birgitta Wolff was Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs and from 2011 to 2013 Minister of Science and Economic Affairs of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. From 2015 to 2020, she held the office of President of Goethe University Frankfurt.

For the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), she was appointed Vice-President for Research, Early Career Researchers, Transfer and Cooperation for two years until 2020.

She serves on various boards. Her positions include Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Essen-based RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, and Spokeswoman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science. Birgitta Wolff is also a member of the Leopoldina’s Senate, the Board of Trustees of the Volkswagen Foundation, the Supervisory Board of the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation SPRIND, and the Board of Directors of ZDF, one of Germany's national public television broadcasters.

Birgitta Wolff has been in office as President of the University of Wuppertal since 1st September 2022.

 

Team

Strategic Unit of the Rector

  • Head
    Anna Bruns, M.A.
    Building B.08.04, Phone +49 202 439 5005
    E-Mail abruns[at]uni-wuppertal.de
  • Assistants to the Rector
    Dr. Simona Bevern
    Building B.08.04, Phone +49 202 439 5433
    E-Mail referentin.rektorin[at]uni-wuppertal.de
    Anne Palka, M.A.
    Building B.08.04, Phone +49 202 439 5465
    E-Mail palka[at]uni-wuppertal.de; referentin.rektorin[at]uni-wuppertal.de
     
  • Office
    Monika Starke
    Building B.08.07, Phone +49 202 439 22 24, Fax: -3024
    Anja Zeidler
    Building B.08.07, Phone +49 202 439 5224, Fax: -3024

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