Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose becomes Dean of SAMF
After acting in the position as Dean of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences since 10 April, Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose has been confirmed in the post.
In a highly qualified field of contenders, the Appointments Committee has offered Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose, 51, the position as Dean of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences at the University of Southern Denmark. Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose previously served as Head of Department at the Department of Law, but she has been acting Dean since the beginning of April.
According to Rector Jens Ringsmose, who chaired the Appointments Committee, Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose has shown excellent skills in terms of leadership as well as developing academic environments during her years at SDU, and he looks forward to her using these skills in her new role as a member of the Executive Board.
- Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose is a skilled, results-oriented and inclusive leader. She sets clear goals and isn’t afraid to launch the initiatives needed to move an organisation in the right direction. I am convinced that with Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose at the helm, the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences will be further strengthened and will continue the very positive development which the faculty is seeing. While the challenges ahead will certainly be many, with Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose as Dean, we have found the right person to lead the Faculty through the coming ups and downs.
Exciting times for the Faculty
Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose herself is happy and proud to be able to continue the work of developing the academic environments and engage in leadership at SDU. This comes at a time when several major tasks lie ahead for both the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences and the university sector in general.
- I see a good starting point for improving the research agendas in particular and creating even stronger academic environments. Many exciting things are already happening, and I think SAMF has proved we are capable of setting a research agenda. And I’m very excited to be a part of taking that even further.
- The first step is for me to get to know the academic environments and the administration at the Faculty even better. And then we will continue the strategy process, which needs to get off the ground and be implemented at the departments. At the same time, while the upcoming master’s degree reform will be taking up a lot of time and effort, it has the potential to sharpen our already strong educational offerings. It’s big stuff, but it’s exciting to be a part of.
Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose has a background as a lawyer in corporate practice, and she came to SDU from a position as a professor at the Department of Law at Aarhus University. An experienced leader with 15 years of management experience under her belt, she replaces Peter Møllgaard as Dean of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences.