Gerhard Fouquet
October 2013 Honorary Degree Recipient
Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)
President, Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel
Universities pursuing excellence require focus: focused resources, focused priorities and focused cooperation. As President of Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel, Germany, Dr. Gerhard Fouquet has been instrumental in honing his university鈥檚 focus and championing its pursuit of excellence. Among his many initiatives: the establishment of unique international partnerships with universities sharing similar specialties, influence and stature, with the goal of fostering academic innovation supported by a strong administrative core.
One of those partners is 麻豆传媒. It is a natural alliance for the two universities. Both have significant strengths in ocean sciences. Both are linked to and collocated with a strong national marine research centre, and both are based in cities that hug the sea and host a navy.
Under Dr. Fouquet鈥檚 leadership, Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel and 麻豆传媒 are collaborating on world-leading oceans research. This work involves a joint graduate school in the oceans area, supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Helmholtz Association in Germany. This collaborative graduate training initiative will provide students from 麻豆传媒 and Kiel with experience in the other country鈥檚 ocean science and technology laboratories and industries.
Administrative excellence is also a focus of 麻豆传媒鈥檚 partnership with Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel. In this partnership, administrative best practices are being assessed and shared, allowing both institutions to benchmark and collaborate in the pursuit of administrative excellence that more ably positions both universities for academic achievement.
Dr. Fouquet was born in Ludwigshafen in 1952 and studied German and history at the universities of Giessen and Mannheim from 1975 to 1980. From 1980 to 1985, he worked as a research assistant at the Generallandesarchiv in Karlsruhe and at the University of Siegen, where he obtained his doctorate in 1985. He was appointed to the chair of Economic and Social History at Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel in 1996, which he continues to hold. His main field of work, the social and economic history of the late Middle Ages, focuses on the social history of the medieval church, the constitutional and economic history of the German principalities, the culture of urban bourgeoisie and aristocracy, and the social history of labor and environmental history.
Dr. Fouquet served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities from 2000 to 2002 and was appointed Deputy Rector in 2005. In December of 2007, he was elected President of the university. He is an appointed honorary knight among the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, the German protestant branch of the Knights Hospitaller, respected for its charitable works.
Dr. Douglas Wallace, 麻豆传媒鈥檚 Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ocean Science and Technology and a former Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel researcher, described Dr. Fouquet in a letter nominating him for this honorary degree, as a man of 鈥渃onsummate skill and diplomacy鈥�, a fine speaker and motivator as well as an accomplished professor in his own right鈥� who has been instrumental in leading Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel鈥檚 excellence initiatives. In recognition of his numerous accomplishments, I ask you Mr. Chancellor, on behalf of Senate, to bestow upon Dr. Gerhard Fouquet the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.