Professor Jan Smits new dean Faculty of Law
Professor Jan Smits will succeed Professor Dr. Hildegard Schneider as new dean of the Faculty of Law on 1 December 2017.
Smits, currently professor of European Private Law, director of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute (M-EPLI) and chair of the Private Law Department, impressed the Executive Board, the Appointments Advisory Committee and the Faculty Council with his vision on guiding the faculty, and the faculty as an integral part of the university, through the current change processes.
The new dean has been a visiting scholar at various foreign institutes, including Tulane Law School, the University of Leuven, the University of Liège, Louisiana State University, Penn State Dickinson School of Law, and the University of Helsinki. From 2010 to 2012 he served as Hill Visiting Chair on the Internationalisation of Law and from 2013 to 2014 he served as Rotating Chair at Ghent University. Professor Smits has held various administrative positions at UM, including Vice-Dean. Jan Smits is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and a titular member of the International Academy of Comparative Law (AIDC). He is also chair of the KNAW Law Department and a deputy judge at the Amsterdam Court of Appeal.
Professor Smits will start as vice dean on 1 September 2017, to ensure the smooth transfer of ad-ministrative responsibilities. The Executive Board looks forward to working with Professor Smits and wishes him the best of luck in his role as dean.
Professor Dr. Hildegard Schneider will step down as dean on 1 December 2017, after bringing the faculty's educational review to a close this upcoming November. Professor Schneider served as dean from 1 September 2011 to 1 December 2017, a role she fulfilled with equal measures of success, dedication and enthusiasm. Under her leadership, the faculty took significant steps both financially and substantively. Important interdisciplinary initiatives and institutes were shaped under her leadership, such as MACIMDE, ITEM and MACCH, and currently play an important role at UM and beyond. The Executive Board and the faculty are very grateful for Professor Schneider's hard work and dedication, and wish her all the best in her continued academic career as a European law professor.
The Executive Board is pleased that Professor Schneider will continue to play an important role at ITEM, MACIMIDE and MACCH as well as in the further strategic development of the Brussels Campus and other international activities.
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