With the election of three new members and the appointment of three others by Rector Flavio Deflorian, the new Academic Senate of the University of Trento, the governing body of the University for teaching and research activities, is ready for work.
The election - The academic community had been invited to elect three of its four representatives in the Senate for the remaining part of the 2019/22 term of office, after professors Flavio Deflorian, Paolo Macchi and Giuseppe Sciortino handed in their resignation. The three newly elected members joined professor Giovanni Pascuzzi of the Faculty of Law and will be in office until 31 March 2022.
The election took place today and online voting ended at 5pm. The results have already been confirmed by the central election committee.
Professor Gabriella Berloffa, who teaches Political economics at the Department of Economics and management, the only candidate representing the city departments, was elected for the disciplinary area of social sciences, humanities, law.
For the area of science and technology, which includes the departments and centres of the hill of Trento and of Rovereto, the elected members are Alberto Montresor, full professor of Computer Science at the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, and Alberto Bellin, full professor of Civil engineering and Architecture at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering.
The appointments – With the new members appointed by Rector Flavio Deflorian the Academic senate is complete. Their names were revealed today. The terms of office of appointed members expire on 11 April 2024. Rector Deflorian chose Paola Iamiceli, full professor of Private law at the Faculty of Law, Franco Fraccaroli, full professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science and Vice-Rector for organizational well-being and relations with staff, and Andrea Giorgi, full professor of Library and archival sciences at the Department of Humanities.
Professor Paola Iamiceli has also been appointed Deputy Vice-Rector.
The Academic senate: functions and members
The Academic Senate is the scientific authority of the University. It cooperates with the Rector in the direction, planning and coordination of the University’s academic and research activities and, in light of the proposals presented by the University departments and centres, collaborates to the definition and implementation of scientific and educational plans, to the allocation of financial resources and the recruitment of professors and researchers.
Including the Rector, it has eight members who must be full professors: four are elected, while three (including the Deputy Vice-Rector) are appointed by the Rector. In meetings when the discussion concerns teaching, the right to study and student services, the Academic Senate is composed of all of its members and two student representatives. At the moment, the student representatives are Francesca Grassi and Mattia Guarnerio, who will be in office until 30 November 2022.
About the election
The three full professors were elected by academic staff (tenured professors and researchers, and researchers employed on fixed term contracts). Of the 666 eligible voters, 522 (78%) cast their ballot.
In the area of social sciences, humanities and law, 214 people voted out of 292 eligible voters (73%). Gabriella Berloffa, only candidate, received 186 votes. Blank votes were 28.
In the technical and scientific area, 308 people voted out of a total of 374 eligible voters (82%). Alberto Montresor received 134 votes, Alberto Bellin 104. Francesco Pederiva, a candidate for the same area, obtained 58 votes. Blank votes were 12.
Online voting started today at 9am and continued until 5pm, with the same procedure adopted for the Rector's election, through Helios Voting. Candidates to the Academic Senate were grouped in two lists representing the humanities and the science-technology departments. Voters could cast one vote for a candidate of their area. The seven departments of the science and technology area are: Physics; Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering; Industrial Engineering; Information Engineering and Computer Science; Mathematics; Psychology and Cognitive Science; Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology. The four departments of the area of social sciences, humanities and law are: Economics and Management; the Humanities; Sociology and Social research; the Faculty of Law.