The rector manages the University of Konstanz and represents it both internally and externally. She is responsible for appointing professors and leads appointment negotiations. She also oversees the university’s participation in the next round of the Excellence Strategy competition.
One of Katharina Holzinger’s central goals is to increase the University of Konstanz’s visibility in Germany and abroad. The rector promotes a university atmosphere that is inclusive and free from discrimination, and she works to channel the university's sustainability efforts in a sustainability strategy.
Short bio
On 24 February 2021, Katharina Holzinger was appointed rector of the University of Konstanz. Before taking on this position, Katharina Holzinger had been a W3-professor for international politics in the university’s Department of Politics and Public Administration since 2007. At the University of Konstanz, she was also vice dean of the Faculty of Politics, Law and Economics from 2018 to 2020 and Vice Rector for International Affairs and Equal Opportunities from 2009 to 2012.
In 2020 Katharina Holzinger was elected to the board of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW), where she has been a member since 2018. In 2013 Katharina Holzinger became a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences.
Katharina Holzinger studied political science and German studies in Munich before earning her doctorate in 1993 at the University of Augsburg. From 1993 to 1997 she worked as a researcher at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) before joining the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn. In 2002 she completed her habilitation (postdoctoral qualification) at the University of Bamberg. In 2002/2003 she finished a Jean Monnet Fellowship at the European University Institute in Florence (Italy) before being appointed professor for political science at Universität Hamburg in 2004.