Deans elected for the new Engineering, ICT and Business faculties

The current Heads of Education and Research will take the positions of deans in the faculties. Anne Norström will start as Dean in Engineering, Tero Reunanen will lead the faculty of ICT and Jaana Kallio-Gerlander will lead the faculty of Business.

The faculty of Engineering and Business has been in operation since 2018. During this time, it has grown so much that the organisational change is intended to support its prerequisites for continued growth. In 2018, the number of students in the field of engineering and business was still around 5800, while today the number is already over 9000. The number of personnel has also grown significantly, and the volume of research, development and innovation (RDI) activities is growing.

− The aim of the organisational change is to support staff and students even better than before by strengthening the management system and focusing on work, says Juha Kontio, the current Dean of the faculty of Engineering and Business, who will take over as the new Vice Rector in the beginning of 2025. 

Rector Vesa Taatila says that it was easy for the UAS Board to make a decision on new deans for the renewed engineering and business entity.

− It is extremely great to have experienced and well-known employees as deans in our new faculties, Taatila says.

Hoping to have a wider impact

Anne Norström, Tero Reunanen and Jaana Kallio-Gerlander will start as Deans in their respective areas on 1.1.2025. They all hope to contribute to the students' competence and, at the same time, to the business life of the region. 

− As a pragmatist, I think that education can make a difference, both for people and the whole world. I believe that Turku UAS can contribute to creating a better world: if we can't, who can? Jaana Kallio-Gerlander ponders.

In the field of business, Jaana Kallio-Gerlander aims to clarify and strengthen the cutting edge in RDI and education.

− Business is everywhere, whether it is marketing, financial administration or international business, we have the expertise in all of it. I want to set goals and create new openings for work. I hope that I will also learn from it while working with people from different fields, she adds.

Investing in research that is useful to companies

Tero Reunanen believes that, as a faculty of its own, the ICT area is able to grow and serve both students and staff. 

− I have worked at TUAS in many different positions and the position of Dean is a great next step. The combination of industrial engineering and management and ICT is a dream job for me, Reunanen describes.

He points out that all RDI activities at TUAS are determined by applied research close to companies. The aim of the scientific research carried out in the research groups is to benefit companies. Business and regional cooperation is considered very important and investments are made in it.

− The goal of the faculty of ICT is to be a strongly known player at the European level, Reunanen says.

Reunanen, Kallio-Gerlander and Norström have been colleagues at TUAS for years and they know each other's working methods. It helps to build cross-sectoral cooperation.

− When education in the field of engineering is brought together, it will form a fairly large sector with enormous potential to operate effectively throughout Southwest Finland and also on a Finnish scale. We have a strong RDI portfolio at Turku UAS, and it can be made even stronger by joining forces, describes Anne Norström.