UTDesignLabMascha van der Voort appointed as Vice Dean Education of Faculty of Engineering Technology

Mascha van der Voort appointed as Vice Dean Education of Faculty of Engineering Technology

The Executive Board has appointed Professor Mascha van der Voort as Vice Dean Education of the Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET). The effective date of her appointment is 1 February 2021. She succeeds Marjolein Dohmen, who has held this position in recent years.

Mascha van der Voort is Professor of Human Centred Design at the ET Faculty. In addition to her research, Mascha van der Voort is actively involved in educational innovation at the UT. She is Scientific Co-Director & Portfolio holder for education at DesignLab, Director of the Transdisciplinary Master-Insert 'Shaping Responsible Futures' and scientific member of the Shaping Expert Group (SEG) 'Innovation of Education'. She also co-designed and created the Industrial Design Engineering programme. Besides, Mascha is an alumnus of the very first academic year of Civil Engineering & Management at the UT.

The appointment advisory committee, the faculty advisory committee and the faculty council were positive about the appointment of Mascha van der Voort. The committees were particularly enthusiastic about Mascha's involvement in educational innovation and her ideas about the connection between research and education, which are well in line with the integral ET strategy. From her positions within DesignLab and the SEG ‘Innovation of Education,’ she is also able to make good connections between Shaping2030 and the faculty.

Bart Koopman, Dean of the Faculty of ET, has this to say on the appointment of Mascha van der Voort: “We are very pleased with Mascha's appointment and looking forward to working together as Faculty Board. With her background in Civil Engineering and Industrial Design Engineering, Mascha forms a complementary addition to the Faculty Board. We are convinced that she will be able to properly represent the faculty in her administrative role in the UC-OW and other UT meetings and committees.”

Mascha van der Voort herself about her appointment: “With Shaping2030, the University of Twente has expressed the ambition to strengthen the connection with society also through education. As well as the other faculties at the UT, ET is facing the challenge of translating this vision into faculty education practice. ET already has a strong starting point for realizing this translation, due to her portfolio of high-quality and socially relevant programmes. I look forward to taking on this challenge together with devoted lecturers, students and support staff, to collaboratively ensure that ET education is future proof.”

The Executive Board is looking forward to working with Mascha and wishes her every success in this new position.

Contact: Bertyl Lankhaar, spokesperson for the Executive Board of the University of Twente, M: 0620027435