Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is led by the Executive University Board, which includes the President, his Vice Presidents, and the Chancellor. The Executive University Board also appointed a Chief Information Officer (CIO).
The president is the head of the university and its external representative. He answers to the Senate, and prepares and implements the Senate’s resolutions. The president is elected by the Senate upon the recommendation of the University Council for a term of six years.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Georg Krausch has been President of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 2007. In January 2024, the Senate re-elected him for a fourth term in office.
Since 2007, Krausch has been committed to the continuous development of JGU’s profile in research, teaching, and the promotion of early career researchers. In doing so, he pursues an innovative strategic approach to university governance by integrating the diverse qualifications of all members of the university: students, teaching staff, researchers, and the great number of employees in administrative and technological departments. In his understanding, JGU is an “open university” and therefore an integral part of society. Their relationship is characterized by closeness and trust.
Georg Krausch, born in 1961, studied Physics at the University of Konstanz. After completing his doctoral degree and habilitation, he was Professor for Physical Chemistry at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich from 1996 to 1998. In 1998, he took up the chair for Physical Chemistry at the University of Bayreuth. Krausch has over 160 scientific publications which have been cited more than 10,000 times. In recognition of his scientific contributions, he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in 2009. Krausch has been a member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) since 2013. In 2014, he was awarded the Leibniz Medal of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz; in March 2020, he was elected an ordinary member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. As President of JGU, Krausch was the founding director of the MAINZ SCIENCE ALLIANCE. Since November 2023, he has served as Vice President of the German Rectors’ Conference, responsible for the focus area ‘Research and Academic Career Paths.
The Vice President for Research and Academic Careers is responsible in particular for research, the promotion of early career researchers, and for the transfer of knowledge and technology. The Vice President for Research and Academic Careers is elected by the Senate for a term of four to six years upon the president’s or the University Council’s recommendation.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan-Müller Stach has been the Vice President for Research and Academic Careers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 2017. His third term of office began on April 1, 2025.
Stefan Müller-Stach, born in 1962, studied Mathematics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and at the University of Bayreuth. After completing his doctoral degree and working as a postdoctoral researcher at several universities in the US and in Italy as well as at the University of Bayreuth, he earned his habilitation in the field of Mathematics at the Comprehensive University of Essen (now University of Duisburg-Essen). He was also the acting chair at the University of Bayreuth and the University of Cologne, and was a visiting scholar at the Max-Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn. He held a Heisenberg fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 1998 to 2002. Müller-Stach continued his international career as a full professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and as a visiting professor at the Institut Fourier in Grenoble, France. In 2003, he was appointed Professor of Number Theory at the Institute of Mathematics of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
Stefan Müller-Stach brings extensive and varied experience in higher education and science management to the table, collected, for example, from his years as a spokesperson for a collaborative research center and from the DFG’s Mathematics review board. He was dean of JGU’s Faculty 08: Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science from 2012 to 2014 and, from 2010 to 2016, member of the executive committee of the Gutenberg Research College (GRC), the central strategic instrument for promoting cutting-edge research at JGU. He became a member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz in 2022.
The Vice President for Learning and Teaching oversees all areas related to learning and teaching, including academic continuing education and didactics in higher education. Among other areas, he is also responsible for quality assurance, internationalization strategies in programs of study, as well as for teaching and continuing education, the libraries, the Studium generale, and the intersection of schools and higher education institutions. The Vice President is also the managing director of the Teacher Education Center. The Vice President for Learning and Teaching is elected by the Senate for a term of four to six years upon the President’s or the University Council’s recommendation.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stephan Jolie has been the Vice President for Learning and Teaching at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 2018. In June 2025, the Senate re-elected him for a third term in office.
Stephan Jolie (birth name: Stephan Fuchs) was born in 1965 and studied German Studies, Philosophy, and Musicology at the Universities of Frankfurt/Main and Munich. After earning his doctoral degree in 1995, he held an assistant professorship for Medieval German Literature at the Goethe University Frankfurt until 2002. In 2004, he earned his habilitation from the same university in the field of German Studies with a particular focus on Medieval German literature at the Department of Modern Languages. After holding substitute professorship positions at the Goethe University Frankfurt, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and FU Berlin, he was appointed Professor for Medieval Literature at the German Department of Faculty 05 – Philosophy and Philology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in 2007.
As the dean of Faculty 05 – Philosophy and Philology (2011–2017), Jolie was particularly involved in the internationalization of learning and teaching. He was the German Department’s Dijon representative from 2007 to 2017, the proposer and spokesperson (2011–2015) for a German-French postgraduate program, and the lead applicant, coordinator, and spokesperson for an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership, which resulted, among other things, in the creation of the Erasmus Mundus joint master’s program “Translational German Studies.” He also contributed to the strategic development of innovative teaching at JGU by implementing the Q+ study program and various teaching projects with students. Jolie was the spokesperson and project manager for the EU-funded European University Alliance FORTHEM up to the end of the first funding period. In addition to his regular duties, he is also a member of the “Standing Commission for Learning and Teaching” (“Ständige Kommission für Lehre und Studium”) of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK). He has headed the campus-wide project “Mainz Models for Digitally Enhanced Teaching and Learning” (Mainzer Modelle für digital erweitertes Lehren und Lernen (ModeLL-M)), funded by the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, since August 2021. He is currently particularly interested in the topics of sustainability, digitality, and democracy in education processes.
The Chancellor is in charge of the university’s central administration. She is responsible for the budget in accordance with the Budgetary Regulations of Rhineland-Palatinate (Landeshaushaltsordnung, LHO), and for legal and administrative matters as well as construction issues. The Chancellor is elected by the Senate upon the recommendation of the University Council for a term of eight years.
Dr. Kerstin Burck has been the Chancellor of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 2024.
Kerstin Burck, born in 1971, studied Journalism, Business Administration, and Political Science at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the University of California, Los Angeles, in the United States. She subsequently led a research unit at an international institute for market and social research before completing her doctoral degree as a member of the academic staff at the Institute of Political Science at JGU. In 2010, Burck took up a position as an academic staff member at JGU’s Center for Quality Assurance Development before moving to the Strategic Development Directorate at TU Darmstadt in 2013. Her priorities included the further development of the integrated quality management system and the conception and development of the monitoring process for target agreements with faculties and central institutions.
Burck returned to JGU in 2014 and took over the leadership of the Planning and Controlling staff unit. She established a comprehensive capacity calculation and developed a standardized reporting system for the university, among other things. Starting in April of 2020, Burck set up the new Academic Affairs department. As director, she was responsible for the development of the university in matters of learning and teaching, including the central service and advising offers in this field and the IT processes related to campus management. She also played a key role in larger projects and transformation processes.
The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for choosing, introducing, and implementing information and communication systems at JGU. He represents the Executive University Board in all matters concerning the selection, introduction, and implementation of information and communication systems. The CIO is appointed by the Executive University Board in agreement with the Senate for a term of three years.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Franz Rothlauf has been the Chief Information Officer of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 2016. In June 2025, the Senate endorsed the Executive University Board’s proposal to appoint him for a fourth term of office.
Franz Rothlauf, born in 1971, completed a degree course in Electrical Engineering at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in 1997. He earned his doctoral degree in the field of Business Informatics from the University of Bayreuth in 2001 and completed his habilitation in 2007 at the University of Mannheim. Rothlauf has been Professor for Business Administration and Business Informatics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 2007. He researches and teaches in the field of metaheuristics, particularly evolutionary algorithms, machine learning (especially artificial neural networks), and the application and use of web-based information systems.
On matters of organizational design of JGU units related to information systems, as well as the design of IT-supported business and administrative processes, the CIO coordinates closely with the other members of the Executive University Board. He has voting rights in all Executive University Board meetings discussing issues related to his area of responsibility. He may take part in all Senate meetings in an advisory capacity and propose to include topics from his area of responsibility on the agenda.
The staff of the President’s Office assists the president and the vice presidents in their organizational work and in strategically and structurally shaping the university.
They help to represent the university in politics, in university associations and alliances (RMU, U15, LHPK, HRK), and provide general support in addressing fundamental issues and matters of university policy. The members of this staff are also responsible for the university’s strategic development across all areas of performance as well as for strategic professorial appointment. They contribute to the quality assurance and continued development of the appointment process and guide all professorial appointment procedures at the university.
The President’s Office manages the business of the Executive University Board and the Extended Executive Board Meeting. The President’s Office serves as a link to academic self-administration, overseeing the central university committees, in particular the Senate and the University Council.
The team also includes executive assistants who are assigned to the individual members of the Executive University Board. They provide the members of the Executive University Board with organizational and specialist support in their day-to-day work as well as on strategic issues.
For general inquiries, please first contact our office.
The Chancellor’s Office supports the chancellor in fulfilling her tasks in budget management as well as in legal and administrative matters and construction issues.
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The project team manages all of JGU’s activities related to the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal & State Governments.
For general inquiries, please first email our office or call our team’s phone number, +49 6131 39-27155.
The issues resulting from climate change create new challenges for society – and for the university. JGU initiated the Project Sustainable University, called SUNNY to coordinate and accelerate current and future projects related to sustainability.
SUNNY is a proactive communication hub meant to unite the university’s activities and bring together existing initiatives from different areas. In the long-term, the project aims to develop a sustainability strategy for JGU that fulfills the needs of all the university’s areas of activity.
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