Thomas Fetzer Elected as New President of the University of Mannheim
In a joint meeting, the Senate and the University Supervisory Board have unanimously elected Professor Dr. Thomas Fetzer as the new President of the University of Mannheim. Fetzer will succeed Professor Dr. Thomas Puhl in October following his appointment by the Minister-President. Puhl’s term of office will end on 30 September 2024. The President’s term of office is six years.
Margret Suckale, chair of the University Supervisory Board, congratulated the Professor of Law on his new task. “As a member of the President’s Office, Thomas Fetzer has demonstrated his great commitment for the further development of the university. As Vice President, he has been responsible for important strategic processes, and he has always been focused on being in dialogue and finding a compromise. Through his work, he has a high reputation within the university community,” Suckale said. With his extensive knowledge of university structures, and his awareness for the global challenges which the University of Mannheim has to face, Fetzer was excellently prepared to continue the success story of the university.
Thomas Fetzer was born in Mannheim in 1974. He studied Law at the University of Mannheim and Vanderbilt University in the US (LL.M.). In 2009, he earned his habilitation at the University of Mannheim with a thesis on the state and competition in dynamic markets (“Staat und Wettbewerb in dynamischen Märkten: Eine juristisch-ökonomische Untersuchung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der sektorspezifischen Telekommunikationsregulierung in Deutschland und den USA”). After being a substitute professor in Freiburg and Jena, Fetzer was holder of the chair of Public Economic Law and Tax Law at TU Dresden. Since 2012, he has been holder of the chair of Public Law, Regulatory Law and Tax Law at the University of Mannheim. In addition, he is Research Associate at the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) as well as Adjunct Professor at the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition of the University of Pennsylvania. From May 2020 until October 2021, Fetzer was also a judge at the administrative court Baden-Württemberg. Since October 2021, he has been Vice President for Strategic Planning, Internationalization and Equal Opportunity at the University of Mannheim. Thomas Fetzer is 49 years old, married, and has two sons.