Cisca Wijmenga new member of Board of Governors
The Board of Governors is pleased to announce that Professor Cisca Wijmenga has been appointed by outgoing Minister of Education, Culture and Science Robbert Dijkgraaf as its new member.
Cisca Wijmenga was appointed as of 1 January 2024 for a period of four years. She succeeds Professor Bert Meijer, who was a highly valued member of the Board from 1 January 2017 and was also chair of the Board of Governors’ Quality Assurance in Teaching and Research Committee. Meijer was honourably dismissed by the minister as of 1 January 2024.
Academic experience
Cisca Wijmenga has had an impressive career as a professor of human genetics at the University of Groningen/UMCG and was one of the Spinoza Prize winners in 2015. She also has an exemplary career in academic leadership and management: she was Rector Magnificus of the University of Groningen from 2019 to 2023, for example. Her career also has Leiden roots: she received her doctorate in genetics from the Institute of Biology Leiden in 1993.
Sounding board for the Executive Board
Wijmenga is looking forward to her role on the Leiden University Board of Governors: ‘I can draw on my wide knowledge and experience in research, teaching and policy. My executive role as Rector Magnificus and the numerous dossiers I was responsible for as a leader within the Universities of the Netherlands have made me well aware of developments in higher education. Alongside the formal legal role, I therefore hope to be able to serve as a sounding board for the Executive Board.’
About the Board of Governors
The Board of Governors is the legally required body that oversees the management and administration of Leiden University. It acts as the Executive Board’s employer and assists it with advice and counsel.
Members as of 1 January 2024:
A.F. van der Touw – chair
Drs. L. Govaerts, MBA
R.G. de Lange-Tegelaar, LL.M.
K. Yildirim, EMBA, RC
Prof. C. Wijmenga