Lecturer in music education and International relations coordinator at UiT - The Arctic University of Norway

WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND?

I grew up in Northern Germany, more or less right on border to Denmark - in a way my first exposure to international relations. I studied piano and music education at the Musikhochschule in Hamburg/Germany. Afterwards I did some graduate studies in Washington State (English literature and music ethnology). After going back to Germany I worked for 10 years as a high school teacher and taught piano. In 1997 I moved to Tromsø, mostly for personal reasons, but working at the university has been a welcome career change for me as well, not to mention the wonderful possibilities for hiking and skiing.

WHAT IS YOUR PATH TO THE CURRENT POSITION?

In 2002 I became vice dean for research and international relations, a position I had for 7 years. After going back to mostly teaching I kept the international relations part, mainly because I enjoyed the work, but also because our school was going through a series of organizational changes and it made sense to have some continuity.
Since 2013 I have been member of the Nordplus EXECOM.

WHAT IS YOUR PASSION IN YOUR JOB?

My studies in the US made me realize early how important and empowering an international experience can be for a student. The time I spent abroad really gave me a new direction, both personally and in my studies. Teaching in a remote place like Tromsø made it even more obvious that international exposure and contacts are essential for an emerging musician as well as for faculty. Enabling students and colleagues to go abroad is a very satisfying part of my daily work. Equally rewarding is meeting and working with incoming students and colleagues. Through my work as IRC I have also gotten involved in a number of interesting research and development projects that tie in with my music education background, for example in distance education. So, all in all I can say that the academic and administrative aspects of my job go hand in hand nicely most of the time. Finally I need to emphasize how much it has meant to me to be part of this great family of Nordplus-coordinators! At moments where I contemplated leaving this position and going back to teaching full-time the thought of having to miss next years IRC forum was usually what kept me from making that decision. So I suppose I will continue for a few more years...