Norwegian rector joins AU’s board
The Norwegian rector from the University of Oslo, Ragnhild Hennum, will become a new external member of Aarhus University's board from 1 July. She will replace Swedish Astrid Söderbergh Widding.
AU’s Board as of 1 July:
Chair of the Board: Birgitte Nauntofte, former director of the Novo Nordisk Foundation
Vice Chair of the Board: Frank Jensen, owner and chair of the board of Sørens Jensen Consulting Engineers
Member: Ragnhild Hennum, rector of the University of Oslo (new external member)
Member: Lars Rohde, former director of Danmarks Nationalbank (reappointed until 2028)
Member: Jonas Dahl, regional director of the Central Denmark Region (reappointed until 2030)
Member: Trine Holm Thomsen, director of Aarhus Theatre (reappointed until 2030)
Member: Tore Rye Andersen, associate professor and head of the Department of Comparative Literature and Rhetoric at the School of Communication and Culture
Member: Peter Balling, professor, dr. scient., and a PhD in experimental physics at the Department of Physics and Astronomy
Member: Uffe Pilegård Larsen, buildings manager at the Department of Agroecology
Student Member: Anastasia Christensen, student of Molecular Medicine
Student Member: Jens Vase, student of Medicine
Sources: AU, AU’s Board, and Aarhus University By-laws
Aarhus University’s board has appointed Ragnhild Hennum as a new external member of the board from 1 July. This is reported by AU in a new release.
Ragnhild Hennum is a professor of public law at the University of Oslo, where she has been rector since 2025. In addition, she has a higher doctoral degree in Sociology of Law (In Norwegian, ed.) from 1999, and during her time as a researcher, she has worked on topics related to sexual violence.
Subsequently, she became dean of the university’s Faculty of Law, and she has also served as both vice-rector and acting pro-rector before becoming rector last year.
“Aarhus University is similar to the University of Oslo in a lot of ways. We collaborate in a lot of areas, and both belong to two European university alliances (Circle U. and The Guild, ed.), so I’m very interested in Aarhus University and its activities,” Ragnhild Hennum says, continuing:
"I hope and believe that my broad experience both as an academic staff member and as a university leader can benefit the university," the news article reads.
The University of Oslo has almost 7,000 employees and 27,400 students, compared to AU's 8,700 employees and 37,000 students.
The Norwegian rector replaces the Swedish Astrid Söderbergh Widding, who has been an external member of the board since 1 July 2018, and thus for the maximum eight years allowed by the University Act. Astrid Söderbergh, former rector of Stockholm University, is chair of the Nobel Foundation, which is the private Swedish foundation behind the Nobel Prize.
“We are losing a highly respected and capable member of the board, and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Astrid Söderbergh Widding for her contribution over the past eight years. At the same time, to our great fortune, Aarhus University has succeeded in replacing her with another prominent Nordic voice who can contribute a wealth of experience and an international perspective. The board is looking forward to working with Ragnhild Hennum,” says Chair of the Board Birgitte Nauntofte.
This text is machine translated and post-edited by Mie Skov Jeppesen