News
President Appoints Milena Králíčková First-Ever Female Rector of Charles University
27 January, 2022
On Wednesday, 26 January 2022 at Prague Castle, President Miloš Zeman appointed Professor Milena Králíčková as the first woman to head Charles University since its founding in 1348.
In autumn, the Academic Senate elected Milena Králíčková as the next head of Charles University (and first rectress in its 674th-year history). She defeated Professor of History Michal Stehlík from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. Králíčková succeeds Rector Tomáš Zima, who served as rector for a maximum of 2 four-year mandates.
Until now, she has served as the vice-rector for education. Her professional career is closely connected to CU’s Faculty of Medicine in Plzeň. In the past, she completed a Fulbright fellowship at Harvard in the United States.
Rectress Králíčková will lead the University until January 2026.
After the win in the election in October 2021, she said:
“One hundred twenty years ago, women started studying in universities in Bohemia. Today, it is the case that women are predominant in some fields. I appreciate your trust immensely, and I believe I will not disappoint you. Thank you to all my colleagues who have helped me. Thank you for your support and cooperation. And finally, I thank my family, my husband, and daughters, without them, I would not be standing here today.”
The ceremony included candidates from other universities in the Czech Republic. All of the new rectors were elected by the academic senates of their respective schools; the Czech Government also approved them in December.
Besides Milena Králíčková at Charles University, new rectors or rectresses have been appointed at Academy of Fine Arts (Maria Topolčanská) and Janáček Academy of Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno will be headed by Petr Michálek. Libor Čapek has become the rector of the University of Pardubice, Ladislav Janíček was elected to the post at Brno University of Technology (VUT) and the rector of the University of Economics (VŠE) has also changed, with Petr Dvořák taking up the post on April 1st. The remaining elected rector, Vojtěch Adam of Mendel University, did not attend the program on Wednesday due to illness, reports the Czech News Agency.
