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The Board of Aalto University has appointed PhD Tuomas Auvinen as the new Dean for the School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Auvinen currently acts as CEO of Creader Ltd, a management consulting company specialised in creative leadership, and heads a preparation project to study the realisation of a new design and architecture museum complex. His five-year term as dean starts 11 March 2019.

Tuomas Auvinen (born 1968) completed his dissertation on arts policy and management at City, University of London in 2000. He earned an Executive MBA from the Helsinki School of Economics in 2007.  

Auvinen has broad experience in demanding leadership roles at arts institutions. He has served as the Dean of the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts in 2013–2016 and Rector of Sibelius Academy in 2012, Executive Director of the Finnish National Theatre in 2006–2009 and CEO of the Association of Finnish Theatres in 2002–2006. He led Sibelius Academy’s Arts Management Master’s Programme in 1999–2002. He has also taught creative leadership in Aalto University Executive Education’s Executive MBA and AaltoJOKO programmes. Auvinen is a member of the Board of the Finnish Film Industry, and acts as Visiting Professor of Arts Management at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

‘I warmly welcome Tuomas Auvinen to Aalto University. This international recruiting process attracted wide interest and he stood out in the process with his strong expertise and experience in arts management and creative leadership. He is a strategically-minded dean, who includes students and staff, and will continue school’s excellent work towards being among the best in the world,’ says Ilkka Niemelä, President of Aalto University.

‘I would like to thank Anna Valtonen, whose term as Dean of the School of Arts, Design and Architecture ends at the end of February 2019, for her creative work. I am also pleased that Valtonen, who was not available for a second term, will continue her part-time role as the Vice President of Art and Creative Practices until the end of February 2020,’ Niemelä continues.

'In the recent years the School of Arts, Design and Architecture has become one of the leading schools in its fields. It is a great honour to get to continue and further this development. Creativity will play an important role in solving the big societal challenges in the future. The Shool of Arts, Design and Architecture and the whole Aalto University can be at the forefront of increasing the role of creativity in the society,' says Tuomas Auvinen.  

Tuomas Auvinen will report to Provost Kristiina Mäkelä.

For more information:

Kristiina Mäkelä
Provost, Aalto University
provost@aalto.fi
tel. +358 40 559 3454