Jacqueline Holzer becomes Director of the Department of Design & Art at HSLU

After a multi-stage evaluation process, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts Board has elected Jacqueline Holzer as the new Director of the Department of Design & Art. On March 1, 2022, she will succeed Gabriela Christen, who wishes to take on new challenges.

Holzer studied German linguistics and literature, economics and philosophy at the University of Zurich. After her licentiate, she worked as a research assistant at the German Seminar and as a fellow at the Collegium Helveticum at ETH Zurich. This was followed by research stays in Berlin, London and Chicago, during which she dealt with questions of linguistic anthropology in the history of science and sociology. Research always remained an important field of interest in the further course of her career. She investigated the conditions for success in the field of "innovation organizations" and dealt with "gamification" in theaters.

Since 2003, Holzer has been a lecturer at various universities of applied sciences. At the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, she was a lecturer in cultural sociology in the CAS Cultural Management & Practice, and at the ZHAW she taught philosophy of science.

She demonstrated her management skills as coordinator of the newly conceived MA Cultural Analysis at the University of Zurich. From 2013 to 2020, she was also responsible for the Department of Theater at the Zurich University of the Arts as program director.

For the past year, she has been responsible for interdisciplinarity and transformation at the Lucerne School of Art & Design as Vice Director. In addition, she is in charge of the further development of the preliminary course, the Bachelor of Art & Communication, and the Master of Fine Arts, as well as in the interdisciplinary teaching area and in continuing education.