Award for Excellence in Teaching

(From left to right: Ulrike Holzgrabe, Vice President of the University of Würzburg; Richard Pibernik, Professor Carolin Wienrich, who also received an award; Bernd Sibler, Minister of Education and Science; and Professor Roland Stein, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences)

Despite the fact that students consider him very demanding and frequently complain about the high workload, Richard Pibernik consistently receives the highest evaluations in the school of business and economics for his lectures in supply chain, operations and logistics management. Students value the high practical relevance of his courses, collaborations with numerous companies, and his passion.

Beyond exceptional education in logistics and supply chain management, Richard also initiated various seminars and lectures that offered students the chance to delve into a number of other very relevant social and economic topics: Inspired by his own personal experience, he launched a very successful format on refugees’ integration into the (German) job market. In the aftermath of the German "refugee crisis" in 2015, a large student initiative and a startup emerged out of these seminars (“IntegrAIDE”), which made a substantial social impact, was recognized by many important institutions like the United Nations, and was honored by the German Chancelor, Dr. Angela Merkel. Together with his colleague Kim Otto, he also launched a new lecture series that brings CEOs of global companies, SMEs and Startups into the classroom to discuss contemporary challenges of leadership with the students at the University of Würzburg.

The press release of the University of Würzburg (in German) can be found here.