Academic Board
The Academic Board is the peak academic body of SAE GSA Region. It is the principal academic body responsible for overseeing the highest standards of teaching, learning, scholarship and research in GSA campuses. It provides independent, expert, authoritative advice on all academic matters.
The Academic Board meets twice a year and discusses current academic development and future pathways. The Academic Board meets at different locations in GSA to get an oversight of the campuses within the region.
The Academic Board consists of external members from higher education and industry with expert knowledge in several areas. It is important that the members have a connection to creative media studies or the media industry. On top of that a member from the recent body of alumni will be part of the Board.
Currently the Board consists of these members:
- Prof. Dr. Frank Lechtenberg – Chair (Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen Lippe)
- Dr. Frank Furtwängler (Freelance Game-Designer)
- Christoph Sladeczek (Fraunhofer IDMT)
- Prof. Dirk Reith (Folkwang, University of the Arts)
- Verena Giesen (SAE Alumna, Audio Department)
- Andreas Friesecke (Dean SAE GSA)
Frank Lechtenberg
Prof. Dr. phil. Frank Lechtenberg is Professor for Crossmedia-Journalism in the faculty of Media Production at the University of Applied Sciences and Art Ostwestfalen-Lippe in Lemgo. He is also editor-in-chief and head of campusradio Triquency and campus-tv Dreist.tv.
Frank Lechtenberg studied Geography, Media studies and English Linguistics at the University of Paderborn. From 1991 until 2008 he worked for different private and public service broadcasting stations. Since 2013 he is editor-in-chief for the German print magazine “HiFi-Stars” (Silvia-Oelkers-Verlag) and produces shows for the music journalistic programme of ByteFM in Hamburg on a regular basis.
Photo credit: René Schmidt
Frank Furtwängler
Dr. phil. Frank Furtwängler studied Physics and Anglistics at the Universität Konstanz. He did his PhD in Arts and Media Studies in 2010 with a dissertation on video games. His professional career with games began with the studying of games for over ten years at university, e.g. at the Hochschule für Gestaltung HfG in Karlsruhe among other institutions, before he made a move into the industry.
He co-founded and worked for plazz entertainment in Munich as Strategic Creative Director before becoming a freelance consultant for game design and production. His projects address a wide range of platforms and target audiences such as browser-, social-, mobile-, console and PC-games and toys.
Christoph Sladeczek
Christoph Sladeczek studied Media System Science at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany. During that time he worked as a freelance sound engineer. After receiving a Diploma in 2008 he joined the Acoustics department at Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT, Ilmenau. In the recent years, Christoph Sladeczek worked as a research assistant in the field of spatial audio and acoustics with focus on wave field synthesis. He managed several research projects and (co)-authored more than 35 research papers.
Since 2012 he is the head of the Virtual Acoustics research group at Fraunhofer IDMT. Furthermore, Christoph Sladeczek is actively involved in teaching activities at Ilmenau University of Technology. He is a member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), the German Acoustical Society (DEGA) and is speaker for the strategic committee “Business Development” at the Fraunhofer IDMT.
Photo credit: Stefanie Theiß, Fraunhofer IDMT
Dirk Reith
Dirk Reith studied composition under Milko Kelemen at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Duesseldorf. At the same time he completed a degree in sound engineering. From 1974 to 1976 he studied computer composition under Gottfried Michael Koenig at Institute of Sonology at the University of Utrecht. In 1975 he was appointed to establish an electronic studio at the Folkwang-Hochschule Essen, and instituted a teaching program of electronic composition studies.
In 1986 he was the director for the department of music in the research project ZKM (Zentrum für Kunst- und Medientechnologie) in Karlsruhe. His compositions are performed in Europe, near and far East, as well in North and South America. He is a professor emeritus of composition and the former artistic director of ICEM (Institute for Computer music and Electronic Media) at the Folkwang University of Arts Essen. Dirk Reith is committee member for the planning of the Philharmonie Essen and for the international festival for contemporary music NOW!
Photo credit: Gerno Michalke
Verena Giesen
Verena Giesen is an SAE alumna from the department of Audio Engineering. She graduated in 2009 with the Bachelor of Arts (Hons). Later she graduated with a Master of Arts in Music Business Management at the University of Westminster and additionally with an MBA at the University of Edinburgh Business School in Edinburgh. For the Master’s thesis with the topic “Measuring the Value of Popular Music in the Digital Age” she was awarded the “Music Tank Innovation & Business Award” in 2012.
Verena Giesen is part of the music industry since 2009 and worked for many publishers and labels in London and Munich since then. Her tasks included product-, project- and operations-management. As product manager at Starwatch Entertainment she supervised and advanced the gold-awarded children’s music compilation “Giraffenaffen”.
Photo credit: Yves Krier
