Academic Senate

The Academic Senate is one of the central institutional bodies of USI, together with the University Council and the Rectorate. The Senate is chaired by the Rector, assisted by a Presidential Office.

It was created in December 2016 with the purpose to strengthen the unity across the academic community, by initiative of USI Rector, Prof. Boas Erez.

Structure and functions

The structure and functions of the Academic Senate are defined in the Statute of Università della Svizzera italiana (in Italian).

Regulation

The operating procedures of the Academic Senate are defined in the relevant Regulation, which determines, among other things, the elections, the sessions and their conduct, and the voting mechanism.

Current members

Faculty representatives

• Quintus Miller, Full Professor; scientific area: Architecture
• Mario Jametti, Full Professor; scientific area: Economics and Law
• Filippo Carlo Wezel, Full Professor; scientific area: Economics and Law
• Jeanne Mengis, Full Professor; scientific area: Social sciences
• Silvia Santini, Associate Professor; scientific area: Informatics
• Igor Pivkin, Associate Professor; scientific area: Mathematics
• Christoph Frank, Full Professor; scientific area: Humanities
• Stefano Prandi, Full Professor; scientific area: Humanities
• Vittorio Limongelli, Associate Professor; scientific area: Human Medicine and Life Sciences

Assistants representatitives

• Federico Lucchesi, Doctoral assistant
• Ely Lüthi, Doctoral assistant
• Chiara Mercuri, Doctoral assistant
• Andrea Rosà, Post-doctoral assistant, Lecturer
• Marco Guerra, Atelier assistant architect

Students representatives

• Luca Bonazzi, luca.bonazzi@usi.ch, Academy of Architecture
  Margherita Schivazappa, margherita.schivazappa@usi.ch (deputy)
• Nikolai Bendik, nikolai.bendik@usi.ch, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
  Isabel Scala, isabel.scala@usi.ch (deputy)
• Guido Junior Maria Pedone, guido.junior.maria.pedone@usi.ch, Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society
  Diana Sofia Da Costa Santos, diana.sofia.da.costa.santos@usi.ch (deputy)
• Ettore Ceccarelli, ettore.ceccarelli@usi.ch, Faculty of Economics
  Luca Colzani, luca.colzani@usi.ch (deputy)
• Aurora Spagnol, aurora.spagnol@usi.ch, Faculty of Informatics
  Alexander Vescovi Frolichsthal, alexander.vescovi@usi.ch (deputy)

Staff representatives

• Salvatore Maione, Quality Assurance Service
• Simona Rigamonti, Study Advisory and Promotion Service
• Cristina Saporiti, Executive MBA
• Stefano Tardini, e-learning Lab USI (eLab)
• Stefano Perregrini, Administration Academy of Architecture

Faculty Deans (Ex-Officio members)

• Walter Angonese, Director of the Academy of Architecture
• Giovanni Pedrazzini, Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Luca M. Visconti, Dean of the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society
• Gianluca Colombo, Dean of the Faculty of Economics
• Marc Langheinrich, Dean of the Faculty of Informatics

The Rector of the Lugano Faculty of Theology, René Roux, takes part in the sessions of the Academic Senate as a non-voting guest.

Rectorate (Ex-Officio members)

• Lorenzo Cantoni, Deputy Rector (Chair of the Senate), Pro-Rector for Education and Students' Experience
• Cesare Alippi, Pro-Rector for Internationalisation
• Patrick Gagliardini, Pro-Rector for Research
• Luca Maria Gambardella, Pro-Rector for Innovation and Corporate Relations
• Sonja Hildebrand, Pro-Rector for Research in the Humanities and Equal Opportunities
• Giorgio Margaritondo, Assistant Pro-Rector
• Giovanni Zavaritt, member of the Transition Committee (permanent guest - partecipates in the Senate sessions without voting rights)
• Cristina Largader, member of the Transition Committee (permanent guest - participates in the Senate sessions without voting rights)
• Antoine Turner, member of the Transition Committee (permanente guest - participates in the Senate sessions without voting rights)

A transitional phase is currently underway at the University led by the Deputy Rector, who is co-assisted by the Pro-Rectors, including an Assistant Pro-Rector (more information). At the same time, reorganisation is also taking place at an administrative level whereby the functions of Secretary General, Administrative Director and Deputy Administrative Director are currently carried out by a Transition Committee (more information).