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

Substitues:

• Valentin Bearth, Full Professor; scientific area: Architecture 
• Jonathan Sergison, Full Professor; scientific area: Architecture

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

Substitutes:

• Marta Fadda, Post-doctoral assistant, Lecturer
• Stefano Giacomelli, Researcher
• Peter Gruber, Lecturer-researcher
• Tommaso Fantini, Atelier assistant architect

Students representatives

• Jonas Georg Domeisen, jonas.domeisen@usi.ch, Academy of Architecture
• Flavia Angeles Zorrilla, flavia.zorrilla@usi.ch (substitute)
• Diana Sofia Da Costa Santos, diana.sofia.da.costa.santos@usi.ch, Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society
  Letizia Bianchi, letizia.ida.bianchi@usi.ch (substitute)
• Filippo Testa, filippo.testa@usi.ch, Faculty of Economics
  Nicolò Maio, nicolo.maio@usi.ch (substitute)
• Martina Vera Schuppisser, martina.vera.schuppisser@usi.ch, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
  Yael van der Geest, yael.van.der.geest@usi.ch (substitute)

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

Substitutes:

• Fabiana Bernasconi, Administration Academy of Architecture

Faculty Deans (permanent members)

• Riccardo Blumer, 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
• Antonio Carzaniga, 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 (permanent members)

• Boas Erez, Rector, Chair of the Senate
• Cesare Alippi, Pro-Rector for Internationalisation
• Lorenzo Cantoni, Pro-Rector for Education and Students' Experience
• 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
• Giovanni Zavaritt, Secretary General (partecipates in the Senate sessions without voting rights)
• Cristina Largader, Administrative Director (participates in the Senate sessions without voting rights)