The year started with good news for the WiSo faculty: Since 1 January, Prof. Dr Michael Bechtel holds the professorship for Political Economy at the Cologne Center for Comparative Politics (CCCP) of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Cologne! On behalf of the entire faculty, WiSo Dean Ulrich Thonemann now welcomed Professor Bechtel personally. We are pleased to have brought on board a renowned researcher and university lecturer in the field of political science.
Before joining the WiSo Faculty, Prof. Bechtel was an Associate Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He received his basic academic education at the Universities of Freiburg and Essex. He subsequently researched at the University of Konstanz (2005-2008), ETH Zurich (2008-2012) and the University of St. Gallen (2012-2016), among others. He has also been a visiting scholar at several universities in the United States, such as New York University, Stanford University, and Yale University.
In the WiSo Faculty, Prof. Bechtel is also a member of the Cluster of Excellence "ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy". At the only German Cluster of Excellence in economics, he will continue to pursue an interdisciplinary research agenda that explores how countries can address economic and environmental risks that tend to require redistribution. In current projects, Michael Bechtel looks into the drivers of mass support for global climate action and the impact of economic crises and natural disasters on elections.
Prof. Dr Michael Bechtel has an international perspective on political economy. Starting in the summer semester of 2023, he will also support our offerings in the Bachelor's programme "Management, Economics and Social Sciences" of the WiSo faculty, so that our first generation of students in this programme will already benefit from a high-profile course on "Public Policy".
We are very pleased to welcome a world-renowned scholar to the Faculty who will make a significant contribution to our international visibility and wish Professor Bechtel all the best for his start at the WiSo.
