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Dear colleagues, students,
March 31st of this year will be my last day as Dean of our Faculty. It will close an eight-year chapter during which I, together with a team of my closest colleagues, have been trusted to lead the Faculty according to the election program of Quality Teaching and Excellence in Research in a Confident Faculty.
Together we have experienced many wonderful events, but also many challenging times. I was privileged to be present at the completion of the renovation of the historical campus. Another milestone was the major transformation of the curriculum as part of the transformation of degree programs. And finally, perhaps the most difficult test was brought about by the covid-19 disease pandemic - I think we all stood up to it with honor, even though it was not and still is not easy.
However, we have worked on other challenges, larger or smaller. Together we celebrated the centenary of Masaryk University and the centenary of the start of teaching at the Faculty of Arts. In 2021, the European Commission awarded our faculty with the HR Excellence in Research (HR Award) certificate, thus advancing us to the implementation phase of a project aimed at improving the faculty environment for research.
Faculty are first and foremost people. I have been lucky in selecting my closest colleagues, but I have been equally lucky with other colleagues, academics and non-academics, as well as students and their representatives. However, I also thank those who have sometimes stood in opposition and strongly voiced their disagreement. They made me wonder if we had overlooked something fundamental, sometimes revising the original decision.
Unfortunately, the last days and weeks have brought a new dimension to our lives - we are witnessing violence in a free country. I am proud that the faculty almost immediately became part of a strong wave of solidarity with Ukraine. And I hope that the war conflict can be brought to an end and the crisis averted as soon as possible.
I believe I am handing over the faculty leadership into good hands - and I wish Irena Radová and her team, as well as the entire faculty, only the best for the future. I will continue to do my best to work for the welfare of the faculty.
Milan Pol
Dean of MU Faculty of Arts
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