It is our pleasure to announce that the Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Anheier is the new Dean of the Hertie School of Governance as of Selt 1, 2009. He is Michael Zürn's successor who has lead the School from 2004-2009.

Helmut K. Anheier (PhD, Yale) holds a chair of Sociology at Heidelberg University and serves as Academic Director of the Center for Social Investment. From 2001 to 2009, he was Professor of Public Policy and Social Welfare at UCLA's School of Public Affairs and Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics. Professor Anheier founded and directed the Centre for Civil Society at LSE and the Center for Civil Society at UCLA. Before embarking on an academic career, he served as social affairs officer to the United Nations. He is currently researching the nexus between globalisation, civil society, and culture and is interested in policy analysis and methodological questions.

As of 1 September 2009, Prof. Michael Zürn will return to his directorship of the research unit for "Transnational Conflicts and International Institutions" at the Social Science Research Center Berlin, once again fully dedicating his time to research.

The Hertie School can look back on several milestones in its founding years, the most important being the launch of the Master of Public Policy programme in 2005. The MPP has grown considerably with each passing year - and it now ranks among the largest of its kind in Europe. 2008 saw two other big milestones: the launch of our second master's programme, the Executive Master of Public Management, and the establishment of the Berlin School of Transnational Studies, a joint PhD programme with the Freie Universität Berlin and the Social Science Research Center Berlin.