Juan de Dalmau Has Been Selected By The Isu Board Of Trustees

The International Space University’s (ISU) Chairman of the Board, Christian Sallaberger announces that Juan de Dalmau has been selected by the Board of Trustees as the University’s next President, taking office in September 2018, and succeeding Prof Walter Peeters who has served as President since 2011.

De Dalmau will become the 6th President in ISU’s 30+ year history, and brings a multidisciplinary background in mechanical engineering, business administration, space studies, and languages, as well as over 35 years of international management experience in engineering, operations, technology development, education and communications. He has worked in the private sector, in university and in space agencies. He attended ISU’s Space Studies Program (SSP) in 1989 thanks to a joint scholarship from CNES and ESA. He will be retiring from the European Space Agency (ESA) in July 2018.

ISU co-founders Peter Diamandis and Bob Richards wrote “Juan de Dalmau represents the best of ISU, in professionalism, internationalism, intercultural experience, and the personal virtues of an open mind and dedicated heart that have endeared him to ISU students, faculty and colleagues throughout the years …”  “…an ISU alumnus as President is exactly the vision that we had decades ago... that our alumni would become the leadership of ISU. It’s been our pleasure to see alumni play an important leadership role in the Board of Trustees, and we believe Juan de Dalmau is the perfect person for the role of President to take ISU forward. We know this would make Todd (1) very proud as well.”

"I am grateful to Search Committee Chairman Alain Wagner and to the Search Committee members for the rigorous selection process that evaluated a high number of top-level applicants, and for their nomination of a candidate who matches our set criteria as a dynamic and entrepreneurial leader," said Sallaberger, "and I am particularly pleased to see that our new President is an effective communicator and a forceful advocate for ISU.”

Under Walter Peeters’ tenure, the ISU has seen a consolidation of its academic programs, the Master of Space Studies (MSS), Space Studies Program (SSP) and Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program (SHSSP) as well as the Executive Space Course (ESC) with a growing number of participants, bringing the alumni count to over 4.400 graduates in over 100 countries.

"It will be an honor to work full-time for the ISU vision, and to follow on the steps of my predecessor who has consolidated the ISU finances and secured a new Central Campus Host Agreement with the Strasbourg partners. He has launched new collaborations in space entrepreneurship, business incubation and alumni services with solid partners in Australia, Europe and the US,” said Juan de Dalmau.

Walter Peeters will hand over to his successor at the start of the new academic year in September 2018. He said “I am confident that our transition will run smoothly, as Juan de Dalmau is not a new person to ISU. A few years after attending the SSP program in 1989, he joined the ISU Faculty, served as SSP Director during a three-year secondment from ESA, and has been Chairman of ISU’s Academic Council.”

(Image provided with ISU news release)

FMI: www.isunet.edu