Jenni Lättilä appointed as Sibelius Academy vice dean for artistic activities
The role of the vice dean for artistic activities is part of Sibelius Academy’s new leadership headed by dean Emilie Gardberg, including the recently appointed vice dean for education Markus Utrio and vice dean for research Tuuli Talvitie.
As vice dean, Jenni Lättilä will lead the artistic activities of the Sibelius Academy of Uniarts Helsinki and be responsible for the academy’s societal interaction and public relations in collaboration with the dean. Additionally, she will lead the activities of producer services, technical production services, and the program service Primo, as well as act as a supervisor for some of the heads of the academy’s departments.
Lättilä has served as the head of the Vocal Music department and lecturer at the Sibelius Academy since 2020. She pursues a versatile artistic career as an opera singer and Lied recitalist, as well as an orchestral soloist. Lättilä has achieved success in both national and international competitions and has worked as a voice teacher and researcher. She earned a doctorate in music from the Academy’s DocMus doctoral school in 2017, focusing on the emotional work of an opera singer. In addition, she holds master’s degrees in Church Music and Vocal Music and Opera.
Lättilä was selected through an internal procedure that identified potential candidates within the academy after the two previous stages of the process, open recruitment and direct recruitment.
Lättilä secured the position with her academic leadership experience as the head of a substantial department, demonstrating her readiness to quickly take on the responsibilities of the vice dean. She also showed a strong interest and readiness to play a visible role in the academy’s societal interaction and agency.
“The recruitment group also identified that, during the early phase of the new organisation, Lättilä’s expertise and qualities are in particular demand. She possesses emotional leadership skills as well as the ability and desire to act as a motivator and inspirer for the community,” Sibelius Academy dean Emilie Gardberg says.
Vice deans lead with their unique strengths
With the appointment of Lättilä, the selections for the three full-time vice deans of education, research and artistic activities in accordance with the new organisational structure of the Sibelius Academy have been completed. The vice deans will commence their roles on 1 January 2024. At Uniarts Helsinki, vice dean positions are five-year fixed-term leadership roles.
“In my new role as vice dean, I am particularly excited about the possibility of supporting the highly diverse artistic activities of the academy and promoting the broader societal impact and visibility of music,” Lättilä says.
“My core values include listening to and trusting experts, as well as practicing open and transparent leadership. My intention is to build a vision forward, leveraging the community’s versatile expertise. Together, we will explore how to enable artistic activities with resources allocated wisely and fairly, with understandable and collectively accepted criteria,” says Lättilä.
As vice dean for education, Markus Utrio will focus on the ongoing development of student admissions and guidance. Key perspectives in the implementation of the new curriculum include student workload and resource-efficient practices.
“Most of the development activities are related to the improvement of teaching, teacher’s work and capacities, with one example being the improvement of digital skills throughout Uniarts Helsinki,” says Utrio.
“As a whole, this position is a dream come true for me, as I get to develop both pedagogical leadership and pedagogy, two central areas of expertise and passions for me,” Utrio summarises.
In the realm of research and doctoral education, there are numerous changes underway, with one key theme being the reinforcement of research and research-based practices at the Sibelius Academy.
“We are developing research strategies for each programme, as our pedagogy needs to be increasingly based on research. We are renewing the curriculum for doctoral education and continuing the investigation into the consolidation of doctoral schools. We are building research collaboration within the university and externally,” says Tuuli Talvitie, starting as the vice dean for research.
“I also want to strengthen the position of our extensive, internationally recognised doctoral education and continue dialogue with the different stakeholders,” adds Talvitie.
More information
-
Emilie Gardberg
- Dean
Sibelius Academy - Contact via the executive assistant: +358 50 339 0990
- pinja.puha@uniarts.fi
