The new rector of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was elected today Wednesday after a vote, until now the vice-rector of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs, professor Dimitrios Kovaios.

Dimitris Kovaios succeeds Nikolaos Papaioannou, who resigned last week, after the presentation of the Statehood ballot of the New Democracy in which he participates, occupying the 8th place.

At today’s meeting of the Senate and after the voting that followed, Mr. Kovaios received 32 votes, while 18 were received by the vice-rector of Administrative Affairs, Professor Andreas Giannakoudakis.

The other two Vice-Chancellors, Charalambos Feidas and Efstratios Stylianidis, could not be candidates because they are candidates for the Board of Administration. The elections for internal members of the Management Council were announced on May 22, but due to the announcement of parliamentary elections, they were moved to May 24. The term of office of Mr. Kovaios will end at the end of August 2023.

The biography of the new Rector

Dimitrios Kovaios was born in Thessaloniki and grew up in Alexandria, Imathia, where he finished the sixth grade high school. He is a graduate of the School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) (1980) and holds two PhDs, one from the School of Agriculture of AUTH (1990), in Entomology and one from the Department of Pure and Applied Ecology, University of Amsterdam ( 1995), in Biology.

He has served at AUTH at all levels (lecturer, assistant, deputy) and since 2001 he has been a professor. He works in research on subjects related to Agricultural Zoology and Entomology. He teaches for more than 25 years, 4 undergraduate and 2 postgraduate courses to more than 500 students every year, at the Department of Agriculture, AUTH. He was a visiting professor for five academic years at the Democritus University of Thrace and for one academic year at the University of Thessaly. He has supervised more than 100 undergraduate research theses, 16 master’s theses and 4 doctoral theses.

He has participated in actions aimed at Greek society, including the creation, in collaboration with the Rector’s authorities of AUTH and the Farm, of 600 gardens at the Farm of AUTH. He had the main responsibility, together with other Greek and Russian professors, for the organization of the first historical joint master’s program in Greece with Russia, with the subject “Organic farming”, which has been operating since September 2018 and is attended by 20 students.