Jenni Lättilä appointed as Sibelius Academy vice dean for artistic activities
With the appointment of Jenni 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 new management and organisational model of the Sibelius Academy will come into effect on 1 January 2024.
As vice dean, Jenni Lättilä will lead the artistic activities of the Sibelius Academy 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 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.
Personalised coaching to support growth in a leadership position
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. Following the preliminary invitations, interviews and public hearing, the recruitment group ranked Lättilä as the first candidate for the position and Uniarts Helsinki Seinäjoki Unit’s Education Manager Piia Kleemola-Välimäki as the second candidate. After consulting the board, the dean made a proposal of Lättilä’s appointment to the rector.
“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.
Lättilä will receive personalised coaching and mentoring from the academy leadership and HR services to prepare for and carry out the responsibilities of the vice dean of artistic activities.
The internal coaching model will serve as a pilot for a broader, long-term coaching and mentoring programme fostering growth in diverse leadership roles at the Sibelius Academy.
Vice deans lead with their unique strengths
The role of the vice dean for artistic activities is part of the new leadership headed by dean Emilie Gardberg, including the recently appointed vice dean for education Markus Utrio and vice dean for research Tuuli Talvitie, both named in September 2023. The vice deans will commence their roles in accordance with the new organisational model on 1 January 2024. At Uniarts Helsinki, vice dean positions are five-year fixed-term leadership roles.
In his new role, 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. Tuuli Talvitie’s strong experience in change and process management will be put to effective use in various ongoing and upcoming development projects.
“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 examining the division of tasks within and the role of the support services for research and doctoral education at Sibelius Academy, namely the Tutti team. We are building research collaboration within the university and externally, including with the Uniarts Helsinki Research Institute, the vice rector for research and our partners in the European university alliance,” says Talvitie.
“I also want to strengthen the position of our extensive, internationally recognised doctoral education and continue dialogue with the different stakeholders. The discussions and encounters held during the fall have been valuable, and they will continue into the next year,” adds Talvitie.
Discussion on the changes related to the new organisational model on 9 January 2024
The recruitment of vice deans was initiated after the change negotiation of the management and organisational model of the Sibelius Academy, resulting in the decision to remove the faculty structure and re-define the roles and number of vice deans.
While developing the new organisational model, one crucial aspect has been to lighten the workload of the heads of the departments.
All the changes related to the new organisational model of the Sibelius Academy will be discussed during the first staff coffee session on 9 January 2024.
“Each vice dean will lead and develop their area of responsibility according to common processes, models and principles with all departments. We have fine-tuned these practices together over the past few months, and I am truly excited that we can now put them into practice and evaluate their functionality and impact,” Gardberg concludes.
Previous news
Explore previous coverage on the topic through the news links below:
- Recruitment of Sibelius Academy vice dean of artistic activities continues through an internal process
- Next steps of the recruitment process for Sibelius Academy vice dean responsible for artistic activities announced in week 45
- Markus Utrio and Tuuli Talvitie appointed as Sibelius Academy vice deans
- Recruitment of the vice dean of Sibelius Academy’s artistic activities continues
More information
Dean Emilie Gardberg
emilie.gardberg@uniarts.fi