RADENKA MARIĆ BECOMES FIRST BOSNIAN WOMAN TO HEAD AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 30 (ONASA) – As Edhem Čustović, a Tuzlak who lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he works at the renowned La Trobe University, stated on his Facebook profile, on Thursday, September 30, Professor Radenka Marić was inaugurated at the University of Connecticut. as the 17th president of that university. Marić, a native of Derventa, officially became the first woman from Bosnia and Herzegovina to preside over an American university, and the second woman of BiH origin to become president of a university worldwide.
A recognized innovator in clean energy technology
– Professor Radenka Marić is a recognized innovator in the field of clean energy, whose leadership as vice president of the university helped raise the University of Connecticut to new heights in research funding. Her career has included work in Japan, Canada and the United States, where she has earned numerous academic and professional degrees.
Marić was born and raised in Derventa, and she started her academic career at the University of Belgrade, where she graduated. After that, she received her master’s degree and doctorate from Kyoto University in Japan, specializing in the field of materials science and energy.
Moving to the United States in 2001, Marić started working at a clean energy startup in Atlanta. Three years later, she took over the leadership of the Fuel Cell Innovation Institute at the National Research Council of Canada. Her engagement at the University of Connecticut began in 2010, where she became a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
Marić was also a Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy during 2016–2017, adding an international dimension to her impressive career.
This inauguration marks a great moment for Bosnia and Herzegovina, because Professor Radenka Marić becomes an inspiration and a symbol of success for all young talents from this region. Her election as president of UConn University promises further prosperity for this prestigious American educational institution.