President’s Medal for Citizenship awarded to Tim Zuther
Master in Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management graduate Tim Zuther is the 2023 winner of the KLU President’s Medal for Citizenship, which honors student engagement at the university. In Zuther, who won over the jury with his effort, ideas, and reliability as a student representative and ambassador, the award and its €1,000 endowment have a very deserving recipient.
Presenting the award at this year’s graduation ceremony, KLU President Andreas Kaplan said the “dedication, commitment, and good citizenship” demonstrated by students such as Zuther were vitally important to the university.
“Tim participated in various ways at KLU – he was a student ambassador, a student representative in the academic senate, participated in faculty recruitments, and did much more,” Prof. Kaplan said when praising Zuther. “Essentially, whenever there was a need he was there. Even myself, only starting as president a couple of months ago, I had several encounters with him which shows his commitment.”
In addition to his willingness to go take on extra responsibilities in his roles, Zuther was lauded by the jury for his sincerity, politeness, and consistency and his contribution to a positive working atmosphere.
A Full Circle at KLU
“As I started my academic journey at KLU doing the bachelor’s program, receiving this medal feels like coming full circle and a sign of mutual acknowledgement,” said Zuther of the award. “It is not only a great honor, but it highlights KLU’s focus on student voices.”
He said that, as a student representative, he found being involved in university decision-making and “being valued as a respected voice” incredibly rewarding.
“Bringing opinions from fellow students to the table in an official meeting is crucial for all of us students to be a part of the university. It’s a way to make KLU ‘our’ university,” Zuther, who was born and raised in Hamburg, elaborated.
“From an ambassador perspective, the most exciting parts of the role are in-depth talks to students interesting in studying at KLU, and their parents, where you get to share aspects of your life as a student and what the university is about. Meeting someone on campus you talked to a year ago at a fair or an open day is obviously pretty cool too.”
Many Opportunities to follow
Looking to the future, Zuther said he would like to continue to use the experience and input he gained at KLU.
“They have set up many opportunities I'm enthusiastic to follow, perhaps an academic path or in the family business, and to start a new challenge.”
Given his willingness and determination to do exactly that while studying at KLU, it seems that success in his chosen direction is only a matter of time.