In the years 2022–2026, the Sts Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology (CMFT) at Palacký University Olomouc will be headed by Vít Hušek, the current vice-dean for science and research and permanent deputy to the present dean, Peter Tavel. The faculty’s Academic Senate made this decision by secret ballot. However, the elected candidate must still be approved by the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome.
The members of the CMTF Academic Senate voted between three candidates. The post was contested by Jaroslav Franc, head of the Department of Communication Studies and chair of the CMTF Academic Senate, who did not participate in the election, and Pavel Kopeček, head of the Department of Liturgical Theology. Vít Hušek received the required majority of votes in the third round of the election, when 9 of the 11 senators present voted for him.
“I have been part of the faculty’s management as vice-dean for three terms, so I dare say that I am intimately familiar with the ins and outs of the job and I take it seriously. I wish to build on all the good things that have been achieved under the current dean Peter Tavel and his predecessor Ivana Vlková. I do not promise any revolutionary changes; we will continue in all key areas such as studies, research and publications, and the third mission of the faculty, social outreach. Although many changes in society are expected to come, I want to guarantee the basic security for our students and employees and continue stabilising the faculty,” said Hušek.
He added that in regard to the make-up of his vice-dean team, he wanted to rely on the current members of the faculty’s leadership.
Hušek is expected to take up the office of CMTF dean on 14 September 2022 as the seventh dean since the faculty was re-established in 1990. The faculty has been headed by Vojtěch Tkadlčík, Ladislav Tichý, Pavel Ambros, Petr Chalupa, and Ivana Vlková; Peter Tavel has been its dean since 2014.
However, before Vít Hušek can be appointed dean, the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome has a say in his election. The faculty asks the Congregation to approve the elected candidate through its Grand Chancellor, Olomouc Archbishop Jan Graubner. Once the approval of the Congregation is granted, a proposal will be submitted to the UP Rector for the appointment of the elected candidate as CMTF Dean.
Vít Hušek (b. 1971) works at the Department of Philosophy and Patrology and is the head of the Centre for Patristic, Medieval and Renaissance Texts at the Sts Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology. He graduated from CMTF and the UP Faculty of Arts and gained foreign experience during his internships at the Institut Catholique de Paris and Katholische Universität Eichstätt. He was appointed Associate Professor in Theology in 2017. His professional work focusses on early Christian literature and the history of Christian thought. He is a member of the CMTF Scholarly Board and the Evangelical Theological Faculty of Charles University as well as of several professional boards at the CMTF and the Hussite Theological Faculty of Charles University.