Dean

Prof. Ing. Mariana Sedliačiková, PhD. is a well-known personality in the academic area of wood sciences and technology, specialising in economics and management of wood processing companies. Her election and subsequent promotion as Dean of the Faculty of Wood Sciences Technology on May 1, 2025, represents a significant milestone in the history of the faculty and is the result of her long-term professional, scientific, and pedagogical authority and managerial skills, as well as the high level of trust and respect she enjoys within the academic community.

She is the first woman in the history of the Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology at the Technical University in Zvolen to hold the position of dean, linking her work with a new phase in the faculty's development. Her activities in this position are based on modern and dynamic management of the faculty with an emphasis on strategic development, systematically improving the quality of education and scientific research, strengthening cooperation with domestic and foreign institutions, creating strong links between academic and business practice, and building the reputation and brand of the faculty.

Prof. Sedliačiková is a graduate of the Faculty of Wood Sciences Technology at the Technical University in Zvolen, where she obtained her master's degree in 2003 and her PhD. degree in 2006, both in the field of Economics and Management. In 2015 she habilitated, and in 2021 she was inaugurated as a professor in the field of Economics and Management at the Faculty of Economics of the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica.

Since 2009, she has worked as an assistant professor, later as an associate professor, and subsequently as a professor at the Department of Economics, Management, and Business at the Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology at TU in Zvolen. From 2019 until her election as dean, she held the position of vice-chair of the Academic Senate of TU in Zvolen. During this period, she represented the Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology at the Council of University Institutions of the Slovak Republic.

In her scientific and research activities, prof. Sedliačiková has long been involved in the economics and management of wood-processing companies, their strategic management, performance improvement, and sustainable development. She is the author and co-author of 88 publications in WoS, 12 monographs, and 7 university textbooks. She has made a significant contribution to several national and international research projects (VEGA, KEGA, APVV, COST), the results of which have had a real impact on the development of theory and practice in the wood processing sector.

In the field of education, she has long been involved in teaching students at all three levels of university study. She actively participates in the creation, innovation, and evaluation of study programmes, emphasising the connection between the educational process and the requirements of economic practice, the development of students' managerial and analytical skills, and the employability of graduates in the labour market. Prof. Sedliačiková has supervised eight doctoral students, two of them are in the field of Wood Sciences and Technology and six in the field of Economics and Management. She is the guarantor and co-guarantor of study programmes at the first, second, and third levels of education at the Technical University in Zvolen.

In 2014, her work was recognised with the National Quality Award, which she received from the President of the Slovak Republic, and with several Rector's Awards for Research and Science, and Education at TUZVO.

Her management practices and actions are aimed at making the Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology a significant, sustainable educational and research centre in Slovakia and in an international environment, which will generate innovations in wood processing based on interdisciplinary teamwork and cooperation with industry, with mutual synergy with knowledge from economics, management, design, and safety sciences. This vision for the development of the faculty is based on respect for the traditional values of woodworking education and their integration with modern trends, innovations, and principles of sustainability.

She understands the position of the dean as a service to the faculty and leads all staff towards commitment, teamwork, an interdisciplinary approach, and adaptability to the demands of the new era. Her management style is performance-orientated while taking solidarity into account and based on open communication with students, who always come first for her.

Prof. Ing. Mariana Sedliačiková, PhD. in her role as the dean, systematically contributes to the long-term stability, development, and strengthening of the prestige of the Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology at the Technical University in Zvolen in both the national and international academic spheres.