ABOUT US
The Günter Thiele Foundation as a part of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Association for the Promotion of Humanities and Sciences in Germany) aims to promote teaching and research in Communication Management, Public Relations, and Strategic Communication.
Foundation goal
Our goals
The Günter Thiele Foundation is committed to research and teaching in the field of communication management at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at the University of Leipzig, as well as to promoting young academics. This is realized through the promotion of various projects – ranging from the Günter Thiele Prize, to exchanges with international universities, joint initiatives with companies or the promotion of historical PR research. The Articles of Association form the basis of the Foundation’s work.
The Günter Thiele Foundation is administered by the German Foundation Center.
Its predecessor was the Foundation for the Promotion of PR Science at the University of Leipzig, which was established in 2000 and supported research and teaching with funds totaling more than one million euros until 2014.
Our founder – Günter F. Thiele
The Günter Thiele Foundation is named after its founder and mentor, Dr. h.c. Günter F. Thiele.
Günter Thiele is considered a formative personality for PR consulting in Germany. At the end of the 1960s, Günter Thiele was the owner and managing director of ABC Presse-Information, the largest communications agency in Germany at the time.
In May 2022, Günter Thiele received an honorary doctorate from the University of Leipzig. He was honored for his contributions to the development of public relations in science and practice. Günter Thiele is an honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Public Relations Agenturen e.V. (GPRA).
The Günter Thiele Foundation is committed to the will and vision of its founder Günter Thiele.
Career of Dr. h.c. Günter F. Thiele
- Born February 12, 1934 in Bitterfeld, Germany
- Studies of German language and literature, psychology, and philosophy at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg
- Journalist at the Leipzig station of the GDR radio
- 1959 Move to the Federal Republic
- Works journalist in internal communications at Henkel in Düsseldorf
- Copywriter at the advertising agency R. W. Eggert
- from 1968 co-owner and managing director of the PR agency ABC Presse-Information
- Since the 1990s, commitment to PR research at the University of Leipzig
- Co-founder of the “Foundation for the Promotion of PR Science” (SPRL) at the University of Leipzig, now the Günter Thiele Foundation