Ulla Preeden (born 29 April 1980) is an Estonian geologist, academic and politician.

Academia

Preeden studied at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

here she gained her PhD in geology in 2008. Her thesis considered secondary

magnetization In classical electromagnetism, magnetization is the vector field that expresses the density of permanent or induced magnetic dipole moments in a magnetic material. Movement within this field is described by direction and is either Axial or Di ...

Sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s. After working as an researcher on geophysics and mineralogy at the University of Tartu, she was appointed the rector of the Tartu Health Care College in 2016 for a five-year term. In 2019, under her leadership, the college established the first masters programme in

radiography Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical radiography ("diagnostic" and "therapeut ...

in the

Baltic States The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

. She is a member of Estonian Rectors’ Conference of Universities of Applied Sciences, a

EURASHE EURASHE (European Association of Institutions in Higher Education) is a members' based organisation gathering universities of applied sciences, university colleges, as well as national and sectorial associations and other higher education institut ...

member.

Politics

Preeden is a member of the

Isamaa Isamaa is a Christian-democratic and national-conservative political party in Estonia. It was founded on 4 June 2006 under the name of "Pro Patria and Res Publica Union", by the merger of two conservative parties, Pro Patria Union and Res Publica ...

political party where she has held positions including as a member of the governing council and chair of the party's Women's council. In 2011 she became the governor of

Põlva Põlva () is a town in southeastern Estonia, the capital of Põlva County, and the centre of Põlva Parish. Põlva is home for the Intsikurmu Song Festival Grounds, which regularly hosts concerts and summer activities, situated in a small for ...

, making her the first female governor since Estonian independence in southeast Estonia and the country's youngest governor. She held the post until 2016.

Personal

Since 2013, she has been a member of the Women's Home Defence group of the paramilitary defence organisation the

Estonian Defence League The Estonian Defence League ( et, Eesti Kaitseliit) is the name of the unified paramilitary armed forces of the Republic of Estonia. The Defence League is a paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preeden, Ulla 1980 births Living people Estonian geologists Estonian women geologists University of Tartu alumni 21st-century Estonian politicians Isamaa politicians 21st-century Estonian women politicians