Pilná was nominated to the head of the Senate by its current Vice-Chair Dana Matějovská, who said, "Kateřina Pilná has already proven herself in the CTU AS as the chair of the main election committee and the chair of the committee for the Administration of Special Purpose Facilities. She conducts her meetings very quickly, factually and is communicative."
Pilná accepted the nomination, stating that one of her themes as head is sustainability. She subsequently received the necessary number of votes in the first round of the election. Immediately after the election, she said that she was grateful for the trust placed in her by the CTU AS and hoped for good cooperation in the future.
The election of a female student to head this body is being hailed as evidence of the progressive approach of academics and also as a success for the student government.
Jan Janoušek, who had chaired the CTU AS for the past seven years, was subsequently elected as the staff vice-chairman of the senate. Jakub Sláma became the students' Vice-Chairman again. Both vice-chairs were elected in the first round of elections as well.
The CTU Academic Senate is a self-governing representative body of the university. Members of the Academic Senate are elected by the academic community of CTU. Each of the eight faculties of CTU elects three academic staff and two students, and the academic community of CTU corresponding to the non-faculty parts of CTU elects a total of three academic staff and two students.
The CTU AS approves, among other things, the CTU Strategy and the internal regulations of CTU and its components. It also approves the CTU budget submitted by the Rector, controls the use of funds and approves the annual activity report and the annual report on the CTU's management submitted by the Rector.