Some alumni have already followed our invitation to go down memory lane: They’ve provided us with anecdotes and memories of the old days, and have often simply sent in a fond message to their alma mater.
My connection to our alma mater is long, if not very long (by human standards). It even began more than 60 years ago, before the university really existed. At that time, I was still a child attending elementary school (today we would call it elementary school). My parents took me on a tour of the site where Ruhr University was to be built. However, the only building there so far was a small glass pavilion in which the population was shown what it would look like in the future.
I can still remember my father exhorting me to do my best at school so that I might be able to study here one day.
Well, perhaps those stern words had an effect on the young man. At some point, I actually studied at the RUB (mechanical engineering) and graduated there.
At least at the beginning of my studies, the small glass pavilion was still empty and quite lost between the I-buildings. It was always a pleasure for me to let my fellow students guess what the first building of our university was. To the best of my recollection, none of them came up with the tiny hut.
After graduating, I worked in industry until my (hopefully well-earned) retirement. Here, too, I still had the opportunity to keep in touch with the Chair of Transmission Technology (Prof. Jarchow when I was a student), where I also worked as an assistant as a student (they also called me an "auxiliary brakeman" back then). For example, some quite specific studies were carried out there for the company I worked for.
Dear RUB,
You were my alma mater from 1993 to 2000 and you still are!
I studied journalism and communication sciences, with minors in German studies and art history. I’m grateful for an amazing time and the opportunity to forge friendships and relationships for life.
I’m grateful for an amazing time and the opportunity to forge friendships and relationships for life.
I look back most fondly on an exciting excursion to Madrid with art historian Professor Bruno Klein and on the day of my oral Master’s exam.
While I was sweating through my exam, my father attended a talk by Peter Scholl-Latour as part of a series of lectures organized by Professor Heinz-Dietrich Fischer. He still reminisces about it today!
Dear Ruhr University Bochum, thank you for everything and happy birthday! I am determined to come and see you again in 2025! Glück auf!
Yours, Sandra Hilse, M.A.
Dear fellow alumni in Bochum,
In August 1966, I left the traditional University of Tübingen (at that time with around 700 students in Protestant Theology) to enrol at the fledgling Ruhr University Bochum (3 semesters).
When our Tübingen professor Gerhard Ebeling asked the 50 or so students attending his seminar for passport photos with their names written on the back in order to memorize their names and faces – that was the moment I knew I was going to Bochum.
Back then, the RUB campus existed of three tower blocks and the cafeteria.
My family lived in Essen, and I’d just married my partner from Hamburg. Back then, the RUB campus existed of three tower blocks and the cafeteria.
I met my doctoral supervisor Eberhard Wölfel, passed my final exams, received a doctoral scholarship and followed my doctoral supervisor’s appointment to Kiel University.
Dr. Manfred Marquardt
The Institute of Linguistics was founded in 1966. I came from the University of Bonn and was involved right from the start as a student assistant.
It’s hard to believe: What we found at the institute were rooms, fully furnished. What we did not find was a library necessary to have research and teaching up and running. Our first challenge was to develop a signature system so that incoming books and journals could be signed and shelved correctly. And then, we still had to procure the books and journals we needed.
In terms of personnel, pretty much everything hinged on one person: Professor Karl Horst Schmidt, head of Historical Comparative Linguistics – with a focus on Caucasian Studies and Celtic Studies – who was also in charge of General Linguistics. It wasn’t until much later that a second chair was established.
Fortunately, our gradually growing library was located on the same floor, as was a seminar room. If we needed another seminar room at the same time, we could get there by elevator.
I always found these short distances very convenient.
By the end of my studies, I was in charge of our seminar library for about a year and a half. In 1971, I completed my doctorate, including a minor in Scandinavian Studies, which did not exist as an independent subject, but could be examined with the approval of the faculty (examiner E. Ebel, chaired by Professor Grosse).
I was a research assistant until 1974 and then applied for an academic council position at the University of Göttingen and transferred there. For a long time, I maintained strong ties with Bochum, especially with Professor G. Altmann.
In conclusion, I can say that I’d have liked to have stayed in Bochum if only I’d had the chance. But that doesn’t mean that I regretted the move to Göttingen.
We’d like to invite you to journey back in time with us: How have the campus and zeitgeist changed over the decades? What did students find important 60 years ago? What was served in the Mensa 40 years ago? We look forward to hearing many anecdotes and reports from our alumni.
Did you also study or work at Ruhr University Bochum and still reminisce about your time here? Share your stories, photos and memories with us!
