President

Christmas Message 2025

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Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. (Dōshisha) Karla Pollmann
Wilhelmstraße 5 (Alte Botanik)
72074 Tübingen
Germany
Phone +49 7071 29-72513
E-Mail: rektorinspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de

Administration of the President's Office

Biography

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. (Dōshisha) Karla Pollmann is currently President of the University of Tübingen (Germany). Before then, she served from 2018 to 2022 as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and as Professor of Classics and of Theology at the University of Bristol (GB), where she is now an Honorary Professor. She is also Honorary Professor at the University of Aarhus (Denmark) and at the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa), as well as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Green College, University of British Columbia (Canada).

Her interdisciplinary research interests focus on the literature and culture of the Early Roman Empire and Early Christianity, as well as the history of their reception. Her important monographs include a commentary on Statius’ epic Thebaid Book 12, Augustine’s hermeneutics, and the beginnings of early Christian poetry (The Baptized Muse, OUP 2017). She held teaching positions in different European countries, the US and Canada and has supervised and examined over 30 PhD students. She is Co-Editor of the Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum, of the journal and monograph series Millennium as well as of the monograph series Texte und Kommentare and Hypomnemata, and is a member of various academic Advisory Boards nationally and internationally.

She is an internationally renowned speaker, and delivered, among others, the Eleventh Augustine Lectures in Malta under the Patronage of the President of the Republic of Malta, the Fourth Fliedner Lectures on Science and Faith in Madrid, the Fourth Dutch Annual Lecture in Patristics at the Dutch Academy of Sciences, and the Winckelmann Lecture at the University of Salzburg. She is a member of the Academia Europaea and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is a leading expert on Augustine of Hippo and world-leading in the study of his reception (Editor-in-Chief of the three-volume Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine, OUP 2013). She has held numerous research scholarships and awards, and is recipient of a Humboldt Research Prize (2020) in recognition of her lifetime achievement of internationally leading research. In autumn 2023 she received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Dōshisha, Kyoto, Japan.

Autumn 2023

Honorary Doctorate

from the University of Dōshisha, Kyoto, Japan

2022

President and Vice-Chancellor and Professor

President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Tübingen and Professor of Latin Late Antiquity

2018 - 2022

Dean of Faculty and Professor

Dean of the Faculty of Arts und Professor of Classics and Theology, University of Bristol (GB)

2016 – 2018

Head of School and Professor

Head of the School of Humanities and Professor of Classics, University of Reading (GB)

2015 – 2016

Deputy Dean and Professor

Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Professor of Classics, University of Kent (GB)

2013 – 2015

Deputy Head of School and Professor

Deputy Head of the School of European Culture and Literature and Professor of Classics , University of Kent (GB)

2013 – 2016

Head of Department and Professor

Head of the Department of Classical und Archaelogical Studies and Professor of Classics, University of Kent (GB)

2001 – 2012

Professor

of Classics, University of St. Andrews (GB)

1995 – 2000

Lecturer

in Latin, University of St Andrews (GB)

1994

Habilitation

in Classics, Konstanz, Germany

1993 – 1995

Alexander von Humboldt-Stipend (Feodor-Lynen-Programme)

at University College London (with Prof. G.J.P. O'Daly, Latin)

1991 – 1995

Assistant Professor (C1)

University of Konstanz (Latin)

1990

PhD

in Classics, University of Bochum

1982 –1991

Study

of Classics, Divinity, and Pedagogy at the Universities of Tübingen, Munich, Cambridge/UK, and Bochum, Germany

1963

Born

in Tübingen

Memberships of President Karla Pollmann (selection)

Since summer 2023
Deputy chair of the State Rectors' Conference (LRK) of Baden-Württemberg Universities and Member of negotiation team on higher education financing agreement III (HOVF III)