Dr. James Kollenbroich retires!
Thesis/Dissertation Specialist James Kollenbroich has retired from UIC
Historian James (Jim) Kollenbroich, PhD -- yes, he had to approve his own dissertation, "Our hour has come: The homosexual rights movement in the Weimar Republic" (2006) -- has retired from UIC. First hired as a part-time graduate assistant in January, 2003, while completing his doctoral degree at the start of the century, Jim became the Graduate College's full-time Thesis Coordinator in 2007 under Dean Clark Hulse. He went on to work under deans Henri Gillet (interim), Karen Colley, Jon Art (interim), and, most recently, Dave Eddington. In addition to processing the paperwork for every single graduate student's prelim and thesis/dissertation committee, he also had the task of approving a staggering number of master's theses and doctoral dissertations, as evidenced by the photo.
In addition to working full-time at UIC, Jim taught mostly American history courses, often full-time (!), at a number of Chicago institutions including Columbia College and the Illinois Institute of Technology over nearly a quarter century and found time to belong to and act for Terra Mysterium, "Chicago's spiritually and steampunk inclined [nonprofit] theatre troupe," to quote Joe Mason.
Jim's open house-style retirement party is January 15th, from 11 am to 2 pm in University Hall (UH) 650. C'mon over and wish the longtime (not old!) staff member / historian / college instructor / thespian adieu!