The recipients were: Professor Klaus Borchard, former Rector of the University of Bonn; Professor Dieter Engels, for many years Chair of the University Council; Professor Wolfgang Löwer, an expert in academic law and co-founder of the University of Bonn Foundation; and Professor Sigrid Peyerimhoff, a benefactor and pioneer of theoretical chemistry.
Rector Professor Michael Hoch presented each of them with an oval-shaped silver plaque crafted by the Bonn-based goldsmith Richarz. He said: “With the awarding of the University Medal, we are thanking four individuals who have shaped our University over many years through their scientific and academic excellence and immense personal dedication and commitment. Every one of them embodies precisely what the University of Bonn sees itself as standing for: the spirit of research, a duty of responsibility toward our country and society—and a genuine sense of community. They deserve our sincere gratitude and our great esteem.”
Read more here about the new holders of the University Medal:
Klaus Borchard was appointed to the Chair for Urban Planning and Human Settlements at the University of Bonn in 1976.
He went on to be dean and vice dean of the then Faculty of Agriculture before being elected the 140th Rector of the University of Bonn in 1997. He led the University through a time of upheaval and structural change in which it began to carve out a position for itself in Germany and abroad as a research-focused university.
Klaus Borchard was particularly interested in the historical responsibility shouldered by the University. In 1999, for example, he published a work on the victims of Nazi injustice at the University of Bonn, thus nailing his colors firmly to the mast of remembrance, education and moral consciousness.
After leaving the post of Rector and accepting an emeritus position, Klaus Borchard has continued to maintain close links to the University. He is Honorary Chair of the Universitätsgesellschaft Bonn and still sits on its Board of Directors. Klaus Borchard also lent his inspirational creativity and extensive experience to support the Rectorate at the time in his role as Anniversary President during the celebrations held in 2018 to mark 200 years of the University.
Born in Mechernich, Dieter Engels came to Bonn to study law, staying on to do his doctorate. After a number of posts in academia, he entered the service of the German Bundestag in 1983. He was appointed Secretary of the Budget Committee in 1989 and administrative director of a parliamentary group in the Bundestag in 1992. Dieter Engels moved to the Federal Court of Auditors in 1996, serving initially as its Vice-President and then, from 2002 to 2014, as its President.
Alongside his work in the service of his country and society, Dieter Engels retained his ties to academia, holding roles including that of honorary professor at the German University of Administrative Sciences and authoring publications on constitutional and administrative law.
Throughout this time, he has maintained a particularly close relationship to the University of Bonn, his alma mater. In 2013, while President of the Federal Court of Auditors, he became a member of the University’s University Council, which he went on to chair for 12 years. Under his stewardship, the University Council grew to become an important source of strategic ideas, engaging in close dialogue with other bodies and groups at the University and providing it with vital support in governance matters as well as raising its academic profile and increasing its international visibility. Besides his government and administration experience, Dieter Engels also brought his extensive knowledge of university processes to the table. His contributions led to the laying of countless key structural and strategic foundations that have played a major part in the outstanding successes that the University has enjoyed in the Excellence Strategy.
Professor Wolfgang Löwer was born in Wuppertal. He came to the University of Bonn in 1966 to study law, which he followed with two state examinations in the subject, a doctorate and a Habilitation. After holding positions at the University of Münster and Freie Universität Berlin, Wolfgang Löwer returned to his alma mater in 1990 as Professor of Public Law, continuing to research and teach in Bonn until his acceptance of an emeritus position.
He has had a significant influence on academic law in Germany, both during this period and beyond. In his capacity as state chair of the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers, he was among the leading voices that have played a decisive role in shaping the development of higher-education law over recent decades. His dedication to legal scholarship was also reflected in his work as a judge at the Constitutional Court of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where he was responsible for upholding the constitution and the principles of the rule of law. And it was with the same cogency that he devoted himself to promoting science and culture as President of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, where he made a lasting impact.
Throughout this time, Wolfgang Löwer always had a particularly close connection to the University of Bonn. As well as holding important offices in its academic self-administration, he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Law and Economics and, from 2004 to 2009, as Vice Rector for Planning and Finance. It is thanks to his efforts that the University of Bonn Foundation came into being. From 2009 to 2021, he shaped its development with great foresight and energy in his capacity as chair. Under his leadership, the foundation became a key pillar of student support, which nowadays gives many young, talented individuals new prospects through a steadily growing number of Deutschlandstipendium scholarships.
Professor Sigrid D. Peyerimhoff is a pioneer in several respects. Originally from Rottweil, she studied physics in Gießen, returning there to obtain her Habilitation after spending time researching at a number of world-leading institutions including the University of Chicago, the University of Washington in Seattle and Princeton University. Following a professorship in Mainz, she accepted a post at the University of Bonn in 1972, going on to become the first female dean of its Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
In those days, theoretical chemistry was still largely uncharted territory. From her starting point of theoretical physics, Sigrid Peyerimhoff explored this new field and became one of its major pioneers. It was thanks to her efforts that her chair in Bonn developed into an internationally recognized center for the subject and influenced generations of researchers all over the world.
She has received numerous awards for her scientific work. One particular highlight came in 1989, when she was presented with the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize—regarded as the supreme accolade for researchers in Germany. She broke new ground in the methodology of quantum chemistry, and her teaching style was characterized by didactic clarity, methodological depth and the inspiring way in which she taught students to be curious about science.
Sigrid Peyerimhoff remains committed to promoting early-career researchers to this day. In 2020, she established the foundation that bears her name, which awards two €10,000 prizes every year in partnership with the University of Bonn Foundation: the Sigrid Peyerimhoff Research Prize for excellent postdoctoral researchers and the Sigrid Peyerimhoff Doctoral Prize for outstanding doctoral theses.