Academic Honorary Citizens
Helga Gaul and Wolfgang Gaul
In February 2015, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology conferred the Honorary Citizenship to Helga and Professor Wolfgang Gaul. In 2001, they established the Helga und Wolfgang Gaul-Stifutung (Helga and Wolfgang Gaul Foundation).
Michael Huber
In recognition of his commitment to the KIT Foundation and the support of young scientists of KIT by the Umweltstiftung der Sparkasse Karlsruhe Ettlingen (Foundation for the Environment of Sparkasse Karlsruhe Ettlingen), Michael Huber was appointed KIT Honorary Citizen in January 2013.
Dieter Köhnlein
KIT awarded the physicist Dr. Dieter Köhnlein honorary citizenship in 2019. Köhnlein is the founder and long-time director of the KIT Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.
Martin Litschel
Martin Litschel supports the Young Investigator Group "Green Mobility" of the KIT since 2014 with the Vector Foundation. Litschel also awards fifteen "Deutschlandstipendien" (scholarships) a year at KIT and supports another ten students a year through the FundaMINT scholarship program. In 2018, KIT awarded him Honorary Citizenship.
Roland Mack
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology conferred the Honorary Citizenship to Roland Mack in 2016 for his support of young mechanical engineers. Mack co-founded Europa Park Rust, of which he is the Managing Associate. In 1969, he started to study mechanical engineering at Karlsruhe University.
Manfred Popp
For his extraordinary commitment, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology conferred the first KIT Honorary Citizenship to Professor Dr. Manfred Popp in 2012. With the reorganization of Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe into a multi-disciplinary, modern large-scale research center, Manfred Popp laid the first foundation stone for the later establishment of KIT, which was co-initiated by him.
Elfi Schmitt
In 2023, Dr. Elfi Schmitt was appointed KIT Honorary Citizen for her outstanding commitment to the benefit of KIT. In memory of her late husband, she testamentarily decreed the establishment of the Hajo Schmitt Endowment Fund under the umbrella of the KIT Foundation.
Renate Schubert
KIT honored Prof. Dr. Renate Schubert for her longtime commitment as Chairwoman of the KIT Supervisory Board 2021 as an honorary citizen. Renate Schubert, Professor Emeritus of National Economics at ETH Zurich, was a member of the KIT Supervisory Board from 2011 to 2019 and its Chairwoman from 2012.
Anja Schümann
The KIT honored Dr. Anja Schümann, CEO of the Reinhard Frank Foundation, in 2018 as Honorary Citizen. With the Reinhard Frank Foundation she is involved, among others, in the Student Research Laboratory, the international exchange program MINTernship and the Study Center for the Visually Impaired (SZS) at the KIT.
Gerhard Seiler
The then Universität Karlsruhe conferred the honorary citizenship to Professor Dr. Gerhard Seiler in 2005. With this distinction, President Professor Dr. Horst Hippler honored Seiler’s merits for the benefit of the university.
Gerhard Selmayr
The then Universität Karlsruhe honoured Dr. Gerhard Selmayr in 2000 with the honorary citizenship.
Walter Wagner
The then Universität Karlsruhe appointed Walter Wagner an honorary citizen in 1971.
Hartmut Weule
The then Universität Karlsruhe appointed Professor Dr. Hartmut Weule an honorary citizen in 2006. This was to acknowledge Weule’s achievements with regard to the internationalization of the university, among others by establishing the International Department.
This overview includes only the living honorary citizens of KIT.