Bruce Kirmmse

Professor Bruce Kirmmse retired from Connecticut College in 2007. The former chair of the history department from 1989-1993, Professor Kirmmse is widely known and respected for his scholarly work on the Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard.

Professor Kirmmse is the author of two books, numerous articles and essays, and a number of translations, largely relating to the work of Kierkegaard, and has published on other matters related to Scandinavian history, such as the writer Hans Christian Andersen and the Danish-Swedish rescue of the Danish Jews from the Nazis during World War II. He received a 1992 Fulbright Travel Grant and a 1990-91 Fulbright Research Fellowship and American Scandinavian Foundation Fellowship to the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Danish Library.

Professor Kirmmse's translation from Danish to English of Joakim Garff's book Søren Kierkegaard: A Biography, received rave reviews from national and international media.

He has served as chairman of the editorial board for the English language edition of Kierkegaard's unpublished writings, which will appear in ca. 11-15 volumes over the next ten to fifteen years.

Professor Kirmmse has recently served as director of the Søren Kierkegaard Society and on the editorial board of its journal Kierkegaardiana, as well as the advisory boards of the world's two leading institutes for scholarly work relating to Kierkegaard: the Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre in Copenhagen, and the Hong Kierkegaard Library in Minnesota.

Professor Kirmmse designed and taught courses including: Introduction to European History, 19th-Century European Intellectual History, 20th-Century European Intellectual History, the History of Modern Germany, The Enlightenment, The French Revolution of 1789, and Kierkegaard and Christendom.

Professor Kirmmse received the 2001 Nancy Batson Nisbet Rash Faculty Research Award, presented annually to one of the most outstanding and highly regarded members of the faculty.