Background
Istvan Gombocz was born on July 10, 1956, in Budapest, Hungary. He is a son of Istvan Gombocz, a librarian, and Adrienne (Konkoly) Gombocz, a music historian.
Budapest, Egyetem tér 1-3, Hungary
In 1980, Istvan graduated from Eötvös Loránd University with a bachelor's degree. In 1985, he received a doctor's degree from the same educational establishment.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana and Champaign, Illinois, United States
In 1987, Gombocz got a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Istvan Gombocz was born on July 10, 1956, in Budapest, Hungary. He is a son of Istvan Gombocz, a librarian, and Adrienne (Konkoly) Gombocz, a music historian.
In 1980, Istvan graduated from Eötvös Loránd University with a bachelor's degree. In 1985, he received a doctor's degree from the same educational establishment. Then, Gombocz continued his education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1987.
During the period from 1974 till 1975, Istvan served in Hungarian Army. In 1980, he was appointed an instructor at Eötvös Loránd University, a post he continued to hold till 1985. Between 1987 and 1989, Gombocz lectured at the University of Minnesota (often referred to as Twin Cities) in Minneapolis.
In 1989, Istvan joined the University of South Dakota in Vermillion as an assistant professor. In 1994, he was made an associate professor there, a post he continued to hold until 1999, when Istvan was promoted to the position of a Professor of German. He retired in 2018.
As far as Istvan's research interests focus on 18th-century studies, he has published numerous articles on German writers and philosophers, such as Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Johann Gottfried Herder and Johann Burckhardt Mencke, as well as academic satires of the Enlightenment. He has also edited collected works of Johann Christoph Gottsched and those of Friedrich Nicolai.
Istvan also contributed to different periodicals, including Seminar: Journal of Germanic Studies, East European Quarterly, Journal of English and Germanic Philology and Jahrhuch fuer Internationale Germanistik.
Currently, Istvan is a Professor Emeritus of German in the Department of Modern Languages & Linguistics at the University of South Dakota.
Istvan is a member of the International Lenau Society, American Association of Teachers of German and Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association.
Istvan married Carol Leibiger, a professor of German, in 1985. Their marriage produced two children - Katarina and Benedict.