In 1913 Jovanka Bončić-Katerinić completed her four-year diploma course as TH Darmstadt's first female graduate and Germany's first female university-trained engineer. She studied architecture at the University of Belgrade where she was granted a scholarship that allowed her to attend the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (TH). At the TH Darmstadt she successfully obtained two degrees: one in architecture and one in engineering. Her success was covered by the Berlin newspaper “Illustrirte Zeitung” (left picture).
Jovanka Bončić-Katerinić lived in several cities with her husband, including St. Petersburg, Riga, Moscow, Kiev and Odessa. As a result of the political situation the family fled to Belgrade, where Bončić-Katerinić was commissioned by the Ministry of Construction.
The Yugoslav Ministry of Construction hired Bončić-Katerinić to be the head of the Department of University Construction and she was responsible for numerous public projects. Jovanka co-designed the spa baths in Banja Koviljaća (1929-32), the Cultural Centre of Banski Dvor (Cyrillic: Бански двор), the National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Banja Luka (1930 – 38) and the university buildings for teacher training (1933) and veterinary medicine (begun in 1939) in Belgrade. Jovanka Bončić-Katerinić was the architect of numerous other buildings, she built schools and primary schools as well as a hospital in Despotovac.
The Yugoslav government awarded her the Order of St. Sava in 1928 and the Order of the Yugoslav Crown in 1938.
In honor of her achievement the TU Darmstadt named a street on their campus after her, with the germanized name: Jovanka-Bontschits-Straße.
