Polish Studies at Canisius College

The Institution

Canisius College, founded by members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1870, is Western New York's leading private liberal arts college. It has three academic divisions: the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education and Human Services and the Wehle School of Business. Its 25-acre campus houses 35 buildings, most connected by tunnels or overhead walkways. Campus apartments and dorms feature state-of-the art computing facilities. @

College or Arts and Sciences, the largest of Canisius College's three divisions, offers 22 majors and many special programs at the undergraduate level. Its Modern Languages Department offers majors in French, German, and Spanish, as well as instruction in Polish. Classroom presentations are supplemented by weekly drill in the Palisano Language Lab. @

Poland-Related Course

HIS 350 20th Century Eastern Europe @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Ethnic, linguistic, and geographic origins. Emphasis on social, political, economic, and cultural developments since 1918

ENG 351 Modern European Literature @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Survey of the major European literature from World War I to the present. Authors include Mann, Singer, Camus, Milosz, and Rilke.

POLISH CONTENT: Both Singer and Milosz were Polish-born Nobel laureates in literature.

COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Dompkowski, Judith A.

Faculty

Dompkowski, Judith A., Professor of English. @@

Ph.D., University at Buffalo 1983
Phone: 716 888 2656 / Fax: 716 888 2525 / E-mail: dompkowj@canisius.edu

MAJOR INTERESTS:Modern English literature with emphasis on the writers of the "Other Europe." The study of Czeslaw Milosz's uncollected poems

POLAND RELATED ACTIVITIES:

BOOKS

• Down a spiral staircase, never-ending: motion as design in the writing of Czeslaw Milosz. New York: P. Lang, 1990.

FILMS

• Scriptwriter for the 1985 short feature Issa Valley (Joe Steinmetz, producer) based on a fragment of Czeslaw Milosz's novel of the same title.

Fiore, Benjamin, S.J., Department Chair and Professor, Department of Religious Studies @

Ph.D., Yale 1982
Phone: 716 888 2822 / Fax: 886 6506 / E-mail: fiore@canisius.edu

MAJOR INTERESTS: Pauline and Johannine literature and early Christian art; Currently completing a commentary on the Pastoral Epistles for Liturgical Press.

POLAND RELATED ACTIVITIES: Chairman of the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture Committee; Past-President and current Secretary of Pomost International - an organization whose purpose is to assist people in Poland and Eastern Europe gain abetter knowledge and appreciation of US culture, primarily through English language workshops which the organization arranges for and runs an annualy. The workshops, staffed by volunteer Western New York native English speakers, take place Rzeszow, Poland, each summer primarily for an audience of Polish high-school students. The organization also seeks to advance an awareness of Polish culture in Western New York.

Kozik, Mariusz M., Associate Professor of Chemistry @

M.A., Jagiellonian University, 1981
Ph.D. Georgtown University, 1987
Phone: 716 888 2337 / Fax: 716 888 3112 / E-mail: kozik@canisius.edu

MAJOR INTERESTS: Carbon dioxide activation by transition-metal-substituted heteropoly anions in nonpolar solvents. Applications of multinuclear NMR spectroscopy in investigations of chemical and electronic structures of reduced heteropoly anions.

POLAND RELATED ACTIVITIES: Member of the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture Committee at Canisius College; Faculty Advisor for Polish Students Club at Canisius College.

Poland-Related Resources

• Permanent Chair of Polish Culture Committee: The Committee's mission is to promote awareness and appreciation of Polish culture through lectures, cultural programs, educational initiatives for Canisius students, and other activities at Cansius College or in collaboration with off-campus associations and institutions. The origins of the Committee - also known as the Polish Chair - go back to the late 50's when an effort was made to establish a chair of Polish studies, but the funds raised were not sufficient to realize that goal. The program of the Polish Chair is determined by the Committee - also known as the Board of Directors of the Polish Chair - pursuant to approval by the president of Canisius College. @