Department of Slavic & East European Languages & Cultures, University of Toronto

Address: 121 St. Joseph Street, Toronto
ON, M5S 1J4
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E-mail: polish.program@utoronto.ca

Website: https://www.slavic.utoronto.ca/

Polish studies at the University of Toronto’s Slavic Studies Department have existed since the 1950s. The first Polish language classes were held in the academic year 1957/58 by the founder of Toronto’s Slavic Studies Department, Professor George Luckyj, who also taught Polish literature in subsequent years. It was later created and developed by Danuta Bieńkowska (from 1963 until her tragic death in 1974), a renowned writer and poet, Richard Lourie (1974-1975), an excellent writer and prolific translator, and Louis Iribarne (1975-1997), a valued translator of Witkacy, Miłosz, and Gombrowicz. Hanka Markowicz taught Polish until her retirement in 1998. From 1998-2017, the program was directed by Tamara Trojanowska. In recent years, this role has been taken on by Dr. Łukasz Wodzyński (currently a full-time Polish studies professor at Wisconsin-Madison), Agnieszka Jeżyk (currently in Seattle), and Magdalena Cabaj.

The activities of the Polish Program include organizing numerous events that go beyond university classes, such as guest lectures, film screenings, cultural workshops, and celebrations (Easter, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, St. Andrew's Day), as well as trips to the cinema and Polish culture festivals. The faculty also maintain contact with the General J. Haller Polish School at the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Toronto, as well as with the Consulate itself.

The Polish Program actively supports the Polish Students Association at the University of Toronto. Thanks to the donors, students are also supported financially every year and the best students are awarded for outstanding scientific achievements. As part of the Joanna DeMone Award, master's or doctoral students from Poland can be invited for a semester of research at the Faculty. As part of a bilateral agreement, Polish language teachers from the University of Warsaw are hosted and students are offered scholarships for intensive summer language courses organized by Polonicum.

The Polish Program offers a wide range of didactic courses, including Polish language courses at all levels of advancement, as well as classes on Polish culture. In this area lectures for people who are just starting their adventure with Polish culture are conducted (e.g. Introduction to Polish Culture), as well as for those already well acquainted with it (Polish Culture for the Curious). In addition to classes on Polish culture, such as War & Culture or Communism & Culture, classes on the history of cinema (Film & Ethics) and Polish theater are also offered. The Polish Program also conducts seminars for doctoral students prepared for the individual needs of the students.

Students

Polish language courses are attended by 6 to 15 students; Polish culture classes by 6 to 25 students.

At the highest levels of Polish, most students are speakers of Polish as an inherited language. Students of lower levels of Polish language and Polish culture classes are culturally very diverse, some of them are of Polish origin, some study other Slavic languages and cultures.