About the Program

Mission statement

We believe in the lasting value of liberal arts education and are committed to providing present and future generations of students with a broad knowledge base and critical thinking skills. It is our conviction that the study of foreign languages and cultures has a particularly important role to play in a multicultural society. As the largest undergraduate and the only graduate Polish Language and Literature Program in Canada, we feel that it is our responsibility to provide comprehensive, comparative, and interdisciplinary perspectives on Polish language, literature, and culture in cross-cultural, university setting.

Our goals

To serve as the main Canadian point of connection in the international network of scholars working on developing and promoting Polish Studies abroad. To contribute to the research and intellectual life at UofT by organizing and participating in critical, comparative, and interdisciplinary projects with an emphasis on promoting the professional development of graduate students. To provide undergraduate students at UofT with broadly contextualized courses that use diversified source materials to teach critical approaches to it. To provide Polish-Canadian communities with continuous access to their cultural heritage by offering comprehensive and consistent selection of courses in Polish language and literature.

History

The Program of Polish Language and Literature became a part of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures in the 1960s. Danuta Bieńkowska, a well-known writer and poet, was its first chair. After her tragic death in 1974, the professorship was held briefly by Richard Lourie, an accomplished writer and prolific translator, and then for over twenty years by Louis Iribarne, a highly esteemed translator of Witkacy, Czesław Miłosz, and Witold Gombrowicz. Until 1998, Hanka Markowicz taught Polish language.

In 1998 both Profs. Iribarne and Markowicz retired and the program changed hands. It was taken over by Tamara Trojanowska, a graduate of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (M.A.) and of the University of Toronto (Ph.D.). During her career, Prof. Trojanowska has taught at the Jagiellonian University, York University, and Wilfrid Laurier University. From 1995 to 1998 she directed the Polish Language and Literature Program at the University of Chicago. At UofT, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Polish literature, culture, film, and theatre.

From 2000 to 2005, accomplished linguists and second language acquisition specialists from the leading universities in Poland taught Polish language in the Program. They were Drs. Aleksandra Niewiara, Bożena Szałasta-Rogowska, and Jolanta Tambor from the Silesian University in Katowice, Dr. Anna Seretny from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Dr. Agnieszka Karolczuk from the Catholic University in Lublin and Dr. Katarzyna Kasztenna from the Wrocław University. In 2005-2010 Polish language has been taught by Dr. Artur Płaczkiewicz and our graduate students who continue to teach in the program together with Piotr Kajakan instructor from the Warsaw University.

During its history, the Polish Program has developed very dynamic B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. programs. It offers three levels of language instruction, ten undergraduate and seven graduate courses on Polish literature, culture, film, and theater of which five semester courses are offered yearly, including at least two graduate courses. They are available to all students enrolled at the University of Toronto as well as to the students from other institutions of higher learning.

Undergraduate students can work towards a Major or Minor in Polish literature and culture, whereas graduate students can obtain Master and Doctorate degrees, or study Polish literature as their minor field in the Slavic Department.

The Polish Program also cooperates with the Department of History at UofT. Students at all undergraduate levels can major or minor in the so-called Polish Studies Program, which combines courses on Polish literature, culture, history, and language. We have very close links with the The Institute of Film Studies and the University College Drama Program (at the undergraduate level), and with the Graduate Center for the Study of Drama and the Centre for Comparative Literature (at the graduate level). The Polish Program is also a part of the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies.

All our undergraduate literature and culture courses are taught in English. However, all reading materials are available in both languages, English and Polish. Presently, our undergraduate program welcomes about 80-90 students a year.