Reports

13
May
2014
in Reports

Grand Opening of the Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology

Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii

On 13 May 2014, the grand opening of the Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology was held at the Campus of the 600th Anniversary of JU Revival. The official cutting of the ribbon was preceded by the addresses by the Rector of the Jagiellonian University, Prof. Wojciech Nowak, the Chairman of the MCB Committee, Prof. Kazimierz Strzałka, Vice-Marshal of the Małopolskie Voivodeship, Mr Roman Ciepiela, Vice-President of Kraków, Ms Elżbieta Koterba, and Head of National Science Centre, Prof. Andrzej Jajszczyk. The attendees also included JU Vice-Rectors, Chancellor, Bursar and former Rectors, members of Polish Parliament, diplomatic corps, and representatives of other Polish higher education institutions.

After the ribbon was cut, the participants had an opportunity to take tour of the Centre's laboratories. The opening is followed by the academic conference "Challenges of Biotechnology in 21st Century", including a lecture by the Nobel Prize Winner, JU honorary doctor, Prof. Robert Huber.

The purpose of the Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology is to conduct research at the highest possible level, generate innovation and cooperate with companies working in the field of life sciences. The MCB will also actively work with international partners, such as the Max Planck Gesellschaft, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Kyoto University. The Centre is open to cooperation in many areas of life science and anticipates that together with its new collaborators it will build and ensure continued scientific excellence.

Photos by Anna Wojnar

Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii

Photos by Anna Wojnar

12
May
2014
in Reports

Chamber Music Concert dedicated to the Jagiellonian University

On May 12, music lovers could listen to the pieces by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Mieczysław Weiniberg, performed by the world renown pianist, Elena Braslavsky and the Kraków quartet Cordes Classiques. The concert was hosted by the Center for Jewish Culture, whose director, Dr Joachim Russek welcomed the guests and presented the Rector of the Jagiellonian University, Prof. Wojciech Nowak with a memorial badge to mark the 20th anniversary of the Center's foundation. In his address, he referred to the 650th Jubilee of the Jagiellonian University, "We are very pleased that we can contribute to the celebration of this grand occasion", said the director.

Elena Braslavsky was born in Moscow. She studied at the Gnesin School of Music and later, after emigrating to the United States, she received her PhD degree at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Awarded with a Fulbright and DAAD scholarships, she also studied at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne and at the European Mozart Academy in Prague under the supervision of Sandor Vegh. She has given concerts in renown concert halls of North and South America, Europe, Japan and Korea, where she performed alongside such artists as Steven Isserlis, Nibuko Imai and Mstislav Rostropovich. She was a tutor in the Juilliard School of Music and the Mannes College in New York, and currently teaches at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.

The Cordes Classiques Quartet is composed of Kraków chamber musicians working closely with the Orchestra Sinfonietta Cracovia. The main field of interest of the group is the music of classical masters: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, whose works helped to crystallise the form of the string quartet and paved the way for the development of chamber music.

The Cordes Classiques Quartet, though rooted in classic beauty and elegance, also performs romantic and contemporary music. In addition, the extensive repertoire of the group includes "salon music" of the Strausses and Kreissler as well as transcriptions of dance and film music.

The Quartet has performed at many successful concerts and is widely appreciated by the audience.

The Monday concert was the last of the main musical and artistic events celebrating the 650th Jubilee of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

Koncert kameralny dedykowany Uniwersytetowi

Photo by Wojciech Karliński

12
May
2014
in Reports

Polish-American debate in Collegium Maius

On May 12, 2014 a Polish-American debate was held in the Jagiellonian University Collegium Maius. It was a continuation of the Congress of Academic Culture, which took place at the JU from March 20 to 22, 2014 and was aimed to start a discussion on the most important problems, dilemmas and challenges faced by the Polish university as an institution in the second decade of the 21st century. It had sent a strong message on the role that the European academic tradition should play in our times.

Polsko-amerykańska debata w Collegium Maius

The debate, entitled "Challenges and Dilemmas of Polish and American Universities in the 21st Century", was held in English. The main speakers included:

Professor Neil J. Smelser, Professor Emeritus of the University of California, Berkeley, long-time Chair of the University's Academic Senate,

Professor Piotr Sztompka, Jagiellonian University, Head of the Congress of Academic Culture Programme Committee,

Professor Jarosław Górniak, Dean of the JU Faculty of Philosophy, JU Senate member.

The discussion was moderated by Dr Piotr Prokopowicz from the JU Institute of Sociology. The debate w be related to the question posed at the Congress of Academic Culture: if and how can we preserve the centuries-old traditions of university as an academic institution in the modern era of mass education, rising cost of education and research and globalisation? What happens to the academic community and social trust, what of the master-apprentice relationships, what about qualitative assessment of research results and the status of scholars, what are the ways of improving education, what of the special status of the university and its distinctness from other higher academic institutions, and finally, what of the university's mission to create not only qualified workforce, but also enlightened citizens? How to combat bureaucratisation, fetishisation of quantitative ratings, narrow profile of education, negating the importance of basic research and humanities, opportunism in selection of research subjects, multiplying only seemingly important activities, plagiarism and falsification, and permissiveness of the academic community towards such issues?

Polsko-amerykańska debata w Collegium Maius

Photos by Jerzy Sawicz

12
May
2014
in Reports

Unveiling of a plaque commemorating King Casimir the Great at Collegium Novum

On 12 May 2014, exactly 650 years after its birth, the Jagiellonian University celebrated its Jubilee by honouring King Casimir the Great, its founder. A visionary monarch, he instilled the academic idea in Kraków, thereby making it one of the few ones that possessed a higher education institution.

As part of the official celebrations of the 650th Jubilee of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, a commemorative plaque devoted to King Casimir the Great was embedded in the wall of Collegium Novum. The ceremony took place at noon. Prof. dr hab med. Wojciech Nowak, JU Rector, as well as Prof. Karol Musioł and Prof. Franciszek Ziejka, former JU Rectors, unveiled the plaque. The performance of the Jagiellonian University Academic Choir Camerata Jagellonica added splendour to the event.

Prof. Franciszek Ziejka, member of the Jubilee Committee, was the originator of the idea. The plaque was created by Prof. Jerzy Nowakowski from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków.

Odsłonięcie tablicy poświęconej pamięci Króla Kazimierza Wielkiego

11
May
2014
in Reports

JU Rector’s Cup International Regatta (coxed eights) on the Vistula River by Wawel Castle

11 May 2014 was marked by a sports competition: the JU Rector's Cup International Regatta (coxed eights) on the Vistula River by Wawel Castle. Nine European sports teams, including the famous teams from Cambridge University Boat Club and Oxford University Boat club as well as Polish team from Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Wrocław, Warsaw and Kraków, competed for the JU Rector's Cup at a distance of 1000 metres.

Prof. dr hab. Maria Flis, JU Vice-Rector for University Development, opened the Regatta. After a short official opening ceremony, during which flowers were lain underneath the statue of Prof. Walery Goetl, the competition commenced.

In the first phase, the teams competed in three groups, in a round-robin tournament.

Group A:

Cambridge University

Nicolaus Copernicus University (winner)

AGH University of Technology

Group B:

University of Wrocław

Kazimierz Wielki University (winner)

JU Collegium Medicum

Group C:

Oxford University (winner)

University of Warsaw

Jagiellonian University

In accordance to the competition rules, the Jagiellonian University was qualified to the semi-finals.

The semi-finals were organised in a play-off system: the Nicolaus Copernicus University won against the Jagiellonian University, while the Kazimierz Wielki University prevailed over Oxford University. The teams from the JU and the OU then fought for the third place, with the winner being Oxford University.

In the Grand Final, the Nicolaus Copernicus University team proved to be the best in this championship.

Prof. dr hab. med. Wojciech Nowak, JU Rector, presented the winners with the Rector's Cup. Additionally, the team also received the Chancellors Cup, as they were the fastest to complete their runs. Every team received commemorative medals.

Since the Regatta met with such an enthusiasm, it was announced that they will be organised again next year.

Aside from the regatta, all those who visited the banks of Vistula River were able to attend various sports shows and even test their mettle in "dry paddling" – 650 metres on stationary ergometres. The participants were able to compare their results with the results of Olympic medallist and world champion Adam Korol, who was present at the Regatta.

photographs: Jerzy Pajor

Międzynarodowe regaty ósemek

11
May
2014
in Reports

Tour of the Jagiellonian University

On Sunday, 11 May, hundreds of people took an opportunity to visit the visit the unique and magical Jagiellonian Universtiy sites, where history meets the present, from the medieval Collegium Maius and the old University courtyards to Collegium Novum. Guides and custodians of the Jagiellonian University Museum took the visitors on a journey through 650 years of history and science.

Spacer po Uniwersytecie Jagiellońskim

The tour consisted of two separate programmes: the Tour through the Old University Courtyards to Collegium Novum, which included the meeting at Huta Courtyard (ul. Św. Anny 10), the passage to Collegium Novodvorscianum, then to Arcade Courtyard (watching the clock and listening to the carrillon), passage through the Long Hallway to the Professors' Garden, listening to the account of the history of the University Quarter, walk to the Oak of Liberty, visit in the room 56 (which witnessed the arrest of university Professors by Nazi Germans during the infamous Sonderaktion Krakau), and in the Assembly Hall of Collegium Novum.
The participants of the second, shorter walk visited the main rooms of Collegium Maius: Libraria, where the university book collection used to be kept, the representative Stuba Communis, where the professors dined in the past, the Jagiellonian University Treasury, where the most precious relics of the University are kept, including its oldest insignia, and the beautiful Jagiellonian Aula, where many eminent people, including Pope John Paul II received an honorary degree.

The number of visitors interested in taking the tour was much higher than the number of places in the groups. Those who took the tour were usually very enthusiastic about it.

"We are very grateful that we could see the sites related to the life and history of the Jagiellonian University. Today, we need to come back to our roots, and it is here that we could find lots of information about what shaped our identity," said Mr Krzysztof Tomaszewski, an artist from Kraków.

Spacer po Uniwersytecie Jagiellońskim

Photos by Filip Radwański

11
May
2014
in Reports

Illuminations of University Quarter Buildings

Iluminacja kwartału uniwersyteckiego

On two nights: May 10 and May 11, from 8.30 p.m. to 1.00 a.m., the buildings of Collegium Novum and Collegium Minus are illuminated to celebrate the 650th Jubille of the Jagiellonian University.

The historic buildings of the University quarter are animated with modern mapping technology, which takes the audience on a journey through the Jagiellonian University's history and tradition. The audiovisual spectacle features old drawings and prints, photographs, and other historic materials, illustrating the most important events and people in the University's 650-year-long history, combined with a historic commentary and spectacular animations, which convey the atmosphere of subsequent epochs in the University's History.

This combination of modern technology with historic tradition corresponds with the motto of the Jagiellonian University's Jubilee: "Inspired by the past, we shape the future."

Iluminacja kwartału uniwersyteckiego

Zdjęcia: Anna Wojnar, Filip Radwański

11
May
2014
in Reports

Premiere of Universa – Open Opera marks the University’s Jubilee

On Saturday evening the grand premiere of the musical-historical performance: Universa-Open Opera, celebrating the 650th Jubilee of the Jagiellonian University, was held on Kraków Main Market Square. The University commissioned a composer of international renown, Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, Academy Award winner, to create this symphonic piece of ambitious musical format – a modern concert-opera-morality play – which is a combination of high and mass culture. According to the composer himself, the word "open" is a direct reference to the form of the piece.

A very demanding and difficult role was played by Julia Pietrucha, who impersonated seven liberal arts: Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy and Music, in the context of which main protagonists: Queen Jadwiga, Nicholaus Copernicus and Albert Einstein were portrayed by distinguished opera soloists: Iwona Sobótka, Małgorzata Walewska and Szymon Komasa.

The borders of time and space were crossed in the opera: seemingly unrelated characters from different periods of time and various locations engaged in an intellectual-moral dialogue, the leitmotif of which were the seven liberal arts.

This enormous effort was led by Monika Wolińska, a distinguished conductor of the young generation, who has collaborated with numerous orchestras around the world. She is also the first Pole to have conducted in the famous New York Carnegie Hall.

After the performance, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek entered the stage himself, to greet the Jagiellonian University and the whole Poland.

"Universa - Opera Otwarta"

fot. Anna Wojnar, Marek Welzel

10
May
2014
in Reports

Jagiellonian University Senate Session marking the 650th Jubilee

On 10 May at noon, a special session of the Jagiellonian University's Senate began at Auditorium Maximum to celebrate the 650th Jubilee of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

President of the Republic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, and Minister of Science and Higher Education, Prof. Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, honoured the academic community with their presence. Jagiellonian University Academic Choir inaugurated the session with the song "Gaude Mater Polonia."

In his opening speech, Prof. dr hab. med. Wojciech Nowak, JU Rector, stated that thanks to the wise decision of King Casimir the Great, who founded the University in 1364, Poland became one of the first countries in Europe to have its own higher academic institution, which educated both Polish and foreign students. King Casimir's legacy is an enlightened Poland, its future bright because of its brilliant students. Rector emphasised that the current situation of the country is a fulfilment of the King's dream: an independent state in a united Europe. He also expressed his belief that the 21st century poses many challenges which the university needs to overcome.

President Bronisław Komorowski emphasised the fact that throughout the history of Poland, the University always was a bastion of Polish free thought, independence, culture and national identity. He expressed his hope that the University will remain a beacon of wisdom that strengthens the entire nation.

The Rector then read a letter from Pope Francis I, in which the current pope recalled the words of John Paul II, directed towards the University.

The President of the European Comission, Jose Manuel Barroso, also took part in the session. Prof. Wojciech Nowak presented him with the gold Plus ratio quam vis (Reason before Force) medal in honour his efforts to create a common, united Europe. Prof. Karol Musioł, former JU Rector, delivered a speech of commendation for Mr. Barroso.

Mr. Barroso stated that the motto Plus ratio quam vis may also be applied to the European Union, since it promotes wise decisions that benefit the entirety of human civilisation. In his speech, he quoted Maria Skłodowska-Curie and Wisława Szymborska.

Several other distinguished guests also addressed the representatives of academic community:

Prof. dr hab. Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, Minister of Science and Higher Education,

Prof. Stephen C. Dunnet, Vice-Provost for International Education University in Buffalo,

Prof. dr hab. Wiesław Banyś, President of the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland,

Mr. Dawid Kolenda, Head of the JU Student Government.

After that, Mr. Marek Sowa, Marshall of the Małopolskie Voivodeship, and Mr. Kazimierz Barczyk, President of the Małopolskie Voivodeship Sejmik, presented the Rector with a gold Medal of Merit of the Małopolskie Voivodeship, awarded to the University.

These were not the only significant moments of the session. Prof. Robert Huber, Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry, and Prof. Witold Kieżun, economist and management theorist, received an honorary degree from the University.

The session ended with Polish National Anthem.

Uroczyste posiedzenie Senatu UJ

fot. Anna Wojnar

10
May
2014
in Reports

Academic Procession marched through the streets of Kraków

After the Holy Mass in Wawel Cathedral concelebrated by Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, Archbishop of Kraków, an Academic Procession marched through the streets of Kraków to the Jagiellonian University Auditorium Maximum. The Procession left the gate of Wawel Castle at 10:15 a.m.

In accordance with tradition, the Procession was led by a group of students, including foreigners, who carried the flags of their home countries. Some of them wore their national costume. They included nationals of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Japan, and South Korea. They were followed by members of different Faculties of the Jagiellonian University, starting from the youngest one – the Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Biotechnology, after which came: the Faculty of International and Political Studies, the Faculty of Management and Social Communication, the Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences, the Faculty of Chemistry, the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science, the Faculty of Polish Studies, the Faculty of Philology, the Faculty of History, the Faculty of Philosophy, the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Medicine, and, finally, the oldest one: the Faculty of Law and Administration. All JU Professors were dressed in ceremonial gowns. Then followed the representatives of Polish and foreign academic institutions and members of the Jagiellonian University authorities: the Vice Rectors Prof. Stanisław Kistryn, Prof. Andrzej Mania, Prof. Piotr Laidler, Prof. Maria-Jolanta Flis, and Prof. Jacek Popiel. The procession was closed by the current, 305th Rector of the Jagiellonian University, Prof. Wojciech Nowak, wearing a purple ceremonial gown and ermine mozetta.

The Procession went through Planty Part, and then marched along Piłsudskiego and Wenecja streets, to Auditorium Maximum at ul. Krupnicza, to hold a special meeting of the Jagiellonian University Senate. Throughout the route, the Professors were cheered by a crowd of citizens of Kraków, as well as numerous tourists.

The Procession was part of the celebrating marking the 650th Jubilee of the Jagiellonian University.

Orszak Akademicki

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