My Meeting with Dr. Andrzej Duda, now new President of Poland

  Dr. Andrzej Duda, 43, is the new President of Poland since August 6, 2015. He is also the Chief of the Poland’s Arms forces.

Who is Dr. Andrzej Duda?, the new President of Poland.
Many readers in Western countries ask who is Andrzej Duda?

 I met him during the Inauguration of the Academic year at the Politechnika Opolska/University of Technology in 2008.

I was a part of the team who help to establish cooperation between the Illinois State University, the oldest state university in Illinois and Opole Technology University. The legal documents for ISU were signed by Abraham Lincoln.

(Archive-2008) Dr. Al Bowman (right) , the President of the Illinois State University and Prof. Jerzy Skubis, ( left) Rector of Opole University of Technology signed the Agreement on cooperation between ISU and PO

There was 10. Member delegation from ISU to attend this inauguration and during the signing Memorandum of Understanding between these two universities.

 Photo: (Archive; 2008) Photos: Dr. Kasia Stadnik, Illinois State University; prof. Sam Catanzaro, Assistant Dean at ISU; Andrew Mikołajczyk; Rektor Jerzy Skubis and Dr. Andrzej Duda, Undesecretary of State in the Office of the President of Republic of Poland. He is the President of Poland since August 6, 2015.

Several delegations from other universities, like Institute of Technology in Bejing, China; Portugal University attended the Inauguration.

Andrzej Duda was then Undersecretary in the office of President of Poland, former Lech Kaczynski.
Dr. Duda gave an excellent speech, welcoming and congratulation students, faculty at University of Technology of starting the new academic year and establishing new international academic exchanges.


Photo: Archive: 208) Prof. Krzysztof Malik, Urszula Ciołeszyńska, A. Mikołajczyk and dr. hab. Agata Zagórowska after Andrew lecture about Polish American Community in the United States.

I was invited to make a presentation for students and faculty of University of technology about “Polish – Americans and the Presidential election”. My view was that the voices among Polish Americans will be divided but the final winner for the Office of US Presidency will be“my Senator from Illinois – Barack Obama”. The election in 2008 confirmed that my prediction was accurate.

After the Inauguration Ceremony and before my lecture we had a very informative discussion with Dr. Andrzej Duda about different issues, including about Krakow where he was born and I studied for 5 years. I was impressed with his knowledge and balanced approach to different things.

 

Swearing-in ceremony before the National Assembly
( Sejm , Plenary Hall ) Photo: http://www.prezydent.pl/

Andrzej Duda, was born in Cracow, Poland. This is considered one of the most popular cultural city in Europe. His father and mother are both professors at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow. His father is a professor of engineering sciences and his mother is a professor of chemical engineering.

Duda graduated in law from the Faculty of Law and Administration at Cracow’s Jagiellonian University in 1996. This is the oldest University in Central Europe. It was established in 1364.
In February 1997, Dudabegan working at his alma mater as an academic professor in the Law department. In January 2005, he defended his doctoral dissertation focusing on Polish administrative law. Polish doctorate is equivalent of the American JD.

On Aug. 1, 2006, Duda was appointed deputy justice minister—under Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro—in a government led by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party. He was responsible for new legislation, international cooperation, and the computerization of courts and prosecutor’s offices.

On Jan. 16, 2008. Duda became undersecretary of state at the President’s Office under President Lech Kaczyński. He held this position until July 5, 2010 when Bronisław Komorowski was elected as the new president after Kaczyński’s tragic death in a presidential plane crash near Smolensk, Russia.
Duda has experience as the legislator. He was a parliamentarian in the Polish Sejm, lower house since 2011 till 2014. In 2014 he was elected to the European Parliament. It gave him perspective on many important European issues.

Duda is married to to Agata Kornhauser, daughter of Julian Kornhauser, a well-known poet and literary critic since 1994. His wife is a German studies graduate and teaches German in a high school in Cracow. Duda’s 20-year-old daughter, Kinga, is a first-year law student at the Jagiellonian University.

It is worth to note that the Poland’s military has cooperation with the Illinois National Guards for over 20 years. Duda will probably visit not only New York, Washington but also Chicago and the state of Illinois.

Duda will be a competent leader and a partner for a discussion with American and global leaders.

We wish President Andrzej Duda success in his Presidency and in dealing with European and global affairs.

@ Andrzej Mikolajczyk
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Ps. It was a great honor for me to explore and to suggest Illinois State University as the possible academic partner for University of Technology and to attend ceremony of signing an Agreement for Cooperation between these two Universities. I had an honor to meet, to work with experts like Prof. Skubis, former President of UT; Prof. Marek Tukiendorf, who became the President of University of Technology; prof. M. Catanzaro, Dr. Kasia Stadnik, ISU.

Agreement between Polish and American University

 https://www.polishnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=84:polska-poland&id=497:agreement-between-polish-and-american-university&Itemid=201