Congratulations to these two CREECA affiliate professors, Łukasz Wodzyński (Assistant professor, German, Nordic & Slavic+, College of Letters & Science) and Brandon Bloch (Assistant professor, History, College of Letters & Science), on receiving two of this year’s Distinguished Teaching Awards!
Łukasz Wodzyński
Since joining UW–Madison in 2019, Łukasz Wodzyński has played a central role in revitalizing Polish Studies, guided by a singular question: What can Poland’s dramatic cultural history teach us about the human condition?
The result has been a redesigned slate of innovative and thematically rich courses — from Polish cinema and post-communist culture to literature of the fantastic — attracting students from across campus and generating renewed interest in the Polish major and Slavic Studies certificate. This is no small feat given the department’s focus on less-commonly-taught languages and cultures.
His impact reaches beyond the rejuvenation of the Polish Studies program at UW–Madison. Wodzyński creates learning environments that are both academically challenging and deeply welcoming. Students describe his lectures as electric and his discussions as engaging. Through creative assignments, humor and the care he shows his students as individuals, he transforms each class into a community of learning — one that often sticks with them long after they leave his classroom.
“His classes were among the most transformative I took at university. Łukasz cultivates not just students, but thinkers, individuals who know how to research, reason, and engage in meaningful dialogue. These are the kinds of people we need more of in the world, and his teaching plays a vital role in shaping them.” — Former student Julia Paciorek
Brandon Bloch
As a professor of modern European and German history, Brandon Bloch encourages students to step into the role of working historians — actively examining and interrogating who is speaking, for whom, under what conditions and with what power. This is especially important when considering some of the multi-faceted topics of his classes, which include religion, nationalism, democracy and war crimes.
Bloch has augmented his courses to equip students with the tools to discuss controversial contemporary issues through a historical lens, which can result in empathy for the ways people come to their beliefs. This, in turn, allows students to evaluate their own points of view. These critical thinking skills extend well beyond the classroom, with one former student even noting that Bloch’s goal “seems to be making his students well-rounded citizens of the globe.”
Bloch cares for his students as individuals as well. In lectures of more than 100 students, he learns every name and ensures he has individual conversations with each student over the course of the semester.
“Learning history at its highest level conveys not just knowledge in the forms of facts, but also wisdom in the form of a more mature perspective on the world and the ways that human beings experience it. Dr. Bloch achieves this: he takes some of the hardest topics and themes imaginable — ones that remain raw in our own time — and creates opportunities for students to emerge both smarter and wiser.” — Professor Neil Kodesh
Read about all 13 of the honorees for the Distinguished Teaching Awards here.