Warsaw-born Dr. Władysław “Vava” Roczniak is both a product of CUNY and a relic of Cold-War Communism, having come from Poland to the United States with his parents several years before the fall of the Iron Curtain. Being a history geek for as long as he can remember, Dr. Roczniak ‘decided’ to become a history professor at the age of fifteen. A short side-delve into philosophy later, he got his Ph.D. in Early Modern European History from the CUNY Graduate School and University Center in 2004. “Vava,” as he is universally known to his colleagues and students, has been teaching history since his adjunct days at Queens College in 1997. At Bronx Community College he’s been teaching mostly the core History 10 and 11, and Philosophy 11, and the occasional Russian and Ancient history since the Fall of 2005. Now tenured in the rank of Associate Professor, Dr. Roczniak is the author of the only major English-language book-length work on medieval and early modern Polish hospitals. He is a long-standing contributor to the Oxford University Press’ Renaissance and Reformation Oxford Bibliography Online project, and several of his articles have appeared in The Polish Review journal. His teaching style is entertaining and energetic, engulfing the students in seamless story-telling. However, being multi-lingual, he is not averse to rebuking his students in German when the situation calls for it. He is an avid traveler and gets the shakes if he's not out of the country at least once a year.
Education:
Ph.D. in History, CUNY Graduate School and University Center, 2004
MA in History CUNY Graduate School and University Center, 1998
BA/MA in Philosophy Queens College, CUNY, 1995
BA in History Queens College, CUNY, 1993
Recent Courses Taught: HIS 11 Introduction to the Modern World
PHL 11 Introduction to Philosophy
HIS 10 History of the Modern World
HIS 13 Ancient History
Research Interests: Philosophy of History, Military History, History of Charitable Institutions
Select Publications:
A History of Hospitals of Pre-Modern Poland from the Twelfth through the Eighteenth Centuries. The Edward Mellen Press: Lewiston, NY: 2009.
Translation of An Account of My Journeys and Life’s Adventures of Regina Salomea Pilsztynowa, OViEME (Other Voice in Early Modern Europe) Toronto University Press, 2o21.
“Poverty and Poor Relief,” in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Renaissance and Reformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. http://oxfordbibliographiesonline/renaissance.
“The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,” in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Renaissance and Reformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. http://oxfordbibliographiesonline/renaissance.
“The Thirty Years’ War,” in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Renaissance and Reformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. http://oxfordbibliographiesonline/renaissance.
“The Radical Reformation.” in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Renaissance and Reformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. http://oxfordbibliographiesonline/renaissance.
“The Reformation,” in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Renaissance and Reformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. http://oxfordbibliographiesonline/renaissance.
“The German Reformation,” in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Renaissance and Reformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. http://oxfordbibliographiesonline/renaissance.
“Martin Luther,” in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Renaissance and Reformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. http://oxfordbibliographiesonline/renaissance.
“Power in Powerlessness: The Strange Journey and Career of Regina Salomea Pilsztynowa,” The Polish Review Vol. LIII, No. 1, 2008: 25-53.
“Piotr Skarga: Philanthropist of the Counter-Reformation,” The Polish Review Vol. LII, No. 1, 2007: 37-101.
“Clashing Functions/Clashing Elites. Negotiating Hospital Functions in Pre-Modern Poland (13th-18th Centuries),” The Polish Review Vol. LI, No. 3-4, 2006: 283-305.
“The Polish Gromada Peasant Collectives in the Era of Re-Feudalization,” The Polish Review Vol. XLIX, No. 4, 2004: 1083-1101.