Not many can call Poland’s Minister of Defense, Boguslaw Winid, a personal friend. History professor David Stefancic can. Stefancic is one of the most knowledgeable and dedicated historians of the Polish military in the United States today.
Stefancic began teaching at Saint Mary's in 1991. He received his BA from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, MA from Marquette University, and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His publications include Robotnik, a history of the Polish labor movement, and Armies in Exile: The Polish Struggle for Nation and Nationalism.
Stefancic is currently director of the Saint Mary’s European Summer Study Program, which has been in existence for over 32 years. In 1998, he created the Poland to Prague program, a bi-annual spring break experience that introduces students to the history and culture of Central Europe. “Since my area of specialization is Polish history, I thought it would be nice to show off all the places I know and love,” says Stefancic, who first visited Europe in 1974 as a student and has returned 14 times since. “In Krakow, I always take students to the oldest pub in the world dating back to 1364.”
Stefancic says that to study in Europe on either program is to be surrounded with history. “You are walking in the same steps as Napoleon and Louis XIV. You are sitting in the same seats as the students of Copernicus in Krakow. Some may argue with me, but I think history is the basis for all other disciplines.”
— written by Amanda Goetz ’08
