Polish version
Inaugural meeting of the North American Association of Warsaw University of Technology Alumni
The inaugural meeting of the North American Association of Warsaw University of Technology Alumni was held on 9 April 2011 at the Embassy of Poland in Washington DC.
Warsaw University of Technology was represented by the Rector, professor Włodzimierz Kurnik, Deans of the Faculties of: Chemistry, professor Zbigniew Brzózka, of Electronics and Information Technology, professor Jan Szmidt and of Civil Engineering, professor Henryk Zobel, as well as by the Director of the Center for Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship Development, professor Andrzej Rabczenko and the Director of the Centre for International Cooperation, Marek Polak, Ph.D. The meeting was also attended by alumni of the University who live and work in the United States and Canada and who have been cooperating with Warsaw University of Technology for years.
The meeting was opened by the Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission, Maciej Pisarski. During the welcome address he stressed the importance of alumni associations and their vital role in the life of American universities and their alumni. Then WUT Rector, professor Włodzimierz Kurnik, welcomed the guests and presented the outline of the WUT development strategy for the future. The Deans presented their faculties and described fields of study offered. There were also presentations by Marek Polak, Ph.D., Director of the Centre for International Cooperation and professor Andrzej Rabczenko, Director of the Centre for Technology Transfer. The speeches showed a wide scope of the University’s activity and the challenges it is facing. During the discussion, the main topics mentioned by the alumni included: recognition of diplomas and professional qualifications, views on the quality of education at our University, image of the University in America, using social networks to connect alumni and a number of other issues.
In the second part of the meeting, professor Andrzej Nowak from Nebraska University, President of the Council of Engineers in North America, presented the idea of the North American Association of WUT Alumni and outlined its goals, rules of operation and possible organizational forms. Participants clearly expressed their willingness to establish the Association and to become its charter members. Therefore, an initiation group was selected in order to take formal measures to register the association in the USA.
