{"id":3544,"date":"2022-02-27T10:22:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T15:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/?p=3544"},"modified":"2022-03-22T15:23:51","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T19:23:51","slug":"beyond-ordinary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/2022\/beyond-ordinary\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Ordinary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Portrait

Professor Wojbor Woyczy\u0144ski was a member of the mathematics faculty for almost 40 years. This photo was taken in March 2000.<\/p><\/div>\n

Soon after Sreenu Konda<\/b> (GRS \u201802, \u201906, statistics) left India to pursue his doctorate at Case Western Reserve, his advisor, Wojbor Woyczy\u0144ski<\/b>, became a close counsel and guide for the young immigrant. \u201cHe was really a father figure to me,\u201d says Konda, with Woyczy\u0144ski helping him navigate the new worlds of America and academia.<\/p>\n

This close mentoring relationship with Woyczy\u0144ski, a CWRU mathematics professor for almost 40 years, was not unique. Dexter Cahoy<\/b> (GRS \u201907, statistics) left his home and family in the Philippines to study in the United States, and he says Woyczy\u0144ski went out of his way to help him acclimate and grow. \u201cHe was very nice to me and very attentive when I was new to the U.S.,\u201d Cahoy recalls. \u201cMaybe he understood because he was once an immigrant, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woyczy\u0144ski was born in 1943 in Nazi-occupied Cz\u0119stochowa, Poland, later moving to Wroclaw, where he would begin his study of mathematics. He came to the U.S. in 1976 and joined Case Western Reserve as chair of the mathematics department in 1982. He met his wife, Liz<\/b> Woyczy\u0144ski <\/b>(MGT \u201911), while she was on the staff of the university\u2019s Office of Undergraduate Admission; she is now director of admissions and student services for the Global Legal Studies Program at CWRU School of Law. Of his three children\u2014Martin<\/b> (CWR \u201901), Greg<\/b> (CWR \u201913) and Lauren<\/b>\u2014two attended the university.<\/p>\n

Woyczy\u0144ski, who died last August, was a prolific academic writer, editor and translator, with 18 books and more than 150 articles to his credit. Among his many awards, he was named a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in 1986 and was part of a team that won the 2013 Prix La Recherche for the best work in the field of mathematics.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe certainly had amazing individual achievements,\u201d says Stanis\u0142aw Szarek<\/b>, the Kerr Professor of Mathematics. \u201cBut I think his main strength was in getting people to work together.\u201d Included in these efforts was “The Probability Consortium of the Western Reserve,” a series of meetings of local mathematics researchers that he launched in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Szarek says that Woyczy\u0144ski’s enthusiastic nature made him both a natural convener and an electric instructor: \u201cHe was a really engaging personality, and it was clear that he cared about students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Konda, now clinical assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois Chicago, remembers encountering this trait when he turned in his first research article to Woyczy\u0144ski. \u201cIt was a bad paper,\u201d Konda recalls with a laugh. Woyczy\u0144ski summoned him into his office, told him as much and gave him extensive feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a very busy guy,\u201d Konda says. \u201cHe was chair of the department, he was on multiple committees, he was writing multiple books, he had multiple grad students. But he took time to rewrite multiple pages of my article and give me a direction. And that direction was instrumental for the rest of my academic life.\u201c<\/p>\n

In the classroom, Alexandra Piryatinska <\/b>(GRS \u201905, statistics), now professor of mathematics at San Francisco State University, appreciated Woyczy\u0144ski\u2019s ability to explain complex mathematical ideas with real dimension. \u201cWhen he described things, you could really see the picture of how it works,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt\u2019s a very rare ability. Not many people can see this big picture and<\/i> communicate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As her doctoral advisor, Piryatinska says, Woyczy\u0144ski showed faith in her. Three months from graduation, she came to him with a totally new direction for her thesis. Woyczy\u0144ski suggested she take up the topic after she earned her degree, but Piryatinska held firm. Woyczy\u0144ski didn\u2019t talk to her for two weeks\u2014but then came to her and asked how he could help. \u201cEven though it was pretty risky, Wojbor allowed me to pursue my idea,\u201d she says. \u201cHe supported me.\u201d And that new path, she adds, is still an important part of her work today.<\/p>\n

Woyczy\u0144ski was a trusted mentor for Piryatinska long after she left CWRU. \u201cSometimes I would want to discuss an idea or a paper I was working on, and I would call him and ask him, \u2019What do you see? I am in doubt here,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cIt’s such a big loss for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo

Wojbor Woyczy\u0144ski and his family traveled to Wroc\u0142aw, Poland, where he was raised and educated, in 2011. From left: Greg, Lauren, Liz, Wojbor and Martin.<\/p><\/div>\n

Woyczy\u0144ski led an active life beyond academia. He was particularly dedicated to tennis, competing in tournaments and achieving a top 10 spot in the National Adult United States Tennis Association rankings for his age group. For many years, he served as both faculty advisor and assistant coach for Case Western Reserve\u2019s tennis team.<\/p>\n

He even instilled a passion for the game in some of his students. When Cahoy was about to finish his studies, he was expecting Woyczy\u0144ski to give him a book; that\u2019s what he\u2019d heard previous graduate students had received. Instead, he got a tennis racket. “Dexter,\u201d Woyczy\u0144ski told him, \u201cour job is very dangerous, because we are just sitting almost 24\/7. We need to be active.” Cahoy took up the sport immediately and has been playing for 15 years. \u201cIt\u2019s a part of my life now,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Woyczy\u0144ski\u2019s impact on Cahoy has been deep and lasting, well beyond the tennis court. \u201cI can’t stop telling stories about Professor Wojbor to my kids, and to my family in the Philippines,\u201d says Cahoy, now associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Houston\u2013 Downtown. \u201cI got where I am today because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indirectly, Cahoy\u2019s students also reap the benefits of Woyczy\u0144ski\u2019s mentorship. He learned from his advisor that education is more than just the transfer of knowledge\u2014it is also about building relationships. Even after Cahoy had left Case Western Reserve, Woyczy\u0144ski would reach out, making sure he was on track for tenure, for example. It came as a surprise to Cahoy when he learned that his peers in the field of mathematics rarely had any contact with their advisors after graduation. \u201cOnce they finished their PhDs, that was it,\u201d Cahoy says. \u201cBut Professor Wojbor was different. He liked to pursue these lifelong relationships that go beyond work\u2014that go beyond ordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan Morrell is a writer and editor living outside of Boston.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soon after Sreenu Konda<\/b> (GRS \u201802, \u201906, statistics) left India to pursue his doctorate at Case Western Reserve, his advisor, Wojbor Woyczy\u0144ski<\/b>, became a close counsel and guide for the young immigrant. …Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":3680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/147\/2022\/02\/01111034\/Wojbor-portrait_thumbnail.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3544"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3791,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544\/revisions\/3791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}