Zdzisław Wąsik


Zdzisław Wąsik is a Polish linguist and semiotician, Rector Senior and Professor Ordinarius at the Philological School of Higher Education in Wrocław and Professor Senior at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

Educational career

He received his master's title in German and doctoral degree in comparative Indo-European linguistics from the University of Wrocław. Subsequently, he habilitated in general linguistics at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań in 1986 and gained his scientific title of Professor of Humanistic Sciences from the President of the Republic of Poland in 1997.

Professional experience

Between 1972 and 1999, he used to work, from Teaching Assistant to Professor, at the University of Wrocław:
At the same time, from 1982 to 1984, he was a grantee of the Fulbright Fellowship for Senior Scholars: in the Department of Linguistics at the State University of New York in Buffalo, and the Research Center for Language and Semiotic Studies at the Indiana University in Bloomington.
Furthermore, he received stipends under the Oxford Hospitality Scheme : in the Trinity College, and as International Research Exchange Scholar : in the Brown University English Language Program, Providence, Rhode Island ; Department of Linguistics and Semiotics Rice University, Houston, Texas, Department of Linguistics at the University of Southern California and the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In 1999, he moved to the first position at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, and in 2009 at the Philological School of Higher Education in Wrocław.

Academic positions

In his first position, he served for 14 years as Head of the Department of General Linguistics at the University of Wrocław and, between 2002 and 2010, as Head of the Department of Semiotics in the School of English at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.
In the second position additionally, he directed the Department of English Linguistics in the Institute of English Philology of the Pedagogical School of Higher Education in Opole , Department of Linguistics of the State Vocational School of Higher Education in Wałbrzych, Department of English of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
At the beginning of the academic year 2002/2003, he was as appointed the first Rector in the Philological School of Higher Education in Wrocław, serving in this position until 2013. Some years later, in 2009, he created there for himself the Department of Linguistic Semiotics and Communicology as an independent research entity.

Editorial activity

He was Editor of Studia Linguistica. Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis, as well as President and Member of the Editorial Board of the Treaties of Language Commission in the Wrocław Scientific Society.
At present, he conducts three editorial series, two national – Philologica Wratislaviensia: Acta et Studia, since 2007, Philologica Wratislaviensia: Studia Iberica et Latinoamericana, since 2012,, and one international – Philologica Wratislaviensia: From Grammar to Discourse, since 2008,.

Teaching duties

His didactic experience has been enriched through a long-lasting cooperation with the universities in Opole, in Poznań and Toruń and lately also with three vocational schools of higher education in Silesia, in Wałbrzych, Jelenia Góra, and Wrocław, and a Teachers’ Training College in Wrocław.

Scientific accomplishments

He is the author of 7 books, above 40 collective editorials and above 100 articles, entering the scope of general and comparative Indo-European linguistics, history and methodology of science, semiotics and theory of communication, as well as phenomenology and epistemology.
His investigative works constitute a creative contribution to the following domains:
His doctoral dissertation on the structural typology of interrogative utterances on the basis of contemporary Indo-European languages was acknowledged and cited in Germany and Yugoslavia.
He is best known in Poland as the author of two books on the semiotic paradigm of linguistics, systemic and ecological properties of language in interdisciplinary investigative approaches, and abroad, he is mostly cited as the author of Epistemological Perspectives on Linguistic Semiotics and co-editor of Hard-Science Linguistics, From Grammar to Discourse: Towards a Solipsistic Paradigm of Semiotics. The evidence of an international recognition of his scholarly contribution to linguistic semiotics and the theory of discourse were the two invitations, in 2017, to deliver a Master Lecture during the 13th World Congress of Semiotics and a Plenary-Table Lecture at the 8th Latino-American Semiotic Congress in Bogotá.
Popularizing his scientific achievements, he has delivered above 150 conference papers, including above 120 at the international forum, as well as above 50 guest lectures in Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Korea, Kosovo, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United States.

Supervisor and reviewer

He has supervised 12 and reviewed 12 doctoral dissertations. He gave 5 opinions about the scientific work for the habilitation degree and 3 for the title of professor as well as 20 reviews for the edition of scientific articles, dissertations and professorial monographs. At present he has 4 doctoral students admitted to the Ph.D. program.

Professional memberships

He acted as Secretary, and then President of the Language Commission of the Wrocław Scientific Society.
He is a Member of the Polish Society of Linguistics, Polish Society of Semiotics, International Association for Semiotic Studies, Polish Fulbright Alumni Association, and Romanian Association of Semiotic Studies.
As a semiotician, he took part in 5 Semiotic Congresses and in 10 Summer Schools of the International Semiotics Institute at Imatra, Finland.
In 2010, he was asked to direct the Symposium: "Semiotics Now" and 2011 years he organized and directed individually the Symposium: "Applied Semiotics: Constructivism and Identity Formation" as a part of International Summer School for Semiotic and Structural Studies in Imatra.
Having cooperated with the ROASS, he was endowed with memberships in scientific committees as well as co-organizational duties at three international conferences in Romania.
Apart from this, since 2007 he became foreign Member of the Romanian Association of Semiotic Studies in Bacău, since 2011 – full Member of the Semiotic Society of America, since 2012 – Honorary Member of the Semiotic Society of Finland. Since 2012 he became elected Member of the Scientific Council of Philological Sciences of the Wroclaw Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Honorary distinctions

In recognition of his scientific work, he has earned, apart from numerous Rector's Awards, two ministerial distinctions, namely, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technique Prize for outstanding achievements in his doctoral dissertation, Minister of National Education Prize for outstanding achievements in his habilitation.
He has been also honored by the Oxford Alumni Card, being affiliated since 2005 as Friend, and since 2010 as Associate.
In recognition of his proposal of the division of academic disciplines in relation to linguistics, he was granted the International Journal of Arts & Sciences Best Conference Paper Award at Orlando, Florida, 2009.
Moreover, in the year 2005, he was elected as Fellow of the International Communicology Institute on the recommendation of the Director Richard Leo Lanigan from the United States of America. Besides, his Department of Linguistic Semiotics and Communicology was officially certified as a Research Group Affiliate as of 1 November 2009. In turn, on 15 November 2009 he was appointed Member of the I.C.I. Bureau, and in Autumn of 2011 Director of Regional-Continental Coordinators for Europe. Recently, in 2017, he has been invited as a Member of the International Advisory Board of the Academy of Cultural Heritages in Helsinki/Athens and, in 2018 selected as the fifth “Laureate Fellow” of the International Communicology Institute for a lifetime achievement of research scholarship).
For his organizational and educational achievements, he was lately distinguished by the President of the Republic of Poland with the Silver Cross of Merit and subsequently the Golden Cross of Merit.