MIODOŃSKA-BROOKES Ewa

Born in 1939 in Krakow; daughter of the doctor and Jagiellonian University (UJ) professor Jan Józef Marian Miodoński, and Maria, née Michalewska, a doctor in geography. She attended the Józefa Joteyko Grammar School in Krakow, where she was also involved in the activities of the Theatre Lovers' Club (Klub Miłośników Teatru). After completing advanced secondary education in 1956, she studied Polish philology at UJ, graduating with a master's degree in 1961. She was subsequently an assistant at the Chair of the History of Polish Literature at UJ (later the Department of the History of Nineteenth-Century Polish Literature and from 2005 the Chair in Positivism and Young Poland Literary History). She collaborated with the radio station based at the women's student dormitory Dom Studentek UJ Nawojka from 1961 to 1965. She made her debut in 1963 with a review titled Anatomia wiersza (Anatomy of a poem), which examined Maria Dłuska's book Próba teorii wiersza polskiego (Towards a Theory of Polish Poetry). Her review appeared in the journal "Ruch Literacki" (vol. 1). She continued to collaborate with the periodical in subsequent years. From 1965 to 1972 she was a tutor for extramural students at the Faculty of Philology at UJ. In 1970, she defended her doctoral thesis, Studia o kompozycji dramatów Stanisława Wyspiańskiego (Studies on the Composition of Stanisław Wyspiański's Dramas), which was supervised by Prof. Henryk Markiewicz. At UJ she initially taught proseminars on descriptive poetics, literary theory and literary history. Between 1972 and 1975, she served as the representative of early career scholars in the Faculty Council and College of Deans at UJ. In 1972, she began collaborating with the Ludwik Solski State Theatre School (PWST) in Krakow, teaching the history of drama and European theatre at the Faculty of Acting and then later at the Faculty of Directing Drama. From 1974 to 1977 she taught in English on the subject of Polish theatre at the UJ Summer School in Polish Culture and Language. In 1977, she was notified that her contract would be terminated owing to her ideological position. This was rescinded, however, following pressure from fellow academics. Nevertheless, for two years she was refused a promotion from her position as senior lecturer. In autumn 1978 she was awarded a habilitation degree for her monograph Wawel—„Akropolis”. Studium o dramacie Stanisława Wyspiańskiego ("Wawel"—"Akropolis": A Study of Stanisław Wyspiański's drama). Between 1979 and 2013, she taught seminars on literary studies, theatre studies and comparative literature, as well as interdisciplinary seminars. She also gave thematic lectures on Polish and European artistic culture. She was, furthermore, involved in public and open university lectures. She was director of individual student-devised study programmes. In 1980, she became involved in the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity (NSZZ Solidarność), serving as a founding member of its UJ branch. She was also a member of the presidium of its University Commission, acting as spokesperson. During the period of martial law, which was imposed on 13 December 1981, she remained active in the trade union as a member of the secret presidium of the University Commission and as a founding member of the Krakow Committee for Independent Culture (Krakowski Komitet Kultury Niezależnej). She was a lecturer at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński Christian Workers' University (Chrześcijański Uniwersytet Robotniczy im. kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego) and at the Postgraduate Programme in Christian Thought, run by the Krakow academic Christian mission. She was a member of the following UJ Senate commissions: the Student Disciplinary Appeals Commission (1980–83), the Publications Commission and the UJ Awards Commission. She served as the delegate of the UJ Faculty of Philology to the Polish Academy of Sciences' Committee on Literary Studies (KNoL) from 1981 to 1983. Between 1982 and 1985, she was deputy chair of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Polish Philology (IFP) at UJ. She was a member of the UJ senate from 1984 to 1991, serving on various senate commissions. She collaborated with the UJ student broadcaster Alma Radio and with the Krakow station of Polish Radio and with Polish Television (TVP). In the late 1980s, she was involved in efforts to reform universities' Polish philology programmes, leading the Study Programme Commission at IFP at UJ. She was made associate professor at the State Theatre School (PWST) in 1991 and then at UJ in 1992. From 1994 she published theatre reviews in the bimonthly theatre periodical "Didaskalia". She was made state-appointed professor in 1997. She was appointed to the Philosophical Commission of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU) in 2012. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the City of Krakow Prize (1982), the rector's prizes at UJ and PWST, the Pro Arte et Docendi prize (2007), which is awarded to outstanding university teachers at UJ, and the individual and group prizes of the Minister of Science and Higher Education. She received the Gold Cross of Merit in 1981, the Medal of the Commission of National Education in 1989, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1995 and the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis in 2014. She lives in Krakow.