Remembering Timothy Wiles
Inaugurated in 2013 the Polish Studies Center's Annual Wiles Memorial Lecture is a celebration of a stalwart academic's life. Through hosting American and international scholars working in the domain of Polish Studies and giving place to research and discourse, we hope to honor a friend, colleague and pioneer.
Tim Wiles joined the IU faculty in 1973 as a professor in the English and Comparative Literature departments, teaching until his passing in 2003. His work in the study of drama and performance brought him to his affinity for Poland, where he spent 1971 as a director at a Wrocław theater festival. 1975-1976 saw Tim assisting in the creation of the American Studies Center at Warsaw University, an important founding which would echo back to Indiana University with the inauguration of the Polish Studies Center in 1977. After a term as Senior Fulbright Lecturer in Warsaw in 1981, Tim returned to Indiana and directed the Polish Studies Center for more than ten years.
Tim's devotion and labor on behalf of Polish studies and Polish-American exchange are attested by the honors he received in Poland: the Distinguished Medal of Service awarded to him by Warsaw University and the Amicus Poloniae award granted by the Polish ambassador, both received in 1997. Beyond these honors, the achievements of Timothy Wiles' life are in evidence everywhere he was, most vividly in the friends, colleagues and students who retain his memory and in the Polish Studies Center itself.
Tim Wiles joined the IU faculty in 1973 as a professor in the English and Comparative Literature departments, teaching until his passing in 2003. His work in the study of drama and performance brought him to his affinity for Poland, where he spent 1971 as a director at a Wrocław theater festival. 1975-1976 saw Tim assisting in the creation of the American Studies Center at Warsaw University, an important founding which would echo back to Indiana University with the inauguration of the Polish Studies Center in 1977. After a term as Senior Fulbright Lecturer in Warsaw in 1981, Tim returned to Indiana and directed the Polish Studies Center for more than ten years.
Tim's devotion and labor on behalf of Polish studies and Polish-American exchange are attested by the honors he received in Poland: the Distinguished Medal of Service awarded to him by Warsaw University and the Amicus Poloniae award granted by the Polish ambassador, both received in 1997. Beyond these honors, the achievements of Timothy Wiles' life are in evidence everywhere he was, most vividly in the friends, colleagues and students who retain his memory and in the Polish Studies Center itself.
