The door to Wojtek Wloch’s office is always open. Students come and go all day long. Unable to even address him formally as Mr. Wloch out of the comfortable environment he sets for students, they come to talk to him about all kinds of problems – personal issues, their plans, their struggles, being on their own for the very first time. Wojtek always listens. Without caring whether it is part of his job or not, he does everything possible to help. Wojtek is not a student counselor, at least that’s not his formal title. He is the Acting Coordinator of International Partnerships at NEIU.
He enjoys this daily interaction with the students. As he said, “A person is always more important to me than any document. I really like watching the changes that exchange students at NEIU go through. Their ideas and views evolve once they are placed in such a diverse environment. Also, they are often on their own for the first time. Their families are too far to help them. So they are forced to learn the lessons of adult life.”
Wojtek’s first encounter with NEIU was in 2003 when he came to Chicago in order to sign exchange program agreement between NEIU and Giedroyc College of Communication and Media in Warsaw, Poland. In 2005 he visited NEIU again to teach Summer classes in Intercultural Communication. Later that year, he moderated the NEIU Conference on the 25th Anniversary of Polish Solidarity Movement. Finally, in 2006 he moved from Poland to Chicago, and became NEIU employee as an Acting Coordinator of International Partnerships.
Wojtek received his B.A. with honors from the University of Toronto, with a major in English and minor in History. He obtained his Masters Degree at Warsaw University’s Department of Journalism and Political Science. Now he continues his education at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota to earn his doctorates in International Higher Education Leadership.
Wojtek also teaches classes in NEIU’s education department. The course he’s currently teaching, Education in Chicago, is required for all exchange students. Many of them find those classes helpful in understanding and adapting to NEIU’s diverse community. “I try to use Socrates teaching method. Asking questions and simultaneously learning with the people that I teach. However, on Saturday mornings [when his classes are scheduled], it is often hard to get any answers from students,” Wojtek said laughingly.
Apart from helping exchange students, teaching and working on his doctorates degree, Wojtek passionately reads biographies of the world leaders. He also serves as a political marketing specialist for a Polish radio station in Chicago.
Wojtek is always busy, but somehow he finds time for students. Everyone who is on the exchange program at NEIU or plans to go abroad on an exchange program will meet Wojtek. Each person that meets him understands why the exchange students love him so much – so far from home and family, Wojtek is their parent and their best friend.