32.2470, All: Obituary for Joanna Błaszczak, Part Five

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-32-2470. Mon Jul 26 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.2470, All:  Obituary for Joanna Błaszczak, Part Five

Moderator: Malgorzata E. Cavar (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Student Moderator: Jeremy Coburn, Lauren Perkins
Managing Editor: Becca Morris
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Everett Green, Sarah Robinson, Nils Hjortnaes, Joshua Sims, Billy Dickson
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Sarah Robinson <srobinson at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2021 03:38:35
From: Małgorzata Cavar [linguist at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Obituary for Joanna Błaszczak, Part Five

 
In memory of Joanna Błaszczak, we are circulating a short series of
contributions from her colleagues and students. 

Her dedication to research, her amazing knowledge, determination, charisma
will remain an inspiration to her colleagues, students and friends. She will
be sorely missed by many.

Joanna’s website is available here: 
http://www.ifa.uni.wroc.pl/instytut/pracownicy/20/?lang=pl

Memories and condolences can be shared via
https://www.remembr.com/joanna.blaszczak

A colloquium in memory of Prof. Błaszczak will be organized by colleagues at
the University of Wroclaw, Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin
and the University of Potsdam. More information will be available soon.

Anna Czypionka:
I remember looking forward to Joanna’s syntax lessons every week, back when
she was my teacher. She was so generous with her knowledge, her time, and her
enthusiasm. After all these years, I still hold on to her handouts, but I lost
the many emails explaining the extra bits, recommending literature, inviting
me to come and have a little chat if I wanted to talk some more about all
this. Of course, I wanted to. 

>From our later collaboration over the years, I remember the beauty of the
research questions and designs Joanna came up with. Her brilliant way of
combining arguments and ideas; how quickly she recognized which parts of our
knowledge could be turned into tools for making more of it. How she would
innocently announce that she had been thinking about a little project (that
meant trouble, just like the little chats years earlier). I remember Joanna’s
endurance and grit in making these “little projects” happen under all kinds of
conditions; how she would keep going until she had found a way to answer her
questions, establish a lab or a study programme, or to bring colleagues
together. 

At her level of energy, that also meant going at triple speed and intensity,
sometimes knocking things over and leaving the rest of us blinking and dizzy.
But when we caught up, it was always worth the run. 

Piotr Gulgowski:

Joanna left an enormous void, the size of which we are just beginning to see.
She carried an impossible list of tasks: the journal, the labs, the MA program
for international students (which she created from scratch), the ongoing
research projects and the countless issues big and small. She did all this not
just because of her regular academic obligations, but because she cared deeply
about the people involved and the scientific contributions made. She was a
tireless organizer and a link connecting people and institutions. Somehow,
among all of this, she could always find the time to listen, to give advice or
to help with particularly challenging paperwork. However early I arrived at
her office for our meetings, there she was already working and there was the
reassuring smell of the coffee that fueled her endless work days. When I think
about her, I immediately remember that smell and also the unique sense of
humor which she brought into our conversations. She really liked to laugh.
 


Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************    LINGUIST List Support    ***************************
 The 2020 Fund Drive is under way! Please visit https://funddrive.linguistlist.org
  to find out how to donate and check how your university, country or discipline
     ranks in the fund drive challenges. Or go directly to the donation site:
                   https://crowdfunding.iu.edu/the-linguist-list

                        Let's make this a short fund drive!
                Please feel free to share the link to our campaign:
                    https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-32-2470	
----------------------------------------------------------