Aleksander Jan Gella
Sociology educator, scientist
Born Oct. 15, 1922, Lwow, Poland; came to U.S., 1967; son of Jan and Kazimiera (Szygowska); married Teresa (Mellerowicz).
Education: Master of Laws (LL.M.), Jagiellonian University, Cracow (Poland), 1947; Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts (Poland), 1947-50; Ph.D., Central School of Planning and Statistics, Warsaw (Poland), 1958; docent, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 1965.
Career: assistent to docent, Institute of History of Science, Education and Technology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 1956-74, 1991 -; visiting prof., University of Alberta, Edmonton (Canada), 1967, San Jose State College (CA), 1967-69, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1969-70; prof., State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo (NY), 1970 -.
Author: Wawrzyniec Surowiecki, 1958; Ewolucjonizm a poczatki socjologii, 1966; Humanism in Sociology, 1978; Narod w defensywie, 1987; Development of CIass Structure in Eastern Europe, 1989; editor, Ward-Gumplowicz Correspondence, 1971; editor, co-author, The Intelligentsia and the Intellecluals, 1976, Sprawy polskie w perspektywie swiatowej, 1985; over 90 scholarly essays and articles in Polish, English, French, 1957-92; 2 sculptures, Wroclaw Expo (Poland), 1948; 1 oil picture; numerous graphics in Museum of Old Warsaw, 1949.
Member of: senior associate fellow, St. Anthony's College, Oxford (United Kingdom); International Sociological Association; World Phenomenological Institute; Polish Veterans of World War II - Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantow (S.P.K.), Buffalo; Polish American Congress (P.A.C.); Pilsudski Institute of America (past council member); Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (P.I.A.S.A.).
Honors: fellowships, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 1958-59, National Endowment for Humanities (NEH), 1977; Polish Home Army Cross., Polish Government in Exile, London (United Kingdom), 1977; grants, American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), 1972, Buffalo University Institutional Fund, 1973; Grant-in-Aid, university award, State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, 1981; Citizen of the Year, American - Polish Eagle, 1989; Lenkszewicz Award, Polish Learned Society, London, 1990; Edward Raczynski Award, Polish Cultural Foundation, 1990.
Served with: Polish Home Army - Armia Krajowa (A.K.), Information and Propaganda Office, cadet-officer, 1943-45
Affiliation: Catholic
Language: Polish, English, German, Russian
Home: 125 Minnesota Ave., Buffalo, NY 14214
From: "Who's Who in Polish America" 1st Edition 1996-1997, Boleslaw Wierzbianski editor; Bicentennial Publishing Corporation, New York, NY, 1996