Stanisław Lorenc graduated from the Wrocław University, where he obtained his master degree in geology. In 1973, he was awarded a doctoral degree, in 1980 he obtains habilitation (postdoctoral degree) and in 1994 he was promoted to full professor. In 1988 Stanisław Lorenc moves to Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and became a director of the Institute of Geology. He gained a global reputation as an explorer of the ocean floor. In the years 1996–2002 professor Lorenc was the vice-rector in the team of the then rector, prof. Stefan Jurga. In the years 2002–2008 he was the rector of the University of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. Rector's term of Stanisław Lorenc covered a wide spectrum of scientific research, education, development of the scientific staff, international cooperation and cultural, sporting and social activities, student affairs and infrastructure. The most important at the university for prof. Stanisław Lorenc were people of academic and administrative staff, students and all those who collaborated with the university. Saying farewell during academic senate the rector, prof. Andrzej Lesicki, said: You were not only a great rector, an outstanding scholar, but also, and perhaps above all, a good, warm man. Professor Stanisław Lorenc died on January 19, 2020. He was 77 years old.

The article is devoted to the memory of Professor Franciszek Ziejka, Rector of Jagiellonian University (1999–2005) and presents the most important areas of his outstanding activity. The Professor was a historian of literature, an expert in Polish culture of XIX century – especially so called “Young Poland” period – and an excellent promoter of Polish literature and history. He had a significant impact on the development of academic life in Poland, as Chairman of the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland and initiator of changes to the regulations governing higher education in Poland. Professor Franciszek Ziejka passed away 19 of July 2020.

Professor Jacek Fisiak’s outstanding achievements are well known in the scholarly community in Poland and abroad. He was an excellent and widely recognizable scholar, an exceptional teacher and talent-detector, an ingenious science manager, and he was so likeable and cordial! Professor Jacek Fisiak directed the Institute of English at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań for 40 years. Thanks to his management, English studies in Poznań obtained a leading position among such institutions in Poland and in the world. Professor Fisiak also cared about other English departments in Poland. On the one hand, he supervised 61 (!) PhD students who continued their academic careers throughout Poland, on the other, he supported English studies as well as the humanities and research in general as Minister of National Education and member of numerous influential bodies. I am grateful to Professor Fisiak for his guidance in my academic work, starting with my M.A., through the doctoral and post-doctoral degrees and the professorial title, my function as his deputy director for 3 terms, up to the ‘take-over of the command’ of the Institute and the creation of the Faculty of English. His opus survives and will last.

The article presents personal memories of Professor Aleksander Koj’s alumni. Professor Aleksander Koj was a world-class biochemist of significant scientific achievements, a renowned authority in the field of acute-phase response regulation and acute-phase proteins. He was an excellent academic, a true Master, admired and followed by many Polish biochemists. Thrice he served as the Rector of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He navigated the University through a difficult time of political transformation in Poland, modernized the management system of the University and led to the commencement of the construction of the new University campus. He was the co-creator and the first Chairman of the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland. He will be remembered as a devoted community worker aiming at strengthening the bond between the Polish community abroad and our homeland, propagating knowledge, promoting the concept of European integration, democracy and tolerance, as well as the collaboration between scientists, artists and men and women of culture. He was wise, righteous, and noble. Many had the honor of calling him their friend, and a great many saw in him a moral authority.