History of the Department

The present Department of Forest Entomology at the Poznań University of Life Sciences originates from the Department of Zoology and Entomology, founded in 1919 as one of the first six departments established in the forestry section of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of the PiastAcademy, which in 1920 was re-named as the PoznańUniversity. From 1919 to 1939 and in the years 1945 - 1947 the head of the Department was Prof. zw. dr hab. Ludwik Sitowski, a graduate of the JagiellonianUniversity in Kraków. He started his research and received his doctoral and post-doctoral degrees at that university.

After Prof. Sitowski died in 1947, forest entomology was directed by Prof. zw. dr inż. Aleksander Kozikowski within the Sub-department established in 1945 and next re-organized as the Department of Forest Protection at the PoznańUniversity. Aleksander Kozikowski specialized in forest entomology, forest protection and apiculture. He came to Poznań from Lvov, where from 1907 he was a professor at the National Higher School of Forest Economy and then at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of the Lvov Polytechnic. He headed the Department of Forest Protection to 1956, with it operating from 1951 at the Higher School of Agriculture in Poznań.

The next head of the Department of Forest Protection was appointed in 1958. It was doc. dr hab. Bohdan Kiełczewski (later Prof. zw. and the holder of an honorary doctorate), a graduate of the PoznańUniversity. He was the first head of the Department who was a graduate of this university. He was granted his scientific degrees for research in forest entomology.

In 1963 within the Department of Forest Protection the Sub-department of Forest Entomology was established, headed by doc. dr hab. Alfred Szmidt, while in 1966 the Sub-department of Forest Pest Control was established, headed by doc. dr hab. Wiktor Kadłubowski. The Department of Forest Protection ceased to exist in 1970 as a result of re-organization, with four institutes being established at the Faculty of Forestry. Forest entomology became one of the fields of research at the Institute of Forest Protection, at which the Sub-department of Forest Entomology operated in the years 1970 - 1978, followed by the Sub-department of Forest Entomology and Forest Protection in the years 1978 - 1981. Prof. zw. dr hab. Alfred Szmidt was the head of the sub-department working in the field of forest entomology.

Following the dissolution of the institutes in 1981 two departments were organized from the Sub-department of Forest Entomology and Forest Protection - they were the Department of Forest Entomology and the Department of Forest Protection. In the past the Department of Forest Entomology was headed by Prof. zw. dr hab. Alfred Szmidt (1981-1991), Prof. zw. dr hab. Jacek Michalski (1991-1994), Prof. dr hab. Robert Luterek (1994-2001) and Prof. dr hab. Ignacy Korczyński (2001-2013). Prof. UPP dr hab. Andrzej Mazur(2013-2020).From 2020 prof. UPP dr hab. Robert Kuźmiński .