Dr. John Wiorkowski, a professor emeritus in the Naveen Jindal School of Management and former longtime vice provost at The University of Texas at Dallas, died Feb. 6 at the age of 80.

Wiorkowski joined UT Dallas in 1975 as an associate professor of statistics and served in various leadership roles during his 44-year career at UTD. He was assistant vice president for academic affairs from 1984 until 1991, when he became an associate provost. In 2001 Wiorkowski was named vice provost, a position he held until his retirement in 2019.

“I had the privilege of sharing an office with Dr. Wiorkowski for 11 years, and it was such a joy,” said Dr. Inga H. Musselman, provost, vice president for academic affairs and the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair of Academic Leadership. “The knowledge and insight he brought to his vice provost role, particularly with his knowledge of faculty workload, was exceeded only by his enthusiasm for making UT Dallas a better place. I will forever treasure his wit, his generosity … and his friendship.”

Dr. Rhonda Bush, MAT’06, MS’20, assistant dean of executive education in the Jindal School, met Wiorkowski during his tenure with the Executive MBA and the Global Leadership MBA program. She said he had a great sense of humor that he brought into the classroom, and it was important to him that his students learn more than just basic calculations.

“As managers and corporate leaders, he wanted students to know what questions to ask,” said Bush, who is also director of the Global Leadership MBA Program. “As I now teach the same course that Dr. Wiorkowski taught, I always think back to his balance of teaching statistical calculations with teaching how to ask the right questions. That has become integral to how I teach, and I thank him for that example.”

Wiorkowski’s areas of research included novel applications of statistics; time series analysis of nonstationary series; time series analysis of growth curves; applications of statistics in computer science; linear models and experimental design; and biostatistics. Wiorkowski was head of the statistics graduate program at UTD in 1979-80 and from 1996 to 1998.

Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Caruth Chair and dean of the Jindal School, said Wiorkowski was a kind person who was always ready to help others.

“We were friends for nearly three decades,” he said. “I, together with his colleagues and his students, will always remember him fondly.”

Wiorkowski earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in statistics from the University of Chicago. He taught at The Pennsylvania State University, The University of Chicago and Trinity University before joining UTD. He also edited issues of The American Statistician and Communications in Statistics— Theory and Methods.

During the Vietnam War, Wiorkowski served as a captain in the U.S. Army.

In addition to his wife, Wanda Trotta, Wiorkowski is survived by his son, Dr. Winter Wiorkowski; his brother, Alan Wiorkowski; his sister Janice Wiorkowski Ziroli; two stepsons, and three step-grandchildren.