The Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America (PIASA)
A non-profit, 501 © tax exempt, academic, cultural organization founded in 1942 in New York City is dedicated to the maintenance of a center of learning and culture.
Our Mission
Maintain a center of learning and culture
The Institute is devoted to the advancement of knowledge about Poland and Polish American contributions to America’s society; to assist scholars and artists in their independent scientific, educational and artistic activities connected with Poland and/or American Polonia.
Board of Directors
Our leadership team
Responsible for helping PIASA set broad goals, supporting researchers in pursuit of those goals, and ensuring the Institute has adequate, well-managed resources at its disposal.
Dr. Anna Muller
PRESIDENT
Dr. Anna Muller
is a Professor of History at the Universaity of Michigan-Dearborn, specializing in 20th-century Eastern European history, with a focus on gender, memory, and the Polish-Jewish experience.
With a Ph.D. in History from Indiana University and dual M.A. degrees in History and Political Science from the University of Gdańsk, Poland, she contributed to the creation of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk and has received some awards, including the Oskar Halecki Polish History Award and the Mieczysław Haiman Award. An advocate of community-engaged pedagogy, Muller also teaches in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange program and integrates feminist epistemology into her courses.
Her scholarship examines themes of resistance, identity, and survival, as reflected in her books, If the Walls Could Speak: Inside a Women’s Prison in Communist Poland and An Ordinary Life? (Oxford University Press, 2018) and The Journeys of Tonia Lechtman, 1918–1996 (Ohio University Press, 2022).
Email adress: anmuller@umich.edu
Dr. Neal Pease
Vice President
Dr. Neal Pease
is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. A member of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) since his graduate student years, he currently serves as its vice president. He is a former editor-in-chief of The Polish Review and the author of Poland, the United States, and the Stabilization of Europe, 1919-1933 (Oxford University Press, 1986) and Rome’s Most Faithful Daughter: The Catholic Church and Independent Poland, 1914-1939 (Ohio University Press, 2009).
Dr. Bozena Leven
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dr. Bozena Leven
earned an M.A. in Economics from the Central School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw, Poland, specializing in International Trade, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University. Her primary research areas include international economics and the economics of development. In addition to her academic work, she has consulted for the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, the International Affairs Division at the United Nations, and the East European Program at the William Davidson Institute of the University of Michigan. Her publications and research focus on financial restructuring and the welfare effects of macroeconomic reforms in Eastern and Central Europe.
She has served as Interim Dean of the School of Business at The College of New Jersey, Chair of the Economics Department, Visiting Professor of International Economics at the Warsaw School of Economics (where she received her habilitation), and Executive Director of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America in New York.
Ms. Renata C. Vickrey
SECRETARY
Ms. Renata C. Vickrey
Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at the Elihu Burritt University Library at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). Ms. Vickery maintains the collections of the University Archives, the Connecticut Polish American Archives (CPAA), and the LGBT Archives, while actively promoting and supporting the activities of the Polish Studies Program at CCSU.
Dr. Krzysztof Bledowski
TREASURER
Dr. Krzysztof Bledowski
is a visiting adjunct professor of economics and finance at the Rzeszów University of Information Technology and Management (WSiZ). His 30+ years of experience span transition economics, finance, and industrial policy. At WSiZ his teaching duties include Managerial Economics, International Finance, International Economics, and Economics of Sustainable Development. Before joining WSiZ, Dr. Bledowski served as Senior Council Director/Director of Economic Studies at Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI), a policy research forum in Arlington, Virginia. Prior appointments included work at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, Pioneer Trust Fund in Warsaw, and Cahners Economics in Newton, MA.
His work-life balance calls for spending time on a rotating basis in Poland, the United States, and Canada.
Dr. Bledowski is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, a member of the American Economic Association, and the Association of Polish Economists. He holds an MA in international economics from the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), a MA in economics from Boston College, and a PhD in economics from the Polish University London.
Board of Directors
Members of the Board of Directors
Members of the Board.
Dr. Michael Bernhard
University of Florida
Dr. Michael Bernhard
is the Raymond and Miriam Ehrlich Chair in Political Science at the University of Florida. His research focuses on democratization and development, both globally and in Europe. His work explores topics such as the role of civil society in democratization, institutional choice in new democracies, the political economy of democratic survival, the legacy of extreme dictatorships, and the politics of memory. He has been closely involved with the Varieties of Democracy project in various capacities.
From 2017 to 2023, he served as editor of Perspectives on Politics, a flagship journal of the American Political Science Association (APSA). He has also chaired APSA’s European Politics Section, led the Research Network on the Historical Development of States and Regimes for the Council for European Studies, and served as editor of the newsletter for APSA’s Democracy and Autocracy Section.
Ms. Alicia Brzyska
Journalist (ret.)
Ms. Alicia Brzyska
Alicja Brzyska graduated from London Film School with an MA in Filmmaking (specializing in Film Production) and was also awarded a postgraduate diploma in TV Production. Her first job was with CBS News at their European headquarters in London, England followed by a transfer to NYC where she worked as a producer at CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. In addition to her work in the news business she created first weekly, ethnic TV programming for the Polish community, broadcasted on WNYC TV (Public TV station in NYC). She also purchased and run an Allstate Insurance Book of Business.
Dr. Patrice M. Dabrowski
Harvard Univeristy
Dr. Patrice M. Dabrowski
is an Associate of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and editor of H-Poland.
She is the author of three books: The Carpathians: Discovering the Highlands of Poland and Ukraine (2021), Poland: The First Thousand Years (2014; paperback edition, 2016; audiobook, 2022), and Commemorations and the Shaping of Modern Poland (2004). In 2014 she was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. Dabrowski was the 2021 recipient of the Mary Zirin Prize, awarded annually by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies to an independent scholar. In 2022 her Carpathians book won two Polish awards: honorable mention for Pro Historia Polonorum, an award for the best Polish history book written by a non-Polish historian in the last five years (2017-2021) as well as honorable mention in the category “best foreign publication promoting Poland’s history” sponsored by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Dr. Anna Frajlich — Zajac
Columbia University
Dr. Anna Frajlich — Zajac
Senior Lecturer Emerita taught Polish language and literature at Columbia University for over three decades. She also organized scholarly, international conferences, and related events.
She received her MA from Warsaw University in Polish literature and defended her Ph.D. dissertation in Russian literature at the Slavic Department of the New York University in 1990. She was a member of the Board of Directors, and Acting President of PEN Center for Writers in Exile in New York. Presently is a member of the Board of Director of Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America.
She is an author of 19 books of poetry, her poetry books have been published in Polish, English, French, Italian, Ukrainian, and Spanish.
She is the recipient of the 1981 Kościelski Foundation of Switzerland literary prize, a 2003 Literary Prize from W. & N. Turzański Foundation (Toronto, Canada). In 2015 she received the Literary Prize of the Union of Polish Writers in Exile, based in London. In 2002 Anna Frajlich received The Knight Cross of the Order of Merit awarded by the President of the Polish Republic, in 2008 she received the honorary title of the Ambassador of Szczecin, Poland, and in 2017 the Distinguished Pole Award in USA in the category of culture.
In 2020 she received Szczecin University Medal, and she was awarded the Jubilee Medal of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland.
In 2021 The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) awarded her The Susanne Lotarski Distinguished Achievement Award, and The Polish American Historical Association awarded her the Oscar Halecki Prize for her book “The Ghost of Shakespeare: collected essay” edited by Ronald Meyer.
In 2022 she received a Literary Award from Wschodnia Fundacja Kultury “Akcent” in Lublin.
Dr. Wojciech Sadurski
University of Sydney
Dr. Wojciech Sadurski
Wojciech Sadurski is Challis Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Sydney and Professor at the University of Warsaw’s Center for Europe, as well as a lawyer, political philosopher, and commentator on public affairs. He previously held the chair in philosophy of law at the European University Institute in Florence and has taught regularly at Yale, NYU, and Princeton, as well as at universities in Europe and Asia. He is a member of the Global Rule of
Law Commission. Sadurski’s most recent books include Poland’s Constitutional Breakdown (2019), A Pandemic of Populists (2022), and Constitutional Public Reason (2023).
He is a co-recipient of the 2023 Karol Pilarczyk Foundation Award for the “promotion of democracy and the rule of law” by the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in America (PIASA).
Ms. Eve Krzyzanowski
Branded Media Corp.
Ms. Eve Krzyzanowski
Eve Krzyzanowski is a multi Emmy Award winning producer and experienced TV and digital media executive, expert at story telling and creating compelling multi-platform content. She is currently working on The Future is Wild, projecting animals millions of years into the future, based on a firm scientific foundation.
Eve has worked as a producer and executive at major US TV networks (ABC, CBS and NBC, FNN (Financial News Network, the precursor to CNBC) as well as the BBC (British Broadcasting Company.) Eve has worked all over the world and created many successful international co-productions, including the Eyewitness Series, which was sold to 200 countries. She was also head of TV for Martha Stewart Omnimedia. She was named one of the top business news journalists of the twentieth century.
She is a descendent of Chopin and Adam Krzyzanowski, the Polish economist, and the daughter of Ludwik Krzyzanowski, the longtime editor of the Polish Review. She produced a documentary on Kosciuszko, which aired on PBS stations. She graduated with honors from Vassar College and studied at the Jagiellonian University.
Dr. Agnieszka Pasieka
University of Montreal
Dr. Agnieszka Pasieka
Agnieszka Pasieka is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Montreal and a sociocultural anthropologist whose research bridges the study of political mobilization, activism,
and social movements. She explores how individuals and groups respond to inequality and hierarchical power structures, and the alternative futures they seek to create.
She is the author of Hierarchy and Pluralism: Living Religious Difference in Catholic Poland (Palgrave, 2015), a nuanced ethnographic study of religious diversity in a predominantly Catholic society, and Living Right: Politics, Morality, and Far-Right Youth Activism in Contemporary Europe (Princeton University Press, 2024), which investigates the moral worlds and political imaginaries of far-right youth activists across Europe.
Pasieka has published widely on topics including religious and ethnic minorities, multiculturalism, postsocialist transformations, and transnational nationalism. Her current research examines the intersections of environmentalism and far-right politics in Europe.
Dr. Robert Blobaum
West Virginia University (ret.)
Dr. Robert Blobaum
is Eberly Family Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at West Virginia University. He specializes broadly in the social, political and cultural history of Poland in the first decades of the twentieth century. His most recent book is A Minor Apocalpyse: Warsaw during the First World War (2017). He is also the editor of Antisemitism and Its Opponents in Modern Poland (2005) , and author of Rewolucja: Russian Poland, 1904–1907 (1995) and Feliks Dzierżyński and the SDKPiL: A Study of the Origins of Polish Communism (1984). He has served on the executive boards of the Association for Slavic, East European and American Studies and the Polish Studies Association, and is currently the president of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. A past recipient of the Oskar Halecki Prize for the best book in Polish history (for Rewolucja ), Blobaum is a multiple Fulbright grant recipient and his research has also been supported by the International Research and Exchanges Board, the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. He is currently engaged in micro-historical research on the Polish-Jewish small town of Wyszkow in the first half of the twentieth century.
Dr. James S. Pula
Purdue University – North Central
Dr. James S. Pula
is a Professor of History Emeritus at Purdue University and the former editor of Polish American Studies.
He is the author or editor of 26 books on Polish themes, immigration, and the American Civil War including the Polish American Encyclopedia (McFarland, 2012), Polish Immigrants and American Reform: Eight Leaders in the Antebellum Women’s Rights and Anti-Slavery Movements (McFarland, 2023), Polish American Voices: A Documentary History, 1608-2020 (Routledge, 2023, co edited with Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann), Immigration & Immigrant Communities (1790-2016) (Grey House Publishing, 2017), The Origins of Modern Polish Democracy (Ohio University Press, 2010, with M. B. B. Biskupski and Piotr Wróbel), For Liberty and Justice: A Biography of Brig. Gen. Włodzimierz B. Krzyżanowski (Syracuse University Press, 2008), Thaddeus Kościuszko: The Purest Son of Liberty (Hippocrene Press, 1998), Polish Americans: An Ethnic Community (Twayne, 1995), Polish Democratic Thought From the Renaissance to the Great Emigration: Essays and Documents (Columbia University Press, 1990, with M. B. Biskupski), and United We Stand: The Role of Polish Workers in the New York Mills Textile Strikes, 1912 and 1916 (Columbia University Press, 1990).
His work has been honored with five Oscar Halecki Awards for the best Polish-themed book of the year, the Rudewicz Medal for outstanding scholarly contributions to the study of Polonia, the Distinguished Service Award from the American Council for Polish Culture, the Mieczysław Haiman Award from the Polish American Historical Association for contributions to the study of Polonia, the Tadeusz Kościuszko Medal from Polonica Technica, the U. S. Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award, and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.
Dr. Nathaniel Wood
University of Kansas
Dr. Nathaniel D. Wood
(PhD, Indiana University) is Associate Professor of History at the University of Kansas, where he serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of History. Supported by grants from Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, the American Council of Learned Societies, the International Research Exchange (IREX) and others, he is the author of Becoming Metropolitan: Urban Selfhood and the Making of Modern Cracow (2010) and multiple peer-reviewed articles/chapters related to urban history, press history, and the history of technology. With Robert Blobaum, he co-edited a cluster on Polish cities during the Great War and contributed an article on Kraków, published in The Polish Review. He is finishing a book manuscript on cycling, motoring, and aviation in Poland from 1885-1939 and beginning new research on the restoration of European bison to Białowieża Primeval Forest in the 1920s and 30s. In addition to serving on the board of PIASA, he has served on the boards of the City Historical Museum of Kraków and the Polish Studies Association.
Dr. Piotr Wrobel
University of Toronto
Dr. Piotr Wrobel
Piotr J. Wróbel occupies the Konstanty Reynart Chair of Polish Studies at the University of Toronto. Before his appointment in 1994, he lectured on Polish, Modern European, German, and Russian history at the University of Warsaw, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan State University at East Lansing, and the University of California at Davis. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Warsaw and has held visiting scholar positions at the Institute of European History in Mainz, Humboldt University in Berlin, and the Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies at Oxford.
From 1987 to 1991, he pursued research as a fellow at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. Additionally, in 1987-88, he served as the research director of an underground Eastern Archives, dedicated to collecting materials concerning Polish deportees in the Soviet Union post-1939.
Professor Wróbel sits on the Advisory Board of Polin: A Journal of Polish-Jewish Studies and boasts authorship or co-authorship of seven books and over 75 scholarly articles.
Dr. Genevieve Zubrzycki
University of Michigan
Dr. Genevieve Zubrzycki
is the William H. Sewell Jr. Collegiate Professor of Sociology and the Weiser Family Professor of European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Michigan, where she directs the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia and the Copernicus Center for Polish Studies.
A historical and cultural sociologist, her research examines nationalism and religion, collective memory and national mythology, anti-/philo-Semitism, and cultural politics in Eastern Europe and North America. Her books include The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-Communist Poland (Chicago, 2006), Beheading the Saint: Nationalism, Religion and Secularism in Quebec (Chicago, 2016), and Resurrecting the Jew: Nationalism, Philosemitism, and Poland’s Jewish Revival (Princeton, 2022), all of which have received multiple awards.
A 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, she has held visiting professorships at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the University of Regensburg.
Ex-Officio Member
Board Of Directors
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) affirms in the strongest possible terms its commitment to creating a more inclusive and just world. It denounces bigotry and hatred in all its forms. It is committed to respecting diversity and ending all forms of discrimination along lines of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, ethnicity, and national origin.
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