Greetings! We are pleased to present to you the first quarterly issue of the new PIASA Newsletter. At a time when we are unable to network with each other in person, it’s important to provide our members and friends an opportunity to keep abreast of important events in the life of the Institute and happenings within the Polish studies community. In it you will find news about conferences, a members’ forum, our most recent award recipients, scholarship and fellowship opportunities, recently published books, the achievements of fellow members and much more.

What a year it has been! The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic led to the temporary closure of our office in New York and the cancellation of our conference planned for Chicago in June. The latter was particularly regrettable because of the quality of the panel and paper submissions we had received before that decision was made. Nonetheless, we have pressed ahead with planning for a June 2021 world congress in Białystok, in expanding our membership, in putting out calls for nominations for the 2020 awards and in preserving and digitizing of our archives. We are especially proud of the growing reputation and readership of our journal, The Polish Review, thanks to the efforts of its editorial team.
We trust that the new year will be better than the last for the entire Polish studies community. On behalf of PIASA’s Board of Directors, I wish you all the best for Wszystkiego najlepszego!

― Robert Blobaum, PIASA President