From Columbia University: Professorship will focus on research and education within university’s East Central European Center

Columbia University recently completed a $3 million fundraising effort to establish its first endowed chair in its Polish studies program at the university’s East Central European Center.

—The new chair in Polish studies reflects not only Poland’s historical contributions to art, literature and the sciences as the birthplace of such notable figures as Czeslaw Milosz, Frederick Chopin, Marie Curie and Pope John Paul II, but also recognizes its current prominent position as a member of the European Union,— said Nicholas Dirks, Columbia’s vice president and dean of the faculty of arts and sciences. —Students will benefit from the wide array of studies we offer that pay tribute to the remarkable achievements that Poland has realized culturally, economically and politically.—

Following an international search to fill the professorship, a scholar specializing in one of the social sciences as it pertains to Poland and its neighbors will join Columbia’s faculty.

The announcement of the endowed chair took place in Warsaw on Wednesday, March 25. A formal ceremony was organized by Poland’s Consulate General in New York and the Foundation for Polish Science. It was attended by Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s minister of foreign affairs, Bogdan Zdrojewski, minister of culture and national heritage, and Aleksander Grad, minister of state treasury, among others.

During the ceremony, Foreign Minister Sikorski thanked the institutional and individual donors and emphasized that he was personally —touched and proud— that a project that was so important for Poland was successfully completed.

—The Polish studies chair provides a marvelous and timely opportunity to engage our Polish and central European colleagues in the university’s planned worldwide network of Columbia Global Centers, which are designed to mobilize scholarship around the globe to address the multiple challenges facing us all,— said Kenneth Prewitt, vice president for Global Centers at Columbia.

John S. Micgiel, director of the Columbia’s East Central European Center, led the five-year fundraising program that culminated in a final transfer of funds last month.

—Our ability to reach out successfully to Polish business was the direct result of the engagement of Consul General Krzysztof W. Kasprzyk of the Polish Consulate General in New York, Professor Wlodzimierz Bolecki of the Foundation for Polish Science in Warsaw, and especially Polish Consul Dr. Ewa Ger,— said Micgiel. —Their connections and determination to make links between Poland and Columbia built on our earlier efforts to establish a Polish studies professorship among Polish-American institutions and individual donors.—

The Kosciuszko Foundation, which promotes Polish culture, education and history in the United States, was one of the original proponents of the Polish studies chair at Columbia and helped facilitate fundraising, along with Warsaw’s Semper Polonia Foundation.

The Brooklyn-based Polish Slavic Federal Credit Union, headed by Bogdan Chmielewski, was the first corporate donor to the project, contributing more than $500,000. The credit union capped off the effort with an additional check for $181,000.

—This is a truly historic and prideful day for Polonians and all Polish-Americans,— said Chmielewski, who attended the ceremony in Warsaw. —Poland’s visibility within the hallowed halls of U.S. academia will increase greatly. Furthermore, there will be heightened awareness of Poland’s vast contributions to world culture.—

Other major donors include the Warsaw Stock Exchange, led by Ludwik Sobolewski; The National Depository for Securities, headed by Elzbieta Pustola; ENEA, an energy conglomerate led by Pawel Mortas; Poland Energy Group, led by Tomasz Zadroga; the Special Economic Zones of Katowice, Warmia and Mazury, Pomorska and Kostrzyn-Strubicka, and the Malopolska Agency for Regional Development, with Piotr Wojaczek, acting on behalf of the regional zones; and the Bogdan Fiszer Silesia Capital Fund, led by Bogdan Fiszer.Antoni Chroscielewski coordinated fundraising efforts on behalf of the Polish Army Veterans Association.