The University of Chicago Granted $10,000 by the Legion of Young Polish Women

The University of Chicago’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures has received a $10,000 grant from the Legion of Young Polish Women. The money is a seed grant for an endowment to benefit the University’s Polish Studies program. The University of Chicago has one of the most successful Polish Studies programs in the country. It has graduated as many or more Ph.D. students in Polish literature as have much larger programs at other universities. The endowment will encourage continued enhancement in teaching and research in Polish Studies. A new professor, Tamara Trojanowska, has already been added to the faculty this quarter. She is a specialist in modern Polish drama. “We hope that in 30 years, when Tamara retires, that the endowment will be large enough to guarantee a place for Polish Studies at the University of Chicago,” said Bill Darden, Professor and Chairman of Slavic Languages and Literatures. The University of Chicago has offered a program in Polish language, literature and linguistics since 1962, when the Legion of Young Polish Women gave $25,000 to help bring writer and intellectual Maria Kuncewicz to Chicago as the University’s first Polish Studies faculty member.