Loyola University Chicago is close to launching a new interdisciplinary hub: the Center for the Study of the Polish Diaspora. Housed in the College of Arts and Sciences, this bold initiative builds on Loyola’s strong Polish Studies Program and its deep connections to Chicago’s vibrant Polish community.

The Center will promote original research, public programs, community partnerships, and the preservation of Polish American heritage. Its work will span multiple disciplines, exploring migration, identity, and the global contributions of Polish communities—with a particular focus on the United States and Chicago.

HELP LOYOLA MEET THE CHALLENGE
Dr. Jack Pinkowski, President of the Poles in America Foundation, and Monica Pinkowski have donated $1 million to help establish the Center for the Study of the Polish Diaspora. To unlock this transformative funding, Loyola must raise an additional $1 million. Additional donor support will not only match Dr. and Mrs. Pinkowski’s commitment—it will make this visionary Center a reality. Now is the moment to act and help celebrate, preserve, and advance Polish heritage for generations to come. 

Once the challenge is met, the Center will:

• Become an interdisciplinary hub that fosters research, education, community engagement, and preservation of Polish diaspora heritage
• Support public programs, scholarly exchange, and collaboration with institutions in Poland and the United States like the Emigration Museum in Gdynia, Poland, and leading Polish universities
• Build on Loyola’s rich archival collections and longstanding relationships with Polish organizations like the Poles in America Foundation
• Attract support and involvement from the thousands of Polish American alumni of Loyola and Mundelein College, plus international scholars committed to Polish and diaspora studies

About the College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments and 37 interdisciplinary programs and centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campus in Rome, Italy, as well as at dozens of University-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the University’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”

About Loyola University Chicago

Founded in 1870, Loyola University Chicago is one of the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic universities, with nearly 16,600 students. The University has four campuses: three in the greater Chicago area and one in Rome, Italy, as well as course locations in Vernon Hills, Illinois (Cuneo Mansion and Gardens), and a Retreat and Ecology Campus in Woodstock, Illinois. The University features 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. Ranked a leading national university by U.S. News & World Report, Loyola is also among a select group of universities recognized for community service and engagement by prestigious national organizations including AmeriCorps and the Carnegie Foundation. To learn more about Loyola, visit LUC.edu or follow us on X via @LoyolaChicago.