Friends of PSI, if you happen to be in Columbus next week, be sure to mark your calendars for our 2025 PSI Lecture featuring 2024 and 2025 scholarship recipient Lauren Hayden (Department of Anthropology). We are so excited to hear about how PSI has helped inform her research and teaching while at the Slavia Foundation Field School in Giecz. This is an excellent chance for you to see the impact that PSI has on the academic and professional careers of our students and faculty!

PSI Lecture: "Giecz and the Birth of Poland: Tracing Power, Religion and Health in the Early Piast Dynasty" with Lauren Hayden

Tuesday, October 28, 1:00-2:30 PM, 160 Enarson Classroom Building

A thousand years ago, a stronghold in Giecz was one of a series of important centers during the birth of the Polish state and the spread of Christianity. Despite its historical importance, few primary historical sources are available for this study, making it critical to survey archaeological records to better understand how people lived during this time and how political and religious transformations at the beginning of Poland shaped early medieval life. This talk will discuss bioarchaeological evidence from the 11-12th century cemetery of Giecz and present how the study of its skeletal remains can inform about the lives of the individuals who were interred there. Blending history and bioarchaeology, this presentation will demonstrate the importance of Giecz to understand how state formation, political change, and religion shaped society and affected the lived experience of this early medieval Polish population.

Coffee and light refreshments will be provided. 

We’re thrilled to share that the campaign is gaining real traction: thanks to 15 generous donors, we’ve now raised $2,212, enough to fund two full PSI scholarships! Your support is already making a tangible difference, and we’re so grateful.

This week, we’re turning our attention to the people who laid the foundation for PSI’s success. One of those pillars is Dr. Yana Hashamova, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor and former Director of CSEEES. Her vision and leadership helped shape the community we’re building on today.

Let’s keep the momentum going—share the campaign, invite others to join and help us support even more opportunities and projects that celebrate Polish Studies.

PSI Founder: Dr. Yana Hashamova (Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures)

My name is Yana Hashamova, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor, and I had the honor to establish the Polish Studies Initiative a few years back with the enthusiastic support of Ohio State president Gordon Gee. After I presented to him the research achievements in the Polish field and the number of students who have learned Polish at the Ohio State University, he embraced the idea about a Polish study initiative, and generously donated funds, which were matched by other units on campus and community partners, and we successfully raised over $100,000 funds which have continued to support and advance research in Polish studies and the teaching and learning of the Polish language. I wholeheartedly urge all who have any interest in Polish studies and for whom Polish culture is dear to donate, so we can sustain the initiative and continue our work in the future.

Two weeks down and we are making some fantastic progress. First and foremost, thank you to our 10 wonderful donors who have already given, we're excited to share that we've raised enough funds to support either a full PSI scholarship or grant! We could not have done that without your generosity! Be sure to keep spreading the word as it will help us to support projects like the one proposed by 2023 grant recipient, Dr. Naomi Brenner (Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures). Read her story below to learn about how PSI helped to fund her research project.

2023 PSI Grant Recipient: Dr. Naomi Brenner (Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures)
My work focuses on the emergence of popular fiction in Yiddish and Hebrew during the 1930s and 1940s, exploring the kinds of fiction people read during the interwar period and analyzing fictional representations of Polish Jewish society. As I researched one of the most popular Yiddish trashy novels published in Warsaw in the middle of the 1930s, I found that it was based on a long-forgotten but once popular Polish novel Siostra Marja. The Polish Studies Initiative Grant in 2023 gave me the opportunity to work closely with a graduate student who researched the Polish novel and searched the Polish press for information about a plagiarism trial that unfolded in Warsaw in 1938. Since I cannot read Polish, the grant allowed me to include Polish primary sources in my research and to incorporate more perspectives on Polish culture. This work shows clear interactions and influences between early twentieth-century Polish, Yiddish, and Hebrew fiction, helping us better understand the linguistic and cultural dynamics of interwar popular fiction in Poland. The connections between these texts demonstrate the close relationships between Jewish and non-Jewish writers and readers and the vibrant literary environment that existed in Warsaw before World War II.

In 2025 I was also awarded the Stuart and Lynda Resnick Fellowship at the National Library of Israel. This prestigious award includes a generous stipend and digitization allowance which further supported my research on Yiddish and Hebrew entertainment fiction in Poland and Palestine. 

Stay tuned for more updates and stories from our PSI alumni in the coming weeks!

We're officially a week into our campaign! First and foremost, thank you so much to our 7 donors who have already given. We're now 15% of the way to our goal and your support has nearly funded a full PSI scholarship! Talk about an amazing community! 

You might have seen it on the main page of the fundraiser, but this year, we asked our OIA colleague Adam Johnson to design a logo for PSI; a wycinanka, but with a little Buckeye flair. The design beautifully blends traditional gwiazdka (star-shaped) motifs with natural elements inspired by the iconic buckeye itself. The result is a fusion of Polish folk art and regional identity, celebrating both cultural heritage and Ohio State pride.

This design is featured on the luggage tags and post-it note booklets that will be sent to our donors as a humble thank you for their generosity. 

All thank you notes and gifts will be sent towards the end of the campaign, so if you don't receive yours by the end of the year, please send our program coordinator an email at baca.31@osu.edu.

Please continue to share and spread the word, we can't wait to share our PSI alumni stories with you starting next week!

We're thrilled you're here—because your support fuels something extraordinary. At Ohio State, the Polish Studies Initiative (PSI) opens doors for students and faculty to explore Poland’s rich history, vibrant culture, and dynamic present through immersive study abroad programs and groundbreaking research.

Every gift helps spark curiosity, deepen understanding, and build global connections. And the impact? It’s real. Just ask our PSI alumni whose journeys have led to transformative academic experiences, lifelong friendships, and scholarship that bridges continents!

Your gift also helps preserve and celebrate Polish cultural heritage and ensuring that its stories, traditions, and voices continue to inspire future generations.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Dziękujemy!

Old Town Warsaw by Alicia Baca (PSI Program Coordinator)