Teaching Democracy in Poland and the U.S. in the 21st Century: Challenges and Prospects

The keynote address and the roundtable discussion features scholars who have participated in the faculty exchange program between the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw and Daemen College. Initiated in 2017, this program is expanding in 2021-2022 to include faculty from Canisius College. While this event focuses on current challenges in teaching democracy, the participants will share insights gained from teaching in Poland and the U.S. since the 1980s.

Keynote Speaker 

Bohdan Szklarski, Ph.D. (Professor of Political Science, University of Warsaw; Kosciuszko Visiting Professor of Polish Studies at Daemen College and Canisius College)

Roundtable Panelists

Robert Morace, Ph.D. (Distinguished Professor of English, Daemen College)

Lisa K. Parshall, Ph.D. (Professor of Political Science, Daemen College)

Jay Wendland, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Political Science and Honors Program Director, Daemen College)

A moderated question and answer session will follow the presentation. 

Bohdan Szklarski is a specialist in the study of democracy, political leadership and political culture. He is currently Kosciuszko Foundation Visiting Professor at Daemen College and Canisius College. Prof. Szklarski served as Chair of the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw (2012-2016) -- where he was also co-founder and Chair of the Leadership Research Laboratory -- and of the Department of Political Science at Collegium Civitas (1997-2007). He has taught at many universities in the US and other countries, most recently at the University of South Carolina (2020). He is a past recipient of a Kosciuszko Foundation grant and author of several books and over 50 book chapters and articles.

Robert Morace is the author and editor of six books on contemporary fiction, as well as numerous essays on the same subject. He has previously taught in Warsaw (1985-1987, 2018) and in Beijing (2010, 2012, 2015) and serves on the editorial boards of two journals, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction and Symbiosis: Studies in Transatlantic Literature and Culture and has been academic advisor on two recent volumes in the Contemporary Literary Criticism series. He is currently completing a book-length study of a subject that changes faster than he can write about it: post-devolution Scottish fiction.

Lisa K. Parshall is a specialist in American Politics and Public Policy, with expertise on state and local government. She is a Public Policy Fellow at the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, NY and the immediate past president of the Northeastern Political Science Association. Dr. Parshall has taught two courses for the American Studies Center in Warsaw as part of the faculty exchange organized through partnership with the Daemen College Polish Studies Center. In 2017, she taught Democracy in America: Critical Perspectives (in residence) and is presently teaching a course on American Federalism: Cooperation and Conflict in Contemporary Politics (Spring 2021 - virtual). She is the author of Reforming the Presidential Nominating Process: Front-Loading’s Consequences and the National Primary Solution (2018 Routlege) and co-author of Directing the Whirlwind: The Trump Presidency and the Deconstruction of the Administrative State (2020 Peter Lang) and the Icelandic Federalist Papers, (David Carrillo, et. al., 2018 Berkley Public Policy Press ). Dr. Parshall is also a member of ICON, the International Society of Public Law and a Fulbright Specialist Scholar.

Jay Wendland is a specialist in American politics, with expertise in political behavior and presidential nominations.  In 2020, he taught The American Presidential Nomination Process (virtual) for the American Studies Center in Warsaw as part of the faculty exchange program with the Daemen College Polish Studies Center.  His most recent publications include the book Campaigns That Matter: The Importance of Campaign Visits in Presidential Nominating Contests (2017 Lexington), "Rallying Voters: A Multilevel Approach to Understanding Voter Decision-Making in the 2016 Presidential Nominating Contests" (2019 in The Journal of Political Marketing) and the 2020 article "A Heartbeat Away: Popular Culture's Role in Teaching Presidential Succession" (in Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy).  

Event sponsored by the Center for Polish Studies, the Global Programs Office, and the History & Political Science Department at Daemen College. Additional Funders for the Kosciuszko Visiting Professor are the Kosciuszko Foundation, the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture at Canisius College and Canisius College.