Prof. Krzysztof Jasiewicz is Second Holder of Ames Professorship
Krzysztof Jasiewicz, a leading expert on voting behavior and political change in Poland, has been appointed to the William P. Ames Jr. Professorship in Sociology and Anthropology at Washington and Lee University.
Announcement of Jasiewicz’s appointment was made by W&L Provost June Aprille.
Jasiewicz succeeds O. Kendall White Jr. as the Ames Professor. White, who retired at the end of the 2007-08 academic year, was the first holder of the chair, which was established in 2000 under the will of Mrs. Mary Farley Lee in honor and memory of her brother, a 1941 Washington and Lee graduate.
“Professor Krzysztof Jasiewicz’s long record of accomplishment both as a teacher and scholar richly qualifies him to be appointed the next William P. Ames Jr. Endowed Professor in Sociology and Anthropology,” said Hank Dobin, dean of the college at W&L. “Professor Jasiewicz has been a member of the college faculty since 1991, has taught a variety of courses on central and eastern Europe, has been widely recognized for his scholarship with a variety of fellowships and grants, and has served the profession and discipline in significant leadership capacities.”
Jasiewicz joined the Washington and Lee faculty as a full professor in 1994 after having previously served as a visiting professor on two separate occasions.
Jasiewicz received his M.A. at Warsaw University (1972) and his Ph.D. at the Polish Academy of Sciences (1976). He was the founder and first director of Electoral Studies at the Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He has taught courses in sociology and comparative politics with a focus on research methods and social theory, as well as communism, post-communism and European politics and societies.
He is the author, coauthor, or editor of more than 10 books in Polish and English, including The 1991 and 1993 Elections of the Polish Sejm (2006) and Sustainable Democracy in Post-Communist Europe (1999) and has published articles on Polish politics and culture in a wide range of academic journals, including the European Journal of Political Research, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, and the Journal of Democracy.
Jasiewicz has been the recipient of research grants from the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research Grants on three occasions, and has also received grants from the German Marshall Fund of the United States and Earhart Foundation, among others. In 2006-2007, during a sabbatical leave from W&L, he was a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, D.C. He also held fellowships at Oxford and Harvard universities. He is past president of the Polish Studies Association (USA).
