About Me
I'm a historian, writer, and professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, with a PhD from the Johns Hopkins University. I grew up in Poland before moving to the United States, and have also lived in Germany, France, Hungary, Austria, and elsewhere. Navigating different cultures and ways of thinking has been a big part of my life, and perhaps that's why I've always been fascinated by how people and institutions communicate across cultural and political boundaries, how knowledge travels and changes along the way, and how these processes shape international relations and empire-building. My award-winning book, Soviet Soft Power in Poland, explored these questions in the context of Soviet imperial expansion into Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
Over time, my interests have expanded to the practical uses of history and the humanities beyond academia. I believe there's a growing need to build bridges between universities and the worlds of business and technology. At a time when higher education is searching for new models and organizations increasingly recognize the importance of human skills, the humanities have a great deal to contribute. Through initiatives such as History Applied and my Practical History podcast, I explore how historical thinking can inform careers, leadership, and decision-making in a rapidly changing world.
More recently, I've become interested in how artificial intelligence is transforming the production, organization, and use of knowledge. I see this as both a challenge and an opportunity for the humanities—not simply to adapt to new technologies, but to help shape their development and application. As the boundaries between disciplines and industries become increasingly fluid, our ability to communicate, collaborate, and translate ideas across them matters more than ever. Building these connections, and bringing together people who might not otherwise work together, is what excites me most about my work today.
