When Joanna Zofia Mishtal, a former tennis player in Poland's national team, decided to remain in the States in 1981 to escape her country's martial law system, she thought it would just be a short stay.
"I was prepared to go back as soon as the martial law ended," she recalled.
But Mishtal's journey to the West ended up being a long one. Twenty years later, Mishtal, now a Ph.D candidate in anthropology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, is finally ready to go back, and this time as a Fulbright scholar.
"I have been away for so long that I don't really feel Poland is my home any more," said Mishtal, sipping a cup of coffee in CU-Boulder's University Memorial Center. "But I still feel so happy for going back.
"Poland has experienced drastic changes during the past decade, both politically and economically. This has made the country an interesting subject of anthropology study," she said.
During her stay in Poland, Mishtal will conduct research into the democratization process in Poland and its concomitant contradictions. Her extensive fieldwork conducted in the country's urban, suburban and rural areas will help her examine the impact of political-economic changes and the Catholic faith on Polish women in the post-socialist era.
"Through my preliminary research this summer, it became obvious to me that Polish women are in the center of a conflict between economic security and social image," Mishtal said.
"On one hand, women's earnings are crucial to the economic survival of the family. On the other hand, the Polish Catholic Church expects women to consider the domestic realm as their priority. The way women strategize within this complex system of values appears to differ based on their socioeconomic background," she said.
Mishtal expects to stay in Poland for at least one year, after which she will return to the United States to continue her doctoral dissertation work at CU-Boulder. Her long-term goal is to secure a university tenure-track position that will include teaching as well as research.
"Teaching can be such an enjoyable and satisfying experience," said Mishtal, who first realized that she liked teaching when she taught tennis for several years. Her interest in research, however, began when she met her adviser, Professor Donna Goldstein, at CU.
"It is because of her tireless guidance and close support that I am able to make my goals become reality. Donna's enthusiasm for my project and her love for her own work have been inspiring for me; I hope to give that kind of encouragement to my own students some day."
Mishtal received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in anthropology, with her graduate work focusing on cultural anthropology. She is a teaching assistant in cultural anthropology at CU. While tennis was her first love, Mishtal said her favorite pastimes now are playing squash and staying with her 12-year-old dog Misiu.
Three other students from CU-Boulder also won Fulbright Scholarships this year. Dan Hanley, a doctoral candidate in education, was awarded a scholarship to Norway to examine Norway's school-based evaluation system through case studies of two schools with exemplary programs.
Dan Hogan, an undergraduate student in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, was awarded a grant to work and study at the University of Witten in Germany. And Jim Walker, seeking his doctorate in comparative literature, was awarded a grant to study in Italy. He will examine contemporary African writers in Italy, while looking at African-Italian relations and African representation in Italian media and culture during the last century.