The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has named Marta Cieslak the director of UA Little Rock Downtown.
Until recently, Cieslak had been a visiting professor at the Department of History at UA Little Rock Downtown. In her new role, Cieslak focuses on developing and curating educational, community and professional programming at the university's space downtown. She serves as a liaison through public relations, community engagement, and relationship management with internal campus stakeholders and external partners.
Cieslak grew up in Poland and earned a master’s in American studies and a master’s in Polish language and literature from the University of Warsaw. she moved to the U.S. to pursue a Ph.D. in American studies with a concentration in transatlantic history from the State University of New York, University at Buffalo.
Before joining UA Little Rock in 2017, Cieslak taught history at the University at Buffalo, worked as a multilingual program coordinator at the Buffalo State Community Academic Center, and as a curatorial assistant at the Buffalo Architecture Center.
"Dr. Cieslak was selected for this position because of her impressive qualifications with nonprofit programming and public history," Jess Porter, executive director of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture, said in a news release. "She sealed the deal with the unique vision she proposed for UA Little Rock Downtown as a place of community connections and the exchange of ideas. UA Little Rock is fortunate that Dr. Cieslak will be a key representative of our university to the community."
Cieslak will continue to teach classes at UA Little Rock. She is now developing a new course on the history of the Russian war in Ukraine.
