Iwona Flis holds an M.A. in English Studies from the University of Gdansk and an MBA from the Gdansk Managers’ Training Foundation. She is a PhD student of Professor Anna Mazurkiewicz at the University of Gdansk, and her dissertation will be a historical monograph of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America.
For over twenty years she worked in entrepreneurship support, gaining expertise in project management and administration of nongovernmental organizations. Since 2016 she has been in charge of the Stanislaw Flis Pomerania Archives Foundation, focusing on community archives’ development. She has implemented numerous educational projects in history and archival science for Polish community archives. She has been appointed ambassador of community archives in the Pomerania region in Poland by the Center of Community Archives, established by the KARTA Centre and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. She has also been on the board of the Gdansk Branch of the Polish Archivists Association.
Her research interests include the history of Polish diaspora in the U.S., Polish émigré women scholars, and community archives, and she has authored and co-authored publications and presented at international conferences on these topics. She has received the Kosciuszko Foundation Scholarship (Central Connecticut State University) and the PAHA Emerging Scholar Travel Award.