Media contact: Peter Kilduff, Director of University Relations
(860) 832-1791; Kilduff@ccsu.edu

CCSU to host Polish Genealogical Conference for the Northeast, September 22-23; public participation welcomed

NEW BRITAIN -- Four nationally recognized authorities on Polish genealogy and Polish history will share their expertise on tracing family roots during the 2006 Polish Genealogical Conference. The event will be held in the Student Center at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain on Friday, September 22 and Saturday, September 23, 2006.

The conference is sponsored by the Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut and the Northeast, Inc., and CCSU’s Stanislaus A. Blejwas Endowed Chair in Polish and Polish American Studies. The event is open to the public and free parking is available in campus parking lots.

The experts -- Liza Alzo, Matthew Bielawa, Romuald K. Byczkiewicz, and Jonathan Shea -- will present workshops and lectures to help beginners and advanced family history researchers gain access to many varied documents that are available. The conference will also display examples of resource of books, maps and other materials. Personal help in translating genealogical documents will also be offered, as will opportunities for informal discussion with the speakers.

In a beginner’s workshop, Shea and Bielawa will discuss civil and church records, and suggest other resources for identifying ancestral villages in Europe, as well as archives in Poland that hold relevant records.

Romuald K. Byczkiewicz will present Dr. M.B. Biskupski’s lecture the “Border Changes in the 19th Century,” and discuss how Poland’s boundaries have rarely contained the Polish people, a phenomenon that requires a clear understanding of national consciousness and historical change in Eastern Europe. Dr. M.B. Biskupski, who will be abroad during the time of this year’s Polish Genealogical Conference, has held the Stanislaus A. Blejwas Endowed Chair in Polish and Polish American Studies at Central Connecticut State University since 2002. He is the author of seven books, numerous prestigious journal articles and commentary on Polish history and culture.

Ms. Alzo’s lecture “Write Your Family History Step by Step” will demonstrate how to bring the family tree to life by placing family stories in an historical context, and how to organize material. It will also cover breaking down writing tasks into manageable pieces, and effective ways to illustrate where one’s family fits in with local, national and world history.

Alzo’s second lecture, “Genealogy and Technology: Connect Your Family Online,” will highlight specific ways to use the Internet to build and strengthen family ties. It will also discuss using important genealogical research websites.

All four speakers have extensive experience in their respective fields and have been featured at numerous regional and national conferences:

Lisz Alzo grew up in Duquesne, Pennsylvania and currently resides in Ithaca, New York. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1987 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Pittsburgh in 1997. She is the author of four books, numerous magazine articles, and is a frequently invited speaker for national conferences, genealogical and historical societies.

Matthew Bielawa is Associate Registrar at CCSU. He currently serves as Vice-President and Webmaster for PGSCTNE. He has received degrees in Slavic and East European Studies and Slavic Languages and Literature.

Romuald K. Byczkiewicz is an Adjunct Professor of History at CCSU and at Tunxis Community College. He holds a Master of Arts in European History from the University of Connecticut. While his teaching and research interests are primarily in modern Europe, he is also a student of the history of American Polonia and is the author of St. Mary’s of Czestochowa: A Century of Polonia in Middletown, CT.

Jonathan Shea is the founding President, Reference Archivist and translator for PGSCTNE and editor of its journal, Pathways and Passages. An accredited genealogist in the field of Polish research, he is has written many books. He is an instructor of foreign languages at the Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport and CCSU.

The cost for the Friday, September 22 Beginner’s Workshop is $10 per person. Saturday’s event, which includes a Polish-American buffet lunch, is $35. For persons planning to attend the conference both days, the cost is $40.

Registration forms are available online at http://www.pgsctne.org/confregform_ccsu.html or by email at pgsconf@yahoo.com or Szepanski@ccsu.edu. Please send registration forms or requests for more information to Diane Szepanski, Conference Chair, 138 Fern Drive, Plantsville, CT 06479.

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