9/23/11Robert Szymczak, associate professor of history at Penn State Beaver, was a featured speaker this month in the lecture series presented by the S. A. Blejwas Endowed Chair in Polish Studies at Central Connecticut State University. His topic was "Katyn and the Politics of Massacre." He is the author of numerous publications, including "Cold War Crusader: Arthur Bliss Lane and the Private Committee to Investigate the Katyn Massacre, 1949-1952," which appeared in Polish American Studies: A Journal of Polish American History and Culture and "The Vindication of Memory: The Katyn Case in the West, Poland, and Russia, 1952-2008" which was published in The Polish Review by The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. Szymczak is the recipient of Penn State's prestigious George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Penn State Beaver Advisory Board Excellence in Research Award, and a three-time recipient of the Penn State Beaver Advisory Board Excellence in Teaching Award. He can be contacted at rxs16@psu.edu or 724-773-3895.