American Corner Education and Business Center will start operations in December 2023, but will officially open in early Spring 2024. The ACEBC will serve as a regional resource and information hub for programs focused primarily on American education and culture. The main goal of the Center is to promote up-to-date knowledge about the USA and common social values such as freedom, democracy, the rule of law responsibility, justice, and security. Due to its affiliation with the institutions of Maria Curie Skłodowska University, the basic profile of ACEBC is going to be education, that is, providing insights into various aspects of American life, such as politics and culture, and facilitating the mobility of students and scholars between Poland and the US.
Provide free and open access to current information about the USA to strengthen mutual understanding and friendship between Poles and Americans. The activities of the Center are addressed primarily to young people, high school students and university students. Its uniqueness as an American Center will derive from the link with Maria Curie Skłodowska University, which enthusiastically supports the project and employs scholars specializing in American politics, literary studies and English language teaching who will contribute their expertise to the activities of the Center. In addition, MCSU possesses many library resources that will expand the impact of the Center.
Create services that will help as many people as possible to acquire rich knowledge about the USA and use it effectively in their lives. One important element of this vision is to involve those Poles and Americans who have had personal experience of American education and are able to share it with others, e.g. Fulbright scholars. Another significant aspect of this is to increase the number of Poles, who seek to learn more about and/or experience the US directly.
ACE will be housed at Chatka Żaka , the Academic Center for Culture and Media at MCSU, which is a suitable place to host an initiative of this kind. Excellent facilities for organizing film screenings, galleries, performances by student groups, concerts and conferences, together with a rich cultural program including, for instance, The Small Talk Series that connects foreign students with their Polish colleagues at MCSU and helps them succeed, will enrich the cultural offer of the Center. In addition, university radio station (Academic Radio Centrum), TV station (TV UMCS), and the Chatka Żaka Café can help to promote ACE’s activities through multiple channels of communication.
The Center’s space will be divided into three areas: an administrative area (office space), an educational area (library; books/magazines plus e-library data center), and a meeting area (to conduct meetings with our guests). ACEBC’s office will be open Monday-Friday 9-17.
