Alex Jania, Phd Email & Phone Number

Chicago, IL, US

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Assists in the implementation of the Art Center’s comprehensive fundraising program that is focused on institutional support, individual donors, and special events. Provides a broad base of experience in nonprofit fundraising, as well as nonprofit management.

Chicago, IL

• Led a BA Research and Writing seminar for 3rd and 4th year students working on theses in the Department of History.
• Advised undergraduate researchers on research methodologies, grant writing, and thesis writing.
• Led a section of the Department's required Historiography course.

• Proposed, designed, and taught innovative undergraduate level public history courses. Coordinated and supervised field visits to local museums as part of curriculum. Doubled undergraduate enrollment in public history.
• Advised and supervised Public History-oriented capstone research projects for fourth year students.
• Wrote two grant applications and secured $4,000 of funding to support experiential learning activities within public history courses. Managed grant budget to innovate curriculum and student experience.
• Led students to create an on-campus memorial to the 1995 Chicago Heatwave as part of an experiential learning course focused on disaster communication, public history, and environmental justice.
• Presented on public history and public engagement best practices and innovations to diverse audiences at professional conferences, universities, and local organizations.

• Proposed, designed, and taught innovative undergraduate level disaster history course.
• Developed lectures and led seminar style discussions on global disaster history.
• Developed a public disaster history-oriented final project and mentored students to succeed in this assignment.

Remote

• Edit and rewrite episode descriptions for the COVIDCalls Podcast
• Create an archive of COVID-19 obituaries read on COVIDCalls episodes
• Participate in COVIDCalls team meetings to brainstorm about and troubleshoot archive creation.

Chicago, Illinois, United States

• Proposed the creation of a digital archive of Kizuna Project materials to be completed in partnership with University of Chicago Public History Practicum.
• Designed a feasible project timeline and budget within the parameters of the Public History Practicum partnership and with input from key Kizuna Project/Osaka Committee stakeholders.
• Managed the Kizuna Project Digital Archive graduate project team and served as a liaison between the Osaka Committee and the project team.
• Managed project budget and timeline with the deliverable of a live website using the WixPro platform.

Chicago, Illinois, United States

• Coordinated with Osaka Committee Members, Kizuna Project volunteers, and past Kizuna Project contributors to stage a virtual memorial event for 100+ participants.
• Wrote copy for the memorial ceremony in coordination with key event participants and volunteers.
• Served as the master of ceremonies for the live virtual event which included virtual participation and contribution by both Chicago and Japanese public officials.

• Supported the creation and planning of a graduate level public history program.
• Facilitated inter-departmental and inter-program coordination between the Department of History, Social Sciences Division, and PATHS-UChicago Grad.
• Created Qualtrics surveys and conducted focus groups to gauge stakeholder/student interests and desires during course planning and design.
• Identified, cultivated and managed relationships with five local community partner organizations.
• Managed graduate student project teams and served as a liaison between project teams and partners.
• Coordinated a concluding project showcase event for the presentation of student projects to partner organizations and to the University of Chicago community.

Japan And Chicago

• Proposed the thematic focus for the 9th annual Kizuna Project Photography Exhibition centering on 3.11 memory and memorialization.
• Coordinated with Sendai, Japan-based photographer Shishido Kiyotaka on exhibition vision and goals.
• Identified and cultivated relationships with Japanese memorial organizations to feature in the exhibition.
• Conducted interviews in Japanese, translated interviews into English and synthesized into narratives as the copywriter for the Chicago-based exhibition.

Japan And Chicago

• Coordinated with Chicago-based photographer Mayumi Lake on exhibition vision and goals.
• Conducted interviews in Japanese with exhibition subjects. Translated interviews into English and synthesized into narratives as the copywriter for the Chicago-based exhibition.
• Presented virtually to a diverse audience on my experience in Tohoku as the interviewer/copywriter for Kizuna 8 to an annual memorial ceremony audience at the Japanese Consulate in Chicago.

Tokyo, Japan

• Wrote and secured a $40,000 grant to support archival and ethnographic research in Japan on disaster memorialization.
• Conducted original archival research with both physical and digital materials at various Japanese archives, libraries and universities.
• Participated in various Japanese community stakeholder meetings about memorial projects as an ethnographer.
• Presented and communicated research findings in Japanese at the University of Tokyo.

Chicago, Illinois, United States

• Intern, The Legacy Project, June-August 2017
• Created and organizedof the Rich Wilson Legacy Archive of LGBTQ historical documents and objects for eventual use in a LGBTQ museum and archive.
• Input curatorial information on Excel according to Legacy project requirements.
• Conducted and recorded multiple extended oral history interviews with the archive collector.Intern/Consultant, Chicago Cultural Alliance, Summer 2017
• Consulted with Chicago Cultural Alliance (CCA), Polish Museum of America, DANK Haus, and The Open Center to create a joint-online exhibit for CCA’s “Inherit Chicago” event.
• Conducted and recorded oral history interviews at partner museums.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Asian History

Master Of Arts - Ma, East Asian Studies

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, History