Research award for Professor Ewa Golebiowska

The Wayne State University Humanities Center has awarded Professor Ewa Golebiowski a Marilyn Williamson Endowed Distinguished Faculty Fellowship for 2021-22. Golebiowska's research project is titled: "Membership in a Stigmatized Religious Minority and Political Support: Nonbelievers Running for Office in the United States." The fellowship award is for $20,000.

Golebiowska's research specializes in political behavior and political psychology. She has developed an international reputation for her research into the dynamics of political tolerance and stereotyping with respect to female, minority, and gay and lesbian political candidates.

Golebiowska has compiled an exemplary publication record since her arrival at Wayne State. In addition to a major book, she has published 17 refereed journal articles and seven chapters in edited collections. A number of these refereed articles are in the most prestigious journals in the discipline of political science

Golebiowska's book The Many Faces of Tolerance: Poles' Attitudes toward Diversity (Routledge) appeared in print in the summer of 2014, with a paperback edition published in 2016. The work presented a systematic account on Poles' attitudes toward ethnic, religious, political and sexual minorities, and investigated Poland's reputation as an intolerant, antisemitic and homophobic country. As a path-breaking study, the book conducted a multivariate analysis of Polish sentiments toward groups against which there have been historical and/or current discrimination.

Golebiowska will use the Humanities Center Faculty Fellowship to conduct a research project examining how religiosity impacts political candidates' electoral success. The study will employ an experimental design and survey data to determine the effects of this variable on voting outcomes.