Jasia Pietrzak (1974 - 2020)

It is with great sadness that we let you know that our colleague Jasia Pietrzak passed away on March 3, 2020, after a long struggle with ALS disease. Jasia received her PhD from Columbia University, and subsequently became an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Warsaw. She was a highly respected researcher and a devoted mentor for many students interested in social psychology of intergroup relations and social cognition.

Jasia's work was always focused on the most pressing social issues, such as status-based rejection, sex roles, social justice, racism, gender inequalities, and conflict resolution. She was a pioneer of research on sexism in Eastern Europe, and her concepts of maternity-focused sexist beliefs inspired much of empirical studies on the topic in Poland. Jasia was also an active organizer of scientific life. Together with Kai Jonas she organized a series of Warsaw-Jena Seminars on Intergroup Relations. She was also instrumental for establishing of the Center for Research on Prejudice at the University of Warsaw and building the English language study program in psychology at the University of Warsaw (Warsaw International Studies in Psychology).

Jasia was a great friend and colleague, admired by her students and respected by the faculty. Jasia's warm, witty and ironic way of interacting was a memorable part of any project that she was involved in. It is a great loss to our scientific community. She will be missed.

Michał Bilewicz, University of Warsaw, Warsaw
Maria Lewicka, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń
Mikołaj Winiewski, University of Warsaw, Warsaw

For those who would like to share their memories or express condolences, there is a virtual space for that: https://www.remembr.com/jasia.pietrzak