The important work of the Greek professor in documenting the Greek American representation in the United States.

Nikos Alexiou was born in Volos in 1959. He studied Economics in Athens and he went to New York to study Sociology during the 80’s. He received the “President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching” at the at Queens College of the State University of New York, where he has been teaching since 1990. He has a variety of scholarly interests, including topics related to the Greek American community and the expatriate experience in North America, on which he teaches and publishes. He is a principal researcher and the founder of the The Hellenic-American Oral History Project in New York and the director of the newly established Library of Hellenism Abroad at his university, which aims to protect and enhance the Greek American historical, sociological and cultural heritage.

There are many interesting resources about the expatriate community in the United States in the Library’s collections, as well as archives of Greek associations, a plethora of photographic and archival material and, of course, books. The digitization of collections plays an important role in promoting and sharing the Greek immigrant experience in the United States, in Greece, and worldwide.

In an effort to preserve, highlight and promote the contribution of the Greeks in America, events are held that are open to the general public, students, professors, researchers and to cultural associations, while the cooperation and electronic interconnection of the Library with other organizations and archives in Greece is anticipated. Some of them are the State Archives Foundation, the Library of the Greek Parliament, the National Library and the Migration Archive “Mnimes”. Finally, scholarships are offered to students and researchers for projects and research based on the use and utilization of archival material.

Apart from Sociology, however, Nikos Alexiou has also excelled in poetry, having five poetry collections to his name. His poems have been published in American and Greek publications and anthologies, while his latest poetry collection is called “The Silver Sphinx”, from Melani Publications.