She taught courses in Eastern European history, with a focus on modern Polish and Russian history, at the University of Ottawa and the University of Toronto in Canada, before landing a long-term career in the U.S. at the University of Kansas in 1965. As an author, Cienciala published two books, edited four books and wrote around forty academic articles in various American, German, and Polish historical journals. She retired as Professor Emeritus in June, 2002. In 2007 Cienciala published, together with two other historians, A Crime without Punishment, which explores the historiography of the Katyn massacre.
