Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute receives Soros grant (04/05/98)

Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute receives Soros grant

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Each year for the next three years, 10 Ukrainian students will attend Harvard University's Ukrainian Summer Institute (HUSI) thanks to a three-year grant from the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF), an organization founded by George Soros.

HUSI, which has been run by Harvard's Ukrainian Research Institute for 25 years, offers U.S., Canadian and other foreign students college credit for courses in Ukrainian language, history, politics and literature.

Since 1992, students from Ukraine have made HUSI an increasingly international program. The students from Ukraine attending HUSI learn Western perpectives on Ukrainian studies and for these students, the Harvard experience is an important step in their development as future scholars, public servants and professionals in Ukraine. Last summer 21 students from Ukraine attended HUSI, the largest enrollment of Ukrainian students ever in any Harvard program. The Harvard experience inspired this new generation of Ukrainians to return to their homeland and form the first Harvard Alumni Club of Ukraine.

The 1998 program will once again offer Ukrainian studies courses of the highest quality. Returning by popular demand as HUSI director will be Prof. Vera Andrushkiw from Wayne State University. In addition to her duties as director of the Summer Institute, Prof. Andrushkiw will again teach "Advanced Ukrainian for Business." Her experienced language team includes Natalia Shostak from the University of Alberta, who will teach beginning Ukrainian and Yuri Shevchuk from the New School for Social Research, who will teach intermediate Ukrainian.

The language courses will be supplemented by courses in Ukrainian literature, history and politics. Prof. George Grabowicz, former director of the Ukrainian Research Institute, returns to the Summer Institute with a course on "Twentieth Century Ukrainian Literature: Tradition, Social Action and the Avant-Garde." Newcomers will be Prof. Christine Worobec from Kent Sate University teaching "Social History of Modern Ukraine, 1770-1945," and Taras Kuzio, research fellow from the University of Birmingham in England, who will teach "Contemporary Ukraine: Dynamics of Political Transformation" for undergraduates and "Ukrainian Politics in Comparative Perspective" for graduate students. The academic program will be complemented by a full calendar of special events. The program for 1998 will include a lecture series by prominent faculty and guests, round-table discussions on current Ukrainian affairs, and theater and music programs, literary readings, contemporary films, and excursions to Boston attractions and local beaches.

The mixture of students from Ukraine with Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian students and non-Ukrainian graduate students, provides an exciting and stimulating international program that engages and challenges all who attend. Friendships and contacts made in past years at Harvard have led to new horizons and opportunities for many participants. The institute is now enrolling second-generation applicants whose parents met at the institute.

The 1998 intensive eight-week program will take place June 22-August 14. As in past years, HUSI will offer reduced tuition, substantially less than the regular Harvard summer school tuition. Students with demonstrated financial need may qualify for further fee reductions, but must apply by April 15 for consideration. Dormitory housing is available at Harvard. Admission is based on the applicant's academic record, a letter of recommendation and an essay. The application deadline is June l.

For application materials, contact Patricia Coatsworth at Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute, 1583 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138; or by telephone, (617) 495-7833, fax, (617) 495-8097; e-mail: huri@fas.harvard.edu; or web page at http://www.sabre.org/huri/.