New York credit union donates $250,000 to Ukrainian studies at Columbia University (04/06/03)

New York credit union donates $250,000 to Ukrainian studies at Columbia University

by Illya Labunka

NEW YORK - The Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union has donated $250,000 to the Ukrainian Studies Fund's Columbia University Project. The major donation sets the cornerstone for the establishment of a new $1 million endowed fund projected to support Columbia University's new Center for Ukrainian Studies.

The fund is the first of several to be established at Columbia and, once endowed, it will support the teaching of primarily new courses in Ukrainian history and other traditional disciplines of Ukrainian Studies. These courses will be offered as part of the center's new inter-disciplinary curriculum.

Self Reliance's monumental gift is the largest, single donation received by the Ukrainian Studies Fund for this goal to date.

"We hope that the center of Ukrainian Studies at Columbia will provide many opportunities for our youth, enabling them access to the study of Ukraine's history and related socio-political disciplines at the highest academic level. This center will become a beacon of knowledge about Ukraine in America," said Dr. Bohdan Kekish, president and CEO of the Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union, during a gift conveyance ceremony attended by representatives of Columbia University and the Ukrainian Studies Fund.

For more than 50 years Self Reliance New York has been actively addressing the needs of the Ukrainian community. The Self Reliance New York credit union offers numerous financial services and supports a broad range of important Ukrainian cultural and national endeavors.

The Columbia University Project envisions a multi-phase expansion of Ukrainian studies at one of the most prestigious and influential American universities. It will financially strengthen the Center of Ukrainian Studies, thus enabling it to engage a variety of lecturers and specialists to teach a rich curriculum focusing on Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Studies Fund's project also hopes to establish funds supporting additional key activities at Columbia: scholarships for undergraduates and graduates, acquisition and processing funds for the university library's Ucrainica collection, and organization of colloquia and seminars on Ukraine.

Significant ground has been covered in reaching the project's objective. Two distinguished Ukrainian organizations - the New York-based Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Ukrainian Studies Fund - have pooled their resources to jointly facilitate the introduction of the new curriculum on Ukrainian history at Columbia.

Columbia University, on its part, is eager to incorporate Ukrainian studies as an integral component of its academic infrastructure. This is especially a goal of the current president of the International Association of Ukrainian Studies, Dr. Mark Von Hagen, who is professor of history at Columbia.

Moreover, the university's administration has demonstrated its willingness to appoint a lecturer in Ukrainian history already for the 2003-2004 academic year, provided that the Ukrainian Studies Fund will raise $1 million for the new endowment fund. This Self Reliance New York gift brings the campaign substantially closer to that goal.

Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union has a distinguished history supporting Ukrainian scholarship. The credit union was among the first Ukrainian financial institutions that supported the Ukrainian Studies Fund's campaign for the Ukrainian chairs at Harvard University. Over the years, Self Reliance New York has also extended its philanthropy for such key projects as, research on the Great Famine of 1932-1933, publications commemorating the Millennium of Ukraine's Christianity, the Ukrainian Summer School at Harvard, and, more recently, Internet publishing projects on Ukrainian culture and current affairs in Ukraine.

Myroslaw Shmigel, chairman of the credit union board of directors, and Dr. Kekish, continue this tradition of responsible stewardship of community assets.

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