Ukrainian studies at Columbia University bolstered by new visiting professor program (02/22/04)

Ukrainian studies at Columbia University bolstered by new visiting professor program

NEW YORK - The ongoing fund-raising campaign to expand Ukrainian studies at Columbia University reached a landmark in January with the appointment of the first visiting professor to teach Ukrainian history.

Dr. Frank Sysyn, director of the Petro Jacyk Center for Ukrainian Historical Research at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, accepted the Columbia appointment for the spring 2004 semester.

He is teaching two courses in the history department: a graduate colloquium, "The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Ukraine and Muscovy-Russia in the Early Modern Period" and an undergraduate lecture course, co-taught with Prof. Mark von Hagen, on the subject "Ukraine and Russia: Encounters and Controversies in History."

Prof. Sysyn received his Ph.D. in history from Harvard and is author of highly regarded publications on Ukrainian history, including the monograph "Between Poland and Ukraine. The dilemma of Adam Kysil 1600-1653" (Harvard University Press, 1985), the essay "Introduction to the History of Ukraine-Rus' (in Hrushevsky's "History of Ukraine-Rus,' " CIUS Press, 1997) and most recently two contributions in the collective work "Pereiaslav Rada 1654" (Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2003). He is also editor-in-chief of the Hrushevsky Translation Project.

Dr. Sysyn's teaching at Columbia is supported by the newly established Ukrainian Studies Instruction Fund. In 2002 the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Ukrainian Studies Fund proposed establishing this fund at Columbia as part of an effort to build a vibrant and multi-faceted program that integrates Ukrainian studies into broader intellectual and policy agendas. The teaching of history was selected especially because of its importance to political and social science studies of contemporary Ukraine.

The new endowed fund supporting the courses in Ukrainian history is to be the first of several at Columbia for teaching, research, library acquisitions and outreach - activities that would be conducted in a center dedicated to Ukrainian studies. Thousands of dollars were recently raised by the Ukrainian Studies Fund for this purpose, with over 300 donors nationwide contributing to the campaign.

A $250,000 donation from Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union and additional gifts from key Ukrainian American organizations, such as the Heritage Foundation of 1st Security Federal Savings Bank, Self Reliance (New Jersey) Federal Credit Union in Clifton, N.J., Ukrainian Selfreliance New England Federal Credit Union in Hartford, Conn., helped bring the capital of the new fund for history instruction well on its way to reaching $800,000.

The new history courses have attracted students from diverse programs at Columbia. Ten graduate students from the School of International and Public Affairs, the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are taking the graduate colloquium. Undergraduates, including several of Ukrainian heritage, make up the majority enrolled in the lecture course.

Instruction in Ukrainian history is complemented this semester by courses in Ukrainian offered by the Slavic department at three competency levels. Rory Finnin, a graduate student in the Slavic department and Dr. Antonina Berozovenko, visiting lecturer at Columbia, are teaching these classes.

In addition, the Harriman Institute at the School of International and Public Affairs is presenting a lecture series on a variety of topics on Ukraine open to students and the public.

On May 8, the Ukrainian Studies Program, in collaboration with leaders of numerous Ukrainian American community and professional organizations, will be hosting the Friends of Columbia University Ukrainian Studies (FOCUUS II) fund-raising dinner in Low Library.

For information about this event and about Ukrainian Studies at Columbia, readers may contact Maria Sonevytsky at (212) 854-4697; write to Ukrainian Studies - Columbia University, International Affairs Building - 12th floor, 420 W. 118th St., New York, NY 10027; or e-mail ms2147@columbia.edu.

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