Turning the pages back... October 12, 2003 (10/10/04)

Turning the pages back...

October 12, 2003

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - The goal of establishing a permanent program of inter-disciplinary Ukrainian studies at Columbia University took a major step forward last year as officials at the Ukrainian Studies Fund (USF) announced that funding for the project had reached $750,000. An initial donation of $250,000 from the Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union was part of that milestone sum.

"I'm of course elated and grateful to the Ukrainian community for its generosity and its vote of confidence in our Columbia efforts to rebuild Ukrainian studies here," said Dr. Mark von Hagen, a professor of history at the university, according to a news story by The Weekly's Andrew Nynka in the paper's issue of October 12, 2003.

In addition to the current funding, faculty at the university and officials at the USF said they hoped to raise a total of $5 million in order to endow a larger program of Ukrainian studies at the Ivy League school. Such a vision, Dr. von Hagen said, would include funding a visiting professor of history every other year, establishing a position in Ukrainian language teaching, and endowing a permanent chair that might move between the history and Slavic language departments.

Additional funding could support a position at the school that would be responsible for archiving, processing and expanding the university library's Ukrainian materials. There is interest also in supporting visiting scholars from American and foreign schools who would use the university's Ucrainica collection for research purposes. Additionally, the USF and Columbia University hope to create a system of scholarships and stipends for undergraduate and graduate students whose work would involve Ukrainian studies. Dr. von Hagen said that teaching and research would be paramount in Columbia's Ukrainian Studies Program.

Source: "Ukrainian Studies Fund raises $750,000 for Columbia's inter-disciplinary program," by Andrew Nynka, The Ukrainian Weekly, October 12, 3003, Vol. LXXI, No. 41.

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