Rochesterians welcome president of National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy (06/26/05)

Rochesterians welcome president of National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy

by Christine Hoshowsky

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Members of the Ukrainian community in Rochester, N.Y., greeted and toasted Prof. Viacheslav Brioukhovetsky, the president of the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and the organizer of the Committee for the National Salvation during the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. Prof. Brioukhovetsky's visit to Rochester was part of a mission to strengthen ties to Ukrainians in the diaspora and to raise funds for the Kyiv Mohyla Academy. The funds are needed to facilitate the transition of Kyiv Mohyla Academy from a teaching to a research and teaching university commensurate with the highest academic standards.

A benefit banquet was held on Sunday, April 24, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Rochester, to honor Prof. Brioukhovetsky. During the cocktail hour, Prof. Brioukhovetsky charmed his admirers with conversations on a range of topics and spoke most sincerely about efforts being made to make the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy a player among outstanding universities in the world.

Dr. Nataliya Shulga, president of the Rochester Ukrainian Group, and Lydia Dzus, Irondequoit town councilwoman, shared the duties of masters-of-ceremonies.

Dr. Shulga, the event's organizer and underwriter, began the formalities with a welcome and the announcement of community recognition awards for 2004.

The recipients of the awards included: Viktor Yushchenko, president of Ukraine, Ukrainian of the Year; Petro Leshchyshyn, Lifetime Achievement Award; Natalie Sluzar, Outstanding Contribution Award; Bogdan Zakharchyshyn, Volunteer of the Year Award; and Richard Harris, Best Performance Award.

Mrs. Dzus then announced the proclamations forwarded by Maggie Brooks, Monroe Country executive, and by David Schantz, Irondequoit town supervisor. The proclamations respectively designated April 24, 2005, and April 25, 2005, as Kyiv Mohyla Day. These proclamations met with much applause.

The awards ceremony and proclamations were followed by a musical interlude provided by the Zoloti Struny bandura ensemble.

The Rev. Ihor Krykhovetsky, pastor of St. Mary the Protectress Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church gave the blessing, after which the surf and turf dinner was served. Wine was provided courtesy of the Ukrainian Federal Credit Union.

The dinner was followed by the keynote address of Prof. Brioukhovetsky, who spoke about the support that students and faculty at Kyiv Mohyla Academy gave to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. It was clear that Prof. Brioukhovetsky was cognizant of the role that Ukrainian youths who experienced this momentous revolution will play in nation-building. His actions in organizing the Committee for National Salvation coupled academia and student activism, and set both decisively on the road to democracy in Ukraine.

At the close of the speech, Dr. Shulga announced that the Ukrainian American community in Rochester had raised $10,000 in donations to the Kyiv Mohyla Academy. Any donations privately made were not included in that total.

Prof. Brioukhovetsky's itinerary for Monday, April 25, was varied and busy. In the morning, he was interviewed by Bob Smith of Channel WXXI. The interview focused on the Orange Revolution and was aired on May 30. Roman Tratch, professor emeritus of St. John Fisher College, escorted Tetiana Yaroshenko, director of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy Library, on a tour of St. John Fisher College library and the Rush-Rhees library at the University of Rochester. As the director of the Kyiv Mohyla library system, Ms. Yaroshenko is responsible for overseeing a $1 million dollar grant awarded to the Kyiv Mohyla Academy Library by the Omelan Antonovich Foundation for the conversion of a historic building on the campus into the main library and information center. Ms. Yaroshenko is also the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to study private university library systems at Yale University.

At noon, Prof. Brioukhovetsky visited the Ukrainian Federal Credit Union headquarters in Rochester. The UFCU is one of the great success stories of the Rochester Ukrainian community in that it serves a diverse population that includes members from all four waves of Ukrainian immigrants to America and caters to Ukrainian communities in Sacramento, Boston and Syracuse and Watervliet, N.Y., in addition to Rochester. In cooperation with St. George Lithuanian Catholic Church in Rochester, Lithuanians are welcome members of the UFCU.

Prof. Brioukhovetsky toured the UFCU facility, including the community library, where he perused the books and selected several titles to carry back with him to add to the archives at Kyiv Mohyla Academy. While at the UFCU reception, he met with Prof. Wolodymyr Pylyshenko, the president of the credit union's board of directors and the chair of the community library; board members George Hanushevsky and Oleh Pawluk; Tamara Denysenko, CEO; Oleh Lebedko, general manager; Anatole Koba, the chair of the Supervisory Committeel along with members of the credit union and their employees.

On behalf of the UFCU, Prof. Pylyshenko handed a check in the amount of $2,500 to Prof. Brioukhovetsky as a donation to the Kyiv Mohyla Academy. Prof. Pylyshenko early on recognized the significance of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy for Americans and Ukrainians alike; he ran a summer institute under the auspices of the State University of New York at Brockport at the academy in 1995. On Prof. Pylyshenko's initiative, the UFCU has made yearly donations to the Kyiv Mohyla Academy since 1995.

Irondequoit Town Supervisor David Schantz, a good friend of the Ukrainian community, was also present at the gathering. A lively discussion ensued between the honored guests; both gentlemen were delighted with the opportunity to meet.

Next on the itinerary was a visit to the Rochester Institute of Technology, hosted by Prof. Eugene Lylak. Here Prof. Brioukhovetsky met with Dr. Stan McKenzie, the provost, and Dr. James Miller, the vice-president for enrollment management and career services.

The guests were then whisked off to the University of Rochester, where Prof. Brioukhovetsky gave a lecture on the "Aftermath of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine." The audience of students, faculty and guests showed a genuine interest in the events of the revolution and peppered Prof. Brioukhovetsky with probing questions. The event was coordinated by Prof. Ewa Hauser, the director of the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies in the department of political science at the university. The lecture was co-sponsored by the University of Rochester Russian Studies Program, the department of political science and the Rochester Ukrainian Group.

The evening dinner in honor of Prof. Brioukhovetsky was sponsored by Prof. Hauser at Phillip's European Restaurant and was attended by guests and faculty of the University of Rochester.

The National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy is an institution of higher learning committed to its students and to academic excellence. Under the leadership of Prof. Brioukhovetsky, the school has established itself as a bulwark against tyranny and a stalwart supporter of freedom and democracy.

To make a donation to the Kyiv Mohyla Academy readers may write to: Kyiv Mohyla Academy Foundation, P.O. Box 46009, Chicago, IL 60646-0009. All donations are tax-deductible.

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