Lashchyk Memorial Scholarship established at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (11/03/96)

Lashchyk Memorial Scholarship established at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

DETROIT - The Prof. Eugene Lashchyk Memorial Scholarship Fund at the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv was established on July 20, the first anniversary of his death. The scholarship in the sum of $2,000 will be awarded annually to the best Ukrainian student of philosophy at UKMA.

In addition to this scholarship, preparations are under way to open a library/reading room at the department of philosophy at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. This library will house the collection of Prof. Lashchyk's books on philosophy and science, which he bequeathed to the university.

Dr. Lashchyk was born in Ukraine in 1937 and came to the United States in 1949. He attended high school in New York City, was active as a youth counselor in Plast and in the Ukrainian Students Organization and was a member of the Dumka Chorus.

He completed his B.A. and M.A. at City College in New York and his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1969. He specialized in the philosophy of science and wrote his dissertation on the theories of scientific revolutions in the works of Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend.

He was the recipient of the Bacon Fellowship, the Carnegie Summer Institute in Philosophy of Science at Notre Dame, and an academic visitor at the London School of Economics. He lectured at Brooklyn College, St. Francis College, the University of Delaware and the University of Pennsylvania. For three decades he taught such courses as philosophy of science, logic, epistemology, critical thinking and ethics at La Salle University.

Dr. Lashchyk also worked on Ukrainian philosophy and published works on Hryhoriy Skovoroda and Volodymyr Vynnychenko. Throughout his life he was concerned with the state of Ukrainian philosophy and cooperated with his colleagues in Ukraine.

He watched the developments in Ukraine's transition and rejoiced in the declaration of independence. He worked actively, assisting in making changes in the curriculum and compiling an anthology on critical thinking. In December 1994, at the invitation of the Soros Foundation in Kyiv, he conducted the Seminar on Critical Thinking for professors of philosophy.

In the academic sphere he was a member of the American Philosophical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, the British Society for the Philosophy of Science, the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Shevchenko Scientific Society. In the Philadelphia area, Dr. Lashchyk was one of the active organizers of the monthly Colloquium of the Greater Philadelphia Philosophical Consortium (GPPC) of universities and colleges.

As a member of the executive committee of the GPPC, he proposed and laid the groundwork of the conference on "Nationalism: Its Nature and Development in the Post-Soviet Republics and Central Europe." Due to his untimely death, the conference was held as a memorial to him and was made possible through the work of Prof. Hans Oberdiek of Swarthmore College, the generous support of the GPPC board of governors and Prof. Lashchyk's friends and colleagues, particularly Prof. Alex Marshal and Dr. Bipin Shah.

The participants included such noted scholars as: George Kline, James Scanlan, Murad Akhundov, Veljko Vujacic, Andrew Arato, Yevhen Bystrytsky, Alexander Motyl, William Sullivan, Andrew Chrucky and Michael Kerlin. Many of the speakers warmly reminisced about their joint work with their colleague.

Dr. Lashchyk died at the height of his creative work, not having the opportunity to complete his numerous plans. Despite his serious illness, he maintained a positive attitude and was optimistic to the end. This year the department of philosophy at La Salle University is planning a special lecture on philosophy of science in his memory.

The Prof. Eugene Lashchyk Memorial Scholarhip Fund was established from donations in memory of Dr. Lashchyk by family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances. (All donations are tax deductible.) Anyone wishing to make additional contributions can do so by writing a check for Ukrainian Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Dr. Eugene Lashchyk Scholarship Fund, c/o Liuba Lashchyk, 1101 River Road, Yardley, PA 19067.