Joint Conferences: Participants offer their assessments (07/11/99)

Joint Conferences

Participants offer their assessments

Following are comments of participants of the first Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations held just outside Washington on June 23-27. The interviews were conducted during and after the conferences by Roma Hadzewycz.

Andrew Iwach, M.D., San Francisco: "It was absolutely phenomenal; it absolutely has to happen again. It parallels what we've been trying to do out in San Francisco for the last five years. We - that's Justyn Makarewycz, Adria Wochok and I, who are the organizing committee for our upcoming professionals' conference [held biennially] in San Francisco - are going to have to work to meet the standard set by this conference. Our Ukrainian Professional and Business Group of Northern California, which actually has membership on the entire West Coast, was created as an umbrella organization that is open to everyone. But it has a posture that is more in line with what is expected in American business, of American professionals.

What strikes me is that the basic elements of what they put together here in Washington were right on the mark. The location was right - if you're going to bring together a group of different Ukrainian organizations, do it where you can have some impact. Washington is the right place. The time is right - different organizations are maturing and the leadership is more receptive to interacting among each other. The people are right - the diaspora now comprises professionals in various fields and with diverse special interests.

We now have a powerful unified voice when we go to Washington. The number of elected officials present, the response of the White House and the State Department would not have occurred had any of our organizations acted individually. If the diaspora wants to maintain a vibrant future now that Ukraine is free, this is how we can help both Ukraine and the diaspora.

Alexander Gudziak, dentist and credit union activist, Syracuse, N.Y.: It is very good that the younger generation is taking over the leadership of the diaspora. This is the first time that 25-plus organizations converged in the nation's capital - mostly the generations born here, professionals in good positions in industry, business and the professions.

We always asked: Where are our children? We see them here. They care about and love our community. At the UMANA and credit union conferences, which I attended, the presence of youth was immediately obvious. These are the children of my peers.

George Bohatiuk, M.D., Wilmington, Del.: It was an excellent idea to hold this conference to bring Ukrainians in the United States into the new millennium. It underscores the necessity for Ukrainians to network continuously in addressing and resolving a multitude of issues that face us on a daily basis. That's key. Unless we do that, we will never be an effective force in world politics.

Julian Kulas, lawyer, banker, Chicago: This conference was a very positive thing, an opportunity to meet with other professionals, but more importantly, an opportunity to present ourselves in our capital, to show our broad shoulders and that we are a viable community. There is nothing better than getting a large group of people together to recognize Congress for assistance they have provided. Our bank, 1st Security Federal Savings, sponsored the Congressional Reception and I consider this money well-spent. I think conferences like this should be held perhaps every three years.

Wasyl Kolodchin, radio journalist, community and credit union activist, Detroit: It is very good that such a conference was held, and it should be counted as a success. It was necessary because some kind of change was needed. Many of our older community members are dying; a pessimism was overcoming our community. But this conference - especially for those who were there and those who will read about it - gave them a bit of courage and confidence that not everything has been lost, that we exist and will continue to exist.

Another big success is that nearly 70 percent of the participants were young people, and this is a very big plus because these young people are professionals. They met with each other, and they saw there were many of them and that this a great power. This is very positive for our entire society in the United States and in the diaspora as a whole.

And I would say that the following is the most important: that the conference took place, that it attracted many people and that there were so many young people. Even though they attended their various conferences, among them will be several leaders who will take the reins of the community, who will fund activities. It will be community work of a different type than we are used to.

What the conference lacked, for me, was a solid panel at which we could discuss the present state of the Ukrainian community in the U.S. and the diaspora, and look into the future. The last session of the conference was very ad hoc, not well-organized; also, it should have been held in the middle of the conference so that young people could have been there [many had left by Sunday afternoon].

But, all in all, this was a job well done - congratulations to the organizers. The second conference will be even better.

Eugene Stakhiv, Ph.D., engineer, Fairfax Station, Va.: The conference was a terrific idea. There is great value in having such interaction - in getting all of the Ukrainian professional community talking and meeting at the same time. The Washington Group, especially, tried to bring together all the salient points at its conference.

During our own [engineers'] session we had high-level people and were able to see the full range of activity, the iceberg below the surface, as regards cooperation between the U.S. and Ukraine in science and technology. We were able to get a broad overview of the many initiatives under way. For example, Dr. George Gamota spoke about business incubator programs that take good science and technology and convert them into good business. I learned a lot.

Theodor Kostiuk, Ph.D., astrophysicist, Seabrook, Md.: The Ukrainian Engineers Society meeting was unique. It was not a technical meeting, but focused on science and technology that addresses cooperation between the United States and Ukraine. It also looked at technology as a whole and noted how rapid changes in recent years have altered the ways things are done in society, diplomacy, business. At the engineers' session there was an examination of the possibilities for cooperation between Ukraine and the U.S., as well as the international community.

The conference was extremely successful, highly attended and an opportunity to really learn what the Ukrainian community does as a whole. I learned a lot about activity that is not publicized.

Angela Phillips Diaz, director, Human Space Flight and Research Division, NASA, Washington: Through the Gore-Kuchma Commission summits we identified the opportunities for [bilateral] cooperation, building on the expertise of Ukraine. At this conference of Ukrainian professionals I wanted to underline how much we value the partnership between NASA and the National Space Agency of Ukraine, to emphasize that Ukrainians bring significant expertise to the space community and that it is a privilege to work with them. We look to future cooperation.

Yaroslav Yatskiv, director, Main Astronomical Observatory, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: It is extraordinarily symbolic to hold a conference on this level. Here we had a NASA official, Ukrainian professionals from the U.S. and representatives of Ukraine all come together. Ten years ago we could not even have imagined this. It was a dream. Here we could inform our colleagues that we have great scientific and industrial potential, that we can be considered a serious partner.

I believe this conference was very needed by Ukrainian professionals since they should understand their role has changed. They serve as a bridge between Ukraine's potential and industry and business of the U.S. for the benefit of Ukraine. And this has been practically accomplished at this conference.

Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak, historian, Washington: Like the "Ukrainian Woman in Two Worlds" conference [organized in 1982 by the Ukrainian National Women's League of America], this conference also was a shocker in that no one expected that so many people would show up - and so many young people showed up here.

That merely shows that we have to change the style of our organizational work and put greater emphasis on our specialized organizations that function - not on the basis of an ideology or a program - but on the basis of specific activities and interest groups. And these people will find the time and will be able to work together because of communality on particular projects.

This conference also shows you have to let people do their own thing. It isn't necessary to establish directives and policy from on high. We have a developed civil society; people know how to function in groups - you have to let them function in groups. And, the consensus that emerged at the last session [of the conference] on the need for the presidents of the various organizations to meet was really worth the efforts of the conference.

It shows that this generation is a new generation of people whose organizational styles evolved into something different; if we try to put them into organizations that evolved with styles irrelevant to them, we will not have vibrant organizations in our community.

Adrian Baranetsky, M.D., Short Hills, N.J.: The Joint Conferences were a communal epiphany - the self-realization that together we can do it: we can integrate with the mainstream while maintaining our Ukrainian identity and institutions into the future. The conference's theme, "Synergy," reflected the collaboration of our professional and civic cadres, uniting their expertise for the good of the whole community.

| Home Page |