NOTES ON PEOPLE (10/10/99)

NOTES ON PEOPLE

Receives university's Chancellor's Citation

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Syracuse University recognized a local Ukrainian American with the "Chancellor's Citation for Distinguished Service." This prestigious award is granted annually to individuals who have made a real difference in the lives of students, faculty and members of the community.

Dr. Patricia A. Burak, director of the Office of International Services at Syracuse University, was acknowledged by the chancellor of the university as "the head, heart and soul of the university's widely admired services to its international students." A certificate presented on March 3 to Dr. Burak by the chancellor recounted the "countless hours dedicated to meeting the needs of a diverse and growing body of international students, scholars and their families."

His words complimented Pat's "extraordinary commitment to caring" and her expertise which is acknowledged throughout this country and overseas." Her book, "Crisis Management in a Cross-Cultural Setting" was acknowledged as a handbook for many other campuses and institutions.

Proposed for this award by an alumna of the university, and supported by the dean of Hendricks Chapel, Dr. Burak's nomination was strengthened by letters from over 30 students, past and present, faculty and members of the community. A graduate student from Armenia, Anna Pkhrikian, said, "Almost every international student on the Syracuse University campus gets to know Patricia Burak. She's the one we go to with questions. For any problem, Pat will find a solution. She is a person with a big heart who stretches herself out to help as much as she can." Ms. Pkhrikian referred to her life-threatening battle with leukemia, and Ms. Burak's role in helping to bring her brother here to provide bone marrow. Later, Dr. Burak worked with insurance companies to safeguard payment for the extensive treatment that followed the bone marrow transplant. "Pat came to the rescue," she is quoted as saying.

Several Ukrainian and Russian students joined forces to write a letter to the selection committee as well, commenting upon Dr. Burak's involvement with them over the years. "Helping a visiting scholar whose bank account was drained by con artists. Recruiting interpreters for a little boy who came to Syracuse from abroad for open-heart surgery ... Dealing with domestic violence ... Numerous visits to a hospital to visit the sick child of an international student. A friend in need is a friend indeed," wrote Dr. Andrey Meleshevich, Alla Meleshevich, Irena Ustinova and Elena Kulikova.

Dr. Burak came to Syracuse University in 1977, starting as a counselor at the Office of International Services. Over the years she rose in her profession to become the director of the office in 1989. Many publications, presentations and workshops in the area of advising and counseling students from Ukraine and Russia led to Dr. Burak's invitation from the United States Information Agency in 1993 to visit Ukraine and Russia as an educational consultant. She spent two weeks in Kyiv and Moscow, teaching advisers in the USIS Advising Centers about the educational system in the United States, and how their students could access the system.

An ardent Ukrainian American, Dr. Burak has always been a member of the Ukrainian community in Central New York. Her grandparents, Luke and Tatiana Zaleski came to the United States from Halychyna in 1906 and 1909, respectively. They were founding members of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, the parish in which Dr. Burak continues to participate as a teacher in the religious education program and is the parish in which her son, Billy Prusinowski, 14, and young daughter, Anna Prusinowski, are active.

Dr. Burak has always found a way to mix service to students with her personal and professional interests. Pursuing a doctor of arts degree at Syracuse University for many years, she finally decided to translate a Russian novel into English for her dissertation.

Since the work that Dr. Burak does in international education also involves the translation of one culture to another, she found that her professional skills helped her in the literary translation process. In her work as an international student adviser she must decide which strategies are effective for bringing life in the United States, especially academic life, across to students from other cultures. This is one of her strengths, interests and passions, and one for which she was recognized by this citation.

Dr. Burak is a member of Ukrainian National Association Branch 39.

| Home Page |