UFU confers honorary Ph.D. on Thomas Bird of CUNY (02/18/01)

UFU confers honorary Ph.D. on Thomas Bird of CUNY

MUNICH - The Ukrainian Free University (UFU) on January 17 conferred an honorary doctor of philosophy degree on Thomas E. Bird, deputy chair of the department of European Literatures at Queens College, City University of New York, and honorary professor at St. Clement Pope Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome.

The ceremony, held on the eve of the university's 80th anniversary, Founder's Day celebrations was presided over by the Rector of the UFU, Dr. Leonid Rudnytzky, and the dean of its faculty of law and economics, Dr. Reinhard Heydenreuter. In his presentation of the candidate (known in European University tradition as laudatio), Prof. Ulrich Schweier of the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, stressed Dr. Bird's lifetime commitment to teaching and scholarship, focusing on his contribution to Ukrainian studies and his ecumenical work.

Dr. Bird organized and edited a series of lectures at the college titled "Modern Ukrainian Writers." He is co-editor of "Hryhorij Savych Skovoroda: An Anthology of Critical Articles" and of "Archiepiscopal and Patriarchal Autonomy." He is a member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences. He authored the entry on "Oles Honchar" for the prestigious reference work, Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century. He contributed the entry on "The Ukrainian Metropolia (U.S.A.)" to the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion and has written and reviewed Ucrainica for Bohoslovia, Eastern Churches Review, Germano-Slavica, Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Slavic and East European Journal, and the magazine Za Patriarkhat.

Visibly moved, Dr. Bird greeted the assembled in the audience, among whom were his wife Mary-Lynn; Georgi Kosykh, the consul general of Ukraine in Munich; Dr. Olexander Romanovskiy, rector, and Olena Nadtochiy, vice-rector, of the Ukrainian-American Liberal Arts Institute Wisconsin International University (USA), Ukraine; and other Ukrainian and German dignitaries.

Dr. Bird stated that he was "humbled and honored" to be recognized by the UFU, not only because I was sensible of the privilege inherent in this degree, but in addition, keenly aware of the company of eminent scholars, statemen, and ecclesiastics whose ranks I was being invited to join. It is a gratifying recognition of an academic career much focused on the literature, culture and religious life of the Ukrainian nation. The discovery by my mentor, Hryhory Skovoroda, of Sacred Scripture has been described as 'a spiritual debt abroad.' The discovery and study of what Henri Bergson called 'l'évolution creatrice,' creative evolution, in the soul of the Ukrainian people has been for me 'a spiritual debt abroad.'"

Dr. Bird also paid tribute to the UFU:

"As we observe scholars from many nations writing dissertations and monographs that include references and quotations to the scripa of the UFU's faculty and graduates, we find prima facie sanction for the reputation the university rightly enjoys.

"Arguably the most significant contribution of the scholars associated with this institution has been their preservation of the idea of independent Ukrainian scholarship and the transmission of those achievements to the wider world of learning. They have worked, in a paraphrase of Katherine Mansfield, 'not to make us clever for another time, but to make us wise for all time.'

"The task presently facing Ukrainian scholarship is a daunting one, viz., to participate in the re-establishment of valid scholarship across the broad spectrum of Ukrainian studies and assist in the confection of a new conceptual base for Ukrainian nationhood, navigating between the legacy of dogmatic collectivism and the hazards of Western individualism. The identification of a usable past poses stunning challenges. And to return to the author of 'The Garden of Divine Songs,' Skovoroda's emphasis on divine reality, the eternity of the spirit, and a morality that pursued the creation of a harmonious society has much to say to today's citizens of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv.

"The future of the Ukrainian nation is directly related to the degree of national self-awareness found among her people. National self-consciousness is the surest barrier against absorption of the country's sovereignty by another state. As the world monitors the evolution of civil society activities in Ukraine, the role of the Ukrainian Free University will be increasingly recognized as a signal factor in that process."

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