Osvita Foundation to honor Jaroslav Rozumnyj
WINNIPEG - Dr. Jaroslav Rozumnyj, senior scholar with the department of German and Slavic studies at the University of Manitoba, has been selected as an Osvita Foundation honoree for the year 2001. A distinguished scholar, widely known in Canada and abroad, Dr. Rozumnyj is being recognized for his contributions to the field of Slavic studies, as well as his work on behalf of the Ukrainian community.
Dr. Rozumnyj obtained a bachelor of arts in philosophy and theology from the seminary at Culemborg in the Netherlands. After immigrating to Canada, he enrolled at the University of Ottawa, where he earned his M.A. and completed his doctorate in Slavic studies.
His teaching career began at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, where he set up the Ukrainian and Russian program in the department of modern languages (1960-1963). He has since held appointments at Western Michigan University, and, since 1964, at the University of Manitoba. In 1976-1989 he was chairman of the department of Slavic studies at the University of Manitoba, where he rebuilt and expanded the department's program to become the largest in North America.
As a visiting professor, he taught at his alma mater, the University of Ottawa, and at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome and the Ukrainian Free University in Munich, and was visiting research scholar at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. After retiring from the University of Manitoba in 1995, he served as dean of the faculty of philosophy at the UFU, and was named an honorary professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine.
Dr. Rozumnyj, whose special field of interest is Ukrainian language and literature, has edited six volumes, and published over 150 articles, essays and reviews. From the 1960s through the 1980s he hosted and organized over 70 guest lectures, poetry and literary readings for scholars and writers from Ukraine, the United States and Canada, including Ivan Drach, Ivan Dzyuba, Yuriy Tarnawsky, Bohdan Boychuk and Danylo Struk. He is currently editing the Canadian volume of the Encyclopedia of the Ukrainian Diaspora , as well as four books of essays, and is preparing a collection of his selected articles for publication.
In addition to his professional achievements, Dr. Rozumnyj has taken a leading role in the community. He has served on numerous boards and organizations, including as president of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences (UVAN), the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center and the Markian Shashkevych Center in Winnipeg, as board member of the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature, and chairman of the Winnipeg Harvard Project Committee.
As a longtime supporter of Ukrainian language education, Dr. Rozumnyj has worked to educate a generation of Ukrainian language teachers and scholars and is responsible for creating an environment conducive to the appreciation of Ukrainian language and culture.
He was closely involved with the introduction of the Ukrainian language as an entry course at the University of Manitoba in 1967, served on the Ukrainian Curriculum Committee, Manitoba Department of Education in the 1960s through the 1970s, and was a member of the Ukrainian Advisory Committee to the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party Caucus in 1976 which requested a pilot project for Ukrainian-English instruction in grades 1 to 3 in Manitoba schools.
In the years leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Dr. Rozumnyj played a pivotal role in the Canadian Friends of Rukh (the movement for political reform in Ukraine) and co-founded and chaired its Manitoba branch (1989-1992). In recent years he has been a participant in the movement to reform post-secondary education in Ukraine and is an active fund-raiser and supporter of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, serving as a member of its International Advisory Board and as its representative in Canada.
Dr. Rozumnyj is married to Oksana (née Hrycenko), a well-known community activist who works in support of arts groups, cultural institutions and community associations. The couple has four children: Larysa, Roman, Istan and Ruslan; and two grandchildren.
A testimonial banquet will be held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery on November 22. Tickets, at $75 each, may be purchased by calling the foundation, (204) 942-5405.
The Osvita Foundation supports excellence in education through Manitoba Parents for Ukrainian Education and their support of the English Ukrainian Bilingual Program.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 18, 2001, No. 46, Vol. LXIX
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