Ukrainian Engineers' Society elects new national board, honors members (10/19/03)

Ukrainian Engineers' Society elects new national board, honors members

JENKINTOWN, PA - Members of the Ukrainian Engineers' Society of America (UESA) approved a new National board of directors and changes to the organization's by-laws, and honored several deserving members during the society's annnual general membership meeting on September 6.

The UESA national board for 2003-2005 will be headed by Andrij Wowk, the organization's national president in 2001-2003. The other executive members of the board are Marco Shmerykowsky, P.E., vice-president; Wolodymyr Rudakewycz, treasurer; and Mattey Rakowsky, Secretary. The new board is rounded out by Tymish Hankewycz, membership coordinator; Wasyl Kinach, P.E.; Bohdan Gerulak, A.I.A.; and Andrey Hankewycz.

Via balloting before the meeting, UESA members also approved several amendments to the UESA by-laws, including the addition of student and associate levels of society membership and the collection of all membership dues centrally by the national treasurer.

The meeting included an awards ceremony for several outstanding UESA members. Dr. Lubomyr Romankiw, a noted research scientist at IBM, was awarded the 2003 "UESA Member of the Year" award and honorary membership status. The award recognizes Dr. Romankiw's pioneering work in magnetic recording head technology, which forms the basis for almost all computer disk drives in use today.

Also recognized were members Dr. Oleksa Bilaniuk, the current president of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences, who received an award for professional and community achievement, and past UESA president Dr. Lew Dobrjanskyj, presented an award for lifelong UESA activity.

In his president's report Mr. Wowk said that the 2003 general meeting, falling on the same year as the 55th anniversary of the UESA, comes "at a critical time" in the history of the Society, as the organization strives to preserve its past while looking to the future.

Noting accomplishments of the board during the previous administration, such as playing a key role in two summits of Ukrainian American organizations, Mr. Wowk said there is still much the UESA can do to make the organization more relevant to the needs of current-day technical professionals and the community.

He expressed enthusiasm about areas the new board plans to focus on in 2003-2005, which include:

implementing a student scholarship program;
increasing cooperation with Ukraine;
re-evaluating and improving UESA publications, especially in regard to the contributions of Ukrainians and Ukrainian Americans to science and technology;
organizing a national technical conference; and,
improving communication between the society and the Ukrainian American and non-Ukrainian communities.

Mr. Wowk ended his presentation by calling on all UESA members to assist the board with these projects in the coming two years. Members from the society's chapters in Philadelphia, New York City, Detroit and New Jersey took part in the meeting.

The UESA is an organization of technical professionals and students of Ukrainian descent, with more than 500 members throughout the U.S. For more information about the society or about UESA membership, please contact Mr. Wowk via e-mail at [email protected], or visit the UESA website at www.uesa.org.

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