Highlights from the UNA's 110-year history (09/19/04)

Highlights from the UNA's 110-year history

A special yearlong feature focusing on the history of the Ukrainian National Association.

The Ukrainian National Association's centennial convention took place on May 6-10, 1994, in Pittsburgh, with officers and delegates alike pledging to keep the best of the UNA's deeply rooted traditions, while looking toward its younger ranks to secure a promising future for the oldest Ukrainian fraternal organization in the world.

The 242 delegates representing 247 UNA branches from throughout North America commemorated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the UNA under the slogan "With reverence for the past, with a vision for the future."

The convention marked both a continuation and a renewal in the composition of the UNA General Assembly. Ulana Diachuk was elected to her second term as UNA president, and the new UNA General Assembly counted seven new advisors among the 14 on the assembly. UNA Supreme Secretary Walter Sochan retired after more than 45 years of service to the organization - 28 of them as a member of the Executive Committee. He received a five-minute standing ovation from delegates who bid him a fond farewell.

Among the amendments to the UNA By-Laws that were approved at the convention were the following provisions: the term "supreme" was deleted from the UNA lexicon in the titles of officers and in the name of the Supreme Assembly (which now became the General Assembly); both newspapers published by the UNA, Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, were recognized as its official publications (previously only Svoboda was mentioned in the by-laws); and the UNA seal was enhanced with the addition of the date of the association's founding, 1894. As well, the position of supreme vice-presidentess was eliminated and replaced by a second vice-president.

Delegates approved donations totaling $50,000 to various national causes and organizations; voted to keep the Ukrainian-language newspaper Svoboda a daily; and passed resolutions that called for, among other things, a marketing strategy for the UNA's publications, a special conference to examine the demographics of the Ukrainian American community, the activation of the already chartered Ukrainian National Foundation to oversee projects aimed at helping Ukraine and the opening of a press bureau in Toronto.

The convention was notable also for the UNA centennial concert, dubbed the "Festival of Ukrainian Songs and Dances," that took place on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh and featured the Poltava Dance Company of Pittsburgh, the Prometheus Chorus of Philadelphia and the Kashtan Dance Ensemble of Cleveland. In addition, the convention banquet focused on the UNA's 100th anniversary with a keynote address delivered by Dr. Myron B. Kuropas, author of the soon-to-be-published history of the UNA.

Source: "Ukrainian National Association convention looks to future; Diachuk begins second term; new generation of activists elected to advisory board," by Marta Kolomayets, and "The UNA moves on" (editorial), The Ukrainian Weekly, May 15, 1994, Vol. LXII, No. 20. The border used for this special feature is reproduced from a UNA membership certificate dating to 1919.

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