NOTES ON PEOPLE (10/16/05)

NOTES ON PEOPLE

Komichak honored for 55 years on radio

PITTSBURGH - Michael Komichak, 86, was honored by Ukrainian Americans of the Greater Pittsburgh area on July 31 on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the "Ukrainian Radio Program," which he has directed during the program's entire existence. The program airs every Sunday on WPIT AM 73.

Mr. Komichak was honored aboard the riverboat Majestic, and the Pittsburgh City Council issued a proclamation in his honor, declaring Sunday, July 31, as "Michael Komichak Day" throughout the city.

The proclamation, sponsored by City Council President Gene Ricciardi and all council members, noted: "The Council of the City of Pittsburgh congratulates and commends Michael Komichak for 55 years of service as host of the Ukrainian American Radio Program, and commends and thanks the Ukrainian American community for its support and dedication to its Ukrainian heritage."

During the testimonial in Mr. Komichak's honor, Msgr. George Appleyard, dean of the Central Deanery of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, delivered the invocation in English; the Very Rev. Protopresbyter George Hnatko, dean of the Pittsburgh Deanery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, delivered the invocation in Ukrainian.

Some 350 guests, including faithful listeners of the Ukrainian Radio Program, boarded the riverboat to celebrate the anniversary with a cruise, dinner and dance to the music of Lviviany.

The Ukrainian National Association is a co-sponsor of the "Ukrainian Radio Program." Mr. Komichak is a longtime UNA activist and a member of Branch 264.

New deputy director at State Dep't office

WASHINGTON - Tania Chomiak-Salvi is the new deputy director of the Office of Western European Affairs at the U.S. State Department.

Ms. Chomiak, who was born in New York, joined the diplomatic service in 1993, immediately after receiving her master of arts in law and diplomacy degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Her overseas assignments have been in Almaty, Kazakhstan; London and Warsaw. She also has served at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York and at the U.S. Information Agency in Washington. During the summer of 1992, while she was a student at the Fletcher School, Ms. Chomiak-Salvi was an intern at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

In May 2003 she returned to the State Department from overseas and worked in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in the field of public diplomacy, before her appointment to the position of deputy director for Western Europe.

Ms. Chomiak-Salvi is a 1989 graduate of the University of Virginia with a B.A. in international relations. She is married to attorney Lucantonio Salvi. She is the mother of Paul Alexander, who will be 2 in November. Both she and her son are members of the Ukrainian National Association, respectively, of Branches 25 and 15.

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