Ukrainian studies at University of Toronto now part of European program (10/30/05)

Ukrainian studies at University of Toronto now part of European program

by Oksana Zakydalsky

TORONTO - On July 1 of this year Ukrainian studies joined Europe - at least at the University of Toronto. The former Center for Russian and East European Studies (CREES), which housed the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine and the Wolodymyr George Danyliw Foundation, was merged with the Institute of European Studies, the European Studies Program and the Joint Initiative in German in European Studies to create the Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (CERES).

According to the newly appointed director of CERES, Prof. Jeffrey Kopstein, the scholarly community at the university working on Europe, Russia and Eurasia, decided it was time to break down the intellectual walls set up during the Cold War. Much had changed in that part of the world as countries of former "Eastern Europe" have become members of the European Union, others are waiting to join, while Russia and its former colonies in the Eurasian space find themselves in a new geopolitical context.

The main objectives of CERES are: to educate students at the graduate level, to offer them internships and exchange programs, and to promote scholarly links between East and West. The Peter Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine, set up in 2001, will continue to encourage scholars at the University of Toronto and Ukrainianists at other North American institutions to develop joint projects. It facilitates the study of contemporary Ukraine by organizing workshops, conferences, lectures and seminars.

The program maintains a graduate student exchange with the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine and brings visiting scholars from Ukraine for short periods. The Danyliw Foundation funds a lecture series and supports an annual full-credit teaching fellowship focusing on contemporary Ukrainian studies. Larysa Iarovenko is the program administrator for the Peter Jacyk Program.

The CERES inaugural event on September 27 was a panel discussion, titled "What's Ahead for Europe," featuring the ambassador of Canada to the EU, Jeremy Kinsman, and other panelists. A few days before this event, the Petro Jacyk Program sponsored Prof. Timothy Snyder of Yale who spoke on Polish-Ukrainian Relations in the wake of Poland's accession to the EU and the Orange Revolution. His presentation was introduced by the consuls general of Ukraine and Poland, respectively, Dr. Ihor Lossovsky and Dr. Potr Konowrocki.

Prof. Snyder's generally positive and optimistic evaluation of current Polish-Ukrainian relations was challenged by Prof. Orest Subtelny (York University) who pointed out that Prof. Snyder had left out an important influence on the state of Polish-Ukrainian relations - that of Russia - and drew attention to the fact that Poland seems to find a friend in Ukraine when it runs into problems with Russia.

Prof. Piotr Wrobel (University of Toronto) agreed that, on the governmental level, the relations between Poland and Ukraine are good, but that on the level of society as well as in regard to the policies of local governments, there are a lot of unresolved issues and frequent bad-mouthing back and forth.

The Petro Jacyk Program has announced some of the scholars it will host this academic year: Tetyana Sakharuk (University of Internal Affairs, Kharkiv) will do research on human rights protection; Denys Kuzmin (Odesa National University) will tackle the issue of Ukraine and EU enlargement; Olga Voloschenko (Kyiv University of Law) will explore the role of religion in shaping law; and Olha Luchuk (Ivan Franko University, Lviv) will research the correspondence of George Luckyj, the late scholar of Ukrainian literature, who taught at the University of Toronto for over 30 years.

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