Shamshur pays a visit to the Shevchenko Scientific Society

NEW YORK - Dr. Oleh Shamshur, the new ambassador of Ukraine to the United States paid a visit to the headquarters of the Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh) on February 4. The ambassador was accompanied by the Embassy's cultural attaché, Natalia Holub, and by Ukraine's acting consul-general in New York, Andrii Olefirov.

The diplomatic entourage was welcomed by NTSh Executive Board Members Dr. Larissa Zaleska Onyshkevych, president; Drs. Roman Andrushkiw and Orest Popovych, vice-presidents; and Olha Kuzmowycz, recording secretary, as well as Svitlana Andrushkiw, library director; Dr. Vasyl Lopukh, office manager; and Prof. Vasyl Makhno, program coordinator.

After a brief tour of the NTSh building, focusing primarily on the library, all assembled for a roundtable of informal exchanges of ideas and plans for mutual cooperation.

Dr. Onyshkevych presented a list of suggestions on how Ukraine's diplomatic institutions could support a more visible and effective Ukrainian presence at American and international scholarly conferences on Slavistics.

Ambassador Shamshur was very forthcoming in his responses, promising, among other things, to host a reception for those scholars in Ukrainian studies who will participate in the convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) in Washington in November. Similarly, Consul Olefirov reiterated his earlier offer to NTSh of co-sponsoring scholarly and cultural events.

Dr. Andrushkiw informed the visitors about the Shevchenko Society's ongoing efforts to bring about the Ukrainization of Microsoft and Linus computer programming in Ukraine. He suggested steps by which the Ukrainian government could help in these endeavors.

Many other issues were raised, and the full texts of the NTSh suggestions and comments were presented to the ambassador in writing. Ambassador Shamshur repeatedly expressed his readiness to cooperate with and assist the NTSh in every possible way with the objective of promoting Ukrainian scholarship and Ukraine's image abroad. The entire meeting took place in a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

Before their departure, the guests from the Embassy of Ukraine received as gifts several of the books and bulletins recently published by NTSh.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 26, 2006, No. 9, Vol. LXXIV

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