National University of Ostroh Academy honors three Ukrainian American scholars
by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau
OSTROH, Ukraine - In honor of their immense contributions to Ukrainian culture, the National University of Ostroh Academy awarded honorary doctoral degrees to three Americans of Ukrainian descent on May 23 during its second international diaspora conference.
In attendance was Dr. Lubomyr Wynar, who has been a leader of Ukrainian studies in U.S. during the last four decades and helped launch the Institute of Ukrainian Diaspora Studies at Ostroh Academy.
Other honorees were Dr. Myron B. Kuropas and Dr. Leonid Rudnytzky, who were not present at the conference, where the announcement of their honorary doctorates was made.
In accepting the honor, Dr. Wynar called for Ukrainian diaspora studies to become an integral part of the curricula in Ukrainian universities.
"I think that the diaspora institute at Ostroh Academy, and the international conferences in this glorious academic establishment, contribute to the full rebirth of Ukrainian national culture," Dr. Wynar said.
"I believe the study of diaspora has already been born, which will become part of the curriculum of Ukrainian universities."
The National University of Ostroh Academy requires its students to attend two mandatory classes on the Ukrainian diaspora - "Historical Studies in the Diaspora" and "Culture of the Ukrainian Diaspora."
Promotion of diaspora studies
The university should continue to cooperate with Western scholars in reconstructing the diaspora experience as a "multi-faceted phenomenon" of Ukrainian history, Dr. Wynar said.
Diaspora studies in the West are declining due to the limited inflow of fresh academic support, he explained. Therefore, "transferring the experience of the Ukrainian diaspora to Ukraine is a natural event," Dr. Wynar said. "The diaspora is a part of the global Ukrainian historical process and a part of Ukrainian history."
Dr. Wynar has written more than 60 books related to Ukrainian studies, and more than 1,500 published articles.
Since 1969 he has taught at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where he launched the Center for the Study of Ethnic Publications and Cultural Institutions and the Ethnic Research Center, which published the Ethnic Forum academic journal.
A leader in the Ukrainian academic community, Dr. Wynar founded the academic journal Ukrainian Historian in 1963 and launched the Ukrainian Historical Association in 1965.
He was among the founders of the Association of Ukrainian University Professors in 1961. He was twice selected to lead the World Scholarly Council of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians in 1983 and 1989.
Dr. Wynar was born in Lviv in 1932 to parents who were both teachers. His family fled Ukraine in 1944.
He earned degrees from the University of Munich, Ukrainian Free University in Munich and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
He has taught classes in history, methods of academic research, library studies and cultural studies.
In the mid-1990s Dr. Wynar began discussing ideas for establishing a diaspora studies institute in Ukraine, similar to the Ethnic Research Center he established at Kent State.
He approached Ostroh Academy because of its historical legacy as Eastern Europe's first institution of higher education, founded in 1576 by Prince Kostiantyn Ostrozky.
"It was brainstorming from different directions," Dr. Wynar said. "They enthusiastically welcomed the idea."
By 2002, the Institute for Ukrainian Diaspora Studies was up and running, "and now they want to develop it further," he said.
Dr. Wynar helped coordinate the donations of books and journals to the institute, including his own collection. "Very many people have been sending research materials," he said.
Other honorees
Dr. Kuropas, a leader in the Ukrainian American community for the past four decades, and Dr. Leonid Rudnytzky, a former rector of the Ukrainian Free University in Munich, also received honorary doctorates.
Dr. Kuropas and his wife, Lesia, have been collecting Ukrainian diaspora donations for Ostroh Academy, raising $290,000 for the university since 1999.
Rector Ihor Pasichnyk has used these funds towards capital improvements, construction of a modern library, creation of the Institute of Ukrainian Diaspora Studies and other projects that have made the university among the most respected in Ukraine.
Dr. Kuropas first visited Ostroh University in 1995 with two colleagues from Northern Illinois University, where he has been teaching for 21 years.
"We were very impressed with what we saw," Dr. Kuropas said.
Dr. Kuropas has taught at Ostroh Academy in the summers of 1996, 1998 and 2002, when he was a senior Fulbright scholar.
Dr. Kuropas earned a bachelor's degree from Loyola University in Chicago and master's degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago. He earned his multi-disciplinary doctorate in educational foundations from the University of Chicago in 1974.
Dr. Kuropas, who is an honorary member of the Ukrainian National Association's General Assembly, wrote two books, "Ukrainian-American Citadel: The First Hundred Years of the Ukrainian National Association" and "The Ukrainian-Americans: Roots and Aspirations, 1884-1954."
He published academic articles related to his experience as a special assistant to President Gerald R. Ford and legislative assistant to Sen. Robert Dole, as well as papers on the Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine and Soviet attempts to cover it up.
He is also the author of curriculum guides on the Famine-Genocide that have been used at teachers' seminars throughout the United States and have been distributed by the Ukrainian National Association.
The third recipient of an honorary Ph.D. from the National University of Ostroh Academy was Dr. Rudnytzky, president of the World Council of the Shevchenko Scientific Society.
Dr. Rudnytzky is a full member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, president of the St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics - USA, professor of Central and Eastern European studies at La Salle University (Philadelphia) and adjunct professor of Ukrainian at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Weekly was unable to reach Dr. Rudnytzky for comment on his recognition by Ostroh Academy.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 11, 2006, No. 24, Vol. LXXIV
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