NEW YORK /CHICAGO – Guests in New York City and Chicago once again demonstrated their generosity in support of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) at fund-raising banquets held, respectively, on November 3 and 10.
Roman Verhnyak
Archbishop-Metropolitan Borys Gudziak, president of the Ukrainian Catholic University, speaks at a sold-out banquet in New York City on November 3.
Archbishop-Metropolitan Borys Gudziak, president of UCU, was the keynote speaker at the event held at The St. Regis New York, where $350,000 was raised for the university, while Chris Baker, CEO of the Lviv-based computer-consulting firm SoftServe, Inc., visited Chicago to help raise $160,000 for UCU.
“New York started it all,” Metropolitan Borys reminded guests at The St. Regis. The first banquet in support of UCU was organized by supporters in New York City. The first Friends of UCU committee, of which there are now 21 globally, was organized in New York as well. He spoke of the great accomplishments of UCU, especially “because of the banquet here in New York.” He mentioned that UCU attracts top students from Ukraine, in part thanks to competitive scholarships established by friends committees worldwide, and that the goal of attracting and expanding top-notch faculty members continues.
Metropolitan Borys also mentioned new challenges before the university resulting from both need and rapid expansion. Two years ago, he explained, “we put a moratorium on new programs, because quality needs extreme vigilance, care.” He said that he was joined in this cautious approach by Ambassador Robert Brinkley, former envoy from the United Kingdom to Ukraine, a member of the UCU Senate (governing board) and the other speaker at the November 3 event. He thanked Ambassador Brinkley for his support in understanding the need to slow the university’s expansion in order to ensure that high standards are maintained.
Recently, with the moratorium ended, the Senate discussed the idea of establishing a full-fledged law school for UCU, incorporating a full bachelor’s degree program, as is standard in Europe. “I had questions about this law school program,” noted Metropolitan Borys. “How will we help law students grow in their spiritual life?” He added that he believes such a program should not continue until this fundamental question is answered adequately.
Although he was willing to help develop a strategy to answer this need, he was unable to do so at UCU in Lviv, therefore two directors from the nascent law program traveled recently to the United States for discussions. “We came to a consensus,” noted Metropolitan Borys, “The law school is going to go forward.” However, he added, no program will go forward unless the program meets “the standards that you [UCU’s donors] have set.”
Ambassador Brinkley, who spoke before the metropolitan, began his presentation with a recollection of his education at a Catholic school in the north of England. He explained that at the school there were exhibits of artifacts from a period in England’s history when Catholics were strongly oppressed. When visiting Lviv, and viewing artifacts from “the Church in the Underground” – artifacts from a period from the history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church when it was heavily oppressed by the Soviet Union, “I realized that I had seen all of this before – the tiny crosses, the small chalices. These reminded me of those I saw in England.”
He continued that he was struck by the similarity between the history of oppression experienced by Catholics in England several hundred years ago and that experienced by Catholics in Ukraine during the previous century, and with the perseverance of all Catholics in their faith. Beginning with his first visit to UCU, he noted that he was not only impressed with the efforts of UCU, but understood the important role of the university in forming a new generation for Ukraine.
Also part of the program in New York City was a captivating performance by vocal artist Oksana Mukha, who was a recent winner of Ukraine’s “Voice of a Nation” competition who in May was recognized as an Honored Artist of Ukraine.
Maksym Prokopiv
Chris Baker, CEO of the computer firm SoftServe, tells his Chicago audience on November 10 of the great “investment” the Ukrainian Catholic University is for his company.
A week later in Chicago, Mr. Baker, CEO of SoftServe, Inc., a technology company that specializes in consultancy services and software development, told the guests present: “I see UCU as the best return on investment that we can make.” The graduates of UCU’s computer science program are welcomed with open arms to Mr. Baker’s rapidly growing company, where “they earn 10 times what their parents earn,” added the keynote speaker.
The theme of “investment” continued throughout the event in Chicago. John Hewko, general secretary and CEO of Rotary International, and a great friend of UCU, was the event’s MC. He told the audience: “I went to Harvard Law School. My dollar there makes no difference at the margins. My dollar at UCU makes a huge difference.”
Lilia Karabinovich, who with her husband, Nazar, gave a warm vocal performance at the event, spoke briefly about the couple’s recent, first visit to UCU. They found the atmosphere on the campus “like nowhere else in Ukraine” and said UCU is “the best investment the diaspora can make in Ukraine.”
At both events, a major contribution that UCU has already made to Ukraine was mentioned: seven UCU graduates were elected to the Verkhovna Rada in the extraordinary July elections.
And the audiences at both events were captivated by a short video, “Good News from UCU,” in which they learned what the university’s students, teachers and graduates have been doing recently.
Through local friends committees, the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation (UCEF) was the organizer of both events. Further information about UCEF is available on the website www.ucef.org or by calling 773-235-8462.