EDMONTON, Alberta – The boards of three Ukrainian Canadian foundations and the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies announced the establishment of the Prof. Manoly R. Lupul Endowment to Advance Ukrainian Language Education, co-founded to support programs in Alberta and beyond through the activities of the Ukrainian Language Education Center (ULEC) at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), University of Alberta.
This unique initiative has been undertaken jointly by the Alberta Foundation for Ukrainian Language Education Society (AFUES; Vlodko Boychuk, president), the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies (CFUS; Olga Kuplowska, president), and the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF; Victor Hetmanczuk, president).
The new endowment was established to honor Prof. Manoly Lupul on the occasion of his 90th birthday for his work as a national leader in multiculturalism and founder of CIUS in 1976. Annual revenues from the Lupul Endowment will help to fund ULEC projects in Ukrainian language education.
A descendant of Ukrainian pioneers who settled in the Willingdon district of east-central Alberta, Dr. Lupul played a key role in CIUS’s founding and was responsible for successfully leading the institute through its “pioneer” era – the first decade following its establishment in 1976. A graduate of the universities of Albert and Minnesota, and Harvard (Ph.D., 1963), Dr. Lupul was a prominent activist in the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation and a key lobbyist for the adoption of multicultural policies in Canada and the 1988 enshrinement of multiculturalism in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Marusia Petryshyn
Roman Petryshyn (left), board member, Canada-Ukraine Foundation, is seen with Olga Kuplowska, president of the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies, and Vlodko Boychuk, president of the Alberta Foundation for Ukrainian Language Education Society.
Prof. Lupul documented his career as a public intellectual and academic in “The Politics of Multiculturalism: A Ukrainian-Canadian Memoir” (2005). He was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2003.
ULEC is the only university center in North America dedicated to advancing Ukrainian-language teaching, learning, and research. Revenues from the Lupul Endowment will be used to develop new Ukrainian digital and other learning resources, as well as to provide professional development for educators and researchers that will benefit primary, secondary and post-secondary students in schools and educational institutions across Canada.
The first major donation to the Lupul Endowment was made by the Ukrainian Knowledge Internet Portal Consortium Association (UKiP-CA). Established in 2003, UKiP-CA has been a leader in creating Ukrainian digital resources for the Ukrainian bilingual program in Alberta schools. Then-director of ULEC Marusia Petryshyn identified the need for such an endowment, and in 2017 the board of UKiP-CA, chaired by Dr. Olenka Bilash, approved the $25,000 donation, which was supported and received by the current ULEC director, Dr. Alla Nedashkivska.
Documents establishing the Prof. Manoly R. Lupul Endowment to Advance Ukrainian Language Education were signed on July 23 by foundation representatives Ms. Kuplowska (CFUS), Roman Petryshyn (CUF), and Mr. Boychuk (AFUES), as well as by University of Alberta representatives Jars Balan (CIUS director) and Dr. Nedashkivska (ULEC at CIUS).
The alliance of three donor foundations will coordinate annual community fund-raising in order to maintain the endowment and promote Ukrainian bilingual education programming, which has grown in prestige since Ukraine gained its independence. Ukrainian is the official state language in Ukraine, and is mandated for use in its educational system. In Canada, Ukrainian has been taught since the arrival of the first pioneer settlers in 1892, and is now taught to thousands of students in both public schools and private community programs across the country. Knowing the Ukrainian language provides speakers a link to the culture’s ancient traditions, folk heritage and fine arts, and ties Ukrainians in Canada to the people of Ukraine and to Ukrainians in over 40 countries around the world.
Further information on how to support the Lupul Endowment can be found at https://tinyurl.com/ycwcs6yg.