CIUS Announces Scholarship and Fellowship Recipients

Every year, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies awards scholarships and fellowships to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students in Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Canadian studies based on their academic standing, scholarly achievements and other criteria. The awards are funded from income earned from endowment funds, which were established to reward excellence in scholarship and encourage students to pursue academic programs in Ukrainian studies.

Three undergraduate awards for the 2005-2006 academic year were presented to two students. Tamara Lynn Horpyniuk received both the Leo J. Krysa Family Undergraduate Scholarship and the Ukrainian Professional and Business Club (Edmonton) Scholarship in Education. A graduate of the Ukrainian bilingual program, Tamara sings in the St. Nicholas Parish church choir, dances with the Vohon Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, and has been a counselor at summer Ukrainian dance camps. In September 2005, Tamara will begin her fourth year of studies in the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, majoring in secondary education.

Alexander Polkovsky, a third-year student at the University of Alberta’s School of Business, received the Steven Kobrynsky Memorial Scholarship. This award is offered biennially to an undergraduate at the University of Alberta who demonstrates outstanding achievement or proficiency in the Ukrainian language. In his letter of acceptance, Alexander thanked those involved in establishing the scholarship, noting that “If it were not for your efforts, obtaining a post-secondary education would be a much more difficult task.”

CIUS assistant director Dr. Bohdan Klid, who chaired the adjudication committee, commented that “this year’s pool of graduates was excellent, with a number of very strong candidates.”

Several awards recognized the achievements of graduate students.

The Marusia and Michael Dorosh Master’s Fellowship, awarded annually to a student writing a thesis on a Ukrainian or Ukrainian-Canadian topic in education, history, law, humanities, arts, social sciences, women’s studies or library sciences, was presented to Eric Taylor Woods. Eric is pursuing a master’s degree in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. His thesis, which deals with political theory, will consider how Ukrainian-Canadian identity might be more meaningfully represented in the Canadian public sphere.

The Helen Darcovich Memorial Doctoral Fellowship is awarded annually to a doctoral student who has completed all degree requirements and is writing a dissertation on a Ukrainian or Ukrainian-Canadian topic in one of the fields of study mentioned above. This year, the fellowship was shared by two outstanding applicants, Anna Fournier and Ihor Hryhorovych Kobel. 

Anna Fournier earned a B.A. from McGill University, an M.Sc. from the University of Montreal, and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University. She is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, Anna also mastered Ukrainian during her frequent trips to Ukraine, where she has conducted field work in her area of study. Her dissertation, entitled “Educational Practice and the Building of Democratic Citizenship in Ukraine,” will offer “an anthropological approach to the democratization process currently under way in Ukraine,” with particular attention to the role of schools in fostering democratic citizenship.

Ihor Kobel, since coming to Canada from Lviv in 1998, has tirelessly promoted research and academic cooperation between Canada and Ukraine in the field of special education, specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Having obtained two undergraduate degrees in Ukraine and taught deaf students at a residential school in Lviv, Ihor completed a Master of Education degree at the University of Alberta and then embarked on a doctoral program in the Department of Educational Psychology.

He proposes to develop a new bilingual/bicultural model for the education of deaf students that will be the basis of his dissertation, entitled “Applicability of the Canadian Experience in the Reform of Education for the Deaf in Ukraine.” After completing his studies, Ihor plans to return to Lviv and accept an invitation from Lviv University to become a full-time instructor in special education.

In the 2005-2006, the total value of undergraduate and graduate scholarships awarded by CIUS was $32,000. In congratulating all the award recipients, CIUS director Dr. Zenon Kohut said, “We wish you much success in your academic pursuits and professional careers and encourage you to maintain a future relationship with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.”