CIUS Professors Honoured with 2012 Antonovych Award

February 15, 2013 (CIUS) - Two professors of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, Drs. Zenon Kohut and Frank Sysyn, have been honoured with the Antonovych Award for 2012. The award ceremony took place on November 10, 2012 at the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States of America, Washington, D.C. Dr. Kohut received his award “for his contribution to the study of Cossack Ukraine,” and Dr. Sysyn “for his contribution to scholarship in Ukraine.”

In his introduction, the President of the Antonovych Foundation, Ihor Voyevidka, described both laureates as “shining examples of many years of work in spreading knowledge about Ukraine, from the Cossack period to the present, and its integration into modern European history.”

Dr. Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak, chair of the award jury, noted that the research work of both scholars has challenged the dominant Polish and Russian interpretations of the early modern period, and established “that modern Ukraine has deep roots as a historic nation. Their research and scholarly work has influenced the whole range of Slavic and East European Studies.”

Another member of the jury, Dr. Roman Szporluk, considers Kohut’s and Sysyn’s works very important for Ukrainian historical scholarship. They have greatly advanced the study of early modern Ukraine, raising questions of identity, national consciousness, and political culture. Drs. Kohut and Sysyn have thus been “instrumental in the formation of modern perspectives on the historical development of Eastern Europe as a whole, and have influenced both Western and Eastern scholars.”

In their responses, Drs. Kohut and Sysyn thanked the Foundation and the members of the jury for the Award. Dr. Kohut emphasized that Ukrainian identity is still in the making, both historically and geographically. Dr. Kohut helped establish Ukrainian Studies at Harvard University and was a senior research analyst at the Library of Congress and Soviet political affairs analyst at the US Department of Defence in Washington. Since 1992, he has been affiliated with CIUS, where he worked as Acting Director for one year and Director from 1994 to 2012, significantly expanding the Institute’s scholarly, educational, and publishing programs, as well as, establishing close contacts with Ukraine. Having recently resigned from this position, Dr. Kohut remains Director of the Kowalsky Program for the Study of Eastern Ukraine at CIUS, and a professor in the Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta.

Dr. Sysyn noted the transitory nature of popular academic trends and recommended that students be diligent in approaching scholarly issues. A Harvard graduate, he has been Director of the Petro Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research at CIUS since 1989, and is now also a professor in the Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta. His recent interest in micro history has led him to focus on the history of small Ukrainian villages, Ukrainian immigration to the West, and eyewitness accounts of important historical events.

The Antonovych Foundation was established in 1980 by the prominent philanthropists Omelan and Dr. Tatiana Antonovych of Washington, D.C. in support of Ukrainian Studies and Ukrainian Literature. To date, there have been sixty-five recipients of the Antonovych Award, among them many prominent writers, scholars, politicians, and dissidents, including non-Ukrainians (David Saunders, Robert Conquest, and Zbigniew Brzezinski).

PHOTO

Antonovych Award Ceremony (LR): award jury chair Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak; recipients Zenon Kohut and Frank Sysyn; Ihor Voyevidka, President of Antonovych Foundation; Andrew Lewicky, Treasurer; and Roman Sloniewsky, Secretary