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Fulbright Scholar transferring to business department may be affected by Ukraine Conflict


Through the Open World delegations, UCC has ties with several universities in Ukraine. The crisis has several UCC staff members concerned.
Sasha Maksymento / Flickr
Through the Open World delegations, UCC has ties with several universities in Ukraine. The crisis has several UCC staff members concerned.

The Ukrainian controversy may be 6,000 miles away, but the effects are being felt on the UCC campus.

Through the Open World Program, a group of delegates has visited UCC from Uzhhorod and Kremenchuk in Ukraine annually for the last seven years, according to Jason Aase, Dean of Arts and Sciences.

These delegations have led to many ties with Ukraine on campus. 

Another member of a previous year’s delegation will be potentially coming over as an instructor next year.

Martha Joyce, Business Department Chair, filled out a Fulbright Scholar Program application for Vladimir Dankiv to come teach at UCC for the 2014-2015 school year. 

“From the global perspective, we want to internationalize by being awarded this grant. We want to open doors with other countries and hopefully bring in international students,” Joyce said.

Dankiv was approved as a Fulbright Scholar in January 2014. The Fulbright program is currently working to secure the funding for the program.

“The budget is not yet set in stone, but all steps have been taken,” Joyce said. The grant will include funding for Dankiv to bring his family with him as well.

Dankiv would teach one course still to be determined and participate in community outreach events, which would provide him opportunities to speak, according to Joyce.

“He is a genuine international speaker fluent in English,” Joyce said.

Unfortunately, there is still a very present complication holding up Dankiv from coming. “The only impediment would be the current situation in Ukraine,” Joyce said.

The violence in Ukraine began late last year when President Viktor Yanukovych suspended an agreement with the European Union, in favor of an agreement with Russia, which angered many citizens. Riots broke out in the streets and reached the most violent mid-February, according to The Associated Press.

These protests and violence have had many UCC staff members concerned.

Joyce was working on the process of becoming “sister cities” with Kremenchuk as a part of the Sister Cities Organization, but at the beginning of the violence in Ukraine, the process was halted.

“Every day I pray about what is going on over there,” Joyce said.

Other instructors on campus also worry about people they have met during other delegations.

When delegates visit from Ukraine, they stay with host families, such as Library Specialist Kristen Moeser. She hosted Andriy Karasov in Fall 2013. Karasov lives outside Kiev, the city where the majority of the violent protests took place.

Moeser was very concerned Karasov’s proximity to the protests and was able to get in contact with him. She reported that he was doing well, despite being very concern about his country.

A delegation from UCC including Aase, Joyce, Peter Bober, former director of Workplace and Community Education; Roxanne Kelly, vice president of Instruction; and Susan Rochester, chair of Fine and Performing Arts, visited Ukraine April 2013.

Aase hoped another team would be able to visit Spring 2014, but he reported there would not be another delegation visiting this year due to liability because of the violence.