Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute are proud to sponsor the 2009 Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute, which is now in its 39th year as part of the Harvard Summer School program.  Founded by Professor Omeljan Pritsak (one of the co-founders of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute) in 1971, HUSI has attracted not only heritage students but also others interested in Ukraine and Ukrainian studies to its program, which includes intensive language instruction and a wide range of cultural events.  Through lectures, films, literary readings, and events both on campus and in the broader area of Cambridge and Boston, HUSI 2009 participants have a unique opportunity to gain a broad yet critical perspective on present-day Ukrainian culture, history, politics, and language issues.

Intensive Language Study:  Our Experience and Dedication

With its experienced Harvard staff, HUSI is the only language program of its kind in North America in which accomplished faculty teach Ukrainian at all levels in an intensive learning environment.  Joining us again this year will be Alla Parkhomenko, Yuri Shevchuk, and Volodymyr Dibrova. Fully multilingual, each has over twenty years of experience in Ukrainian-English language pedagogy.

• Alla Parkhomenko, who has developed modern approaches of assessment and communicative teaching techniques for the British Council in Kyïv, Ukraine, will teach Beginning Ukrainian.
• Yuri Shevchuk, Lecturer in the Department of Slavic Languages at Columbia University in New York, will teach Intermediate Ukrainian. Dr. Shevchuk has long been associated with the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.  During HUSI 2009, he will also introduce all HUSI students to Ukrainian cinema, past and present.
• Volodymyr Dibrova, Preceptor in Ukrainian at Harvard University’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literature and writer-in-residence at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, teaches Advanced Ukrainian at HUSI. He is an author of creative fiction, translator, and a leading figure in contemporary Ukrainian literature. His most recent Ukrainian-language novel, Andrew’s Way (Andrijivs’kyi uzviz), won the BBC Ukrainian Book of the Year Prize for 2007.

At HUSI, the improvement of basic reading, listening, speaking, and writing ability is always emphasized. Courses combine the challenging experience of intensive language study with sensitivity to the needs of second-language learners at various levels, as determined by an entrance examination administered the first day of classes. HUSI actively relies on extensive university language resources.  These include a library of recorded material, dozens of video films and programs, access to Ukrainian news and other radio and TV shows, regular language tables, and other extracurricular activities. Language teaching is aimed at developing communication skills in a variety of real-life situations. Given our high level of faculty-student interaction and commitment to individualized attention, HUSI students in the past have reported remarkable progress.

Linguistics, Literature, and History:  Courses Taught by Leading Scholars

HUSI 2009 features three courses in Ukrainian literature, history, and linguistics, which are taught by leading scholars in their respective academic fields:

• Tamara Hundorova, Head of the Department of Literary Theory of the Institute of Literature at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the 2008-9 Petro Jacyk Distinguished Fellow in Ukrainian Studies at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, will teach “Ukrainian Literature and Popular Culture.”  The course provides an interdisciplinary analysis of Ukrainian literature—from Kotliarevsky to Andrukhovych—from the point of view of popular culture studies.
• Andrea Graziosi, Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Naples “Federico II,” will teach  “Soviet Ukrainian History, 1914-1991.” The course explores Ukrainian history from World War I through the entire Soviet period, concluding with the disintegration of the USSR and the establishment of an independent Ukrainian state in 1991.
• Michael S. Flier, the Oleksandr Potebnja Professor of Ukrainian Philology at Harvard University and Director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, will teach “Ukraine as Linguistic Battleground.” The course explores the Ukrainian language in linguistic, historical, sociolinguistic, anthropological, and political terms.

Because of the intimate setting of the program, our Harvard faculty members are readily available for additional consultation and informal conversation both in and out of the classroom.

Easy Access to Harvard Libraries and Collections

HUSI 2009 enables all its students to pursue their own personal learning and professional research goals during their stay at Harvard. Participants in the program are granted access to Widener Library, the largest academic library in the United States. Heritage students, undergraduates, and pre-dissertation graduate students embarking on advanced work are strongly encouraged to apply. All are able to take advantage of Harvard’s many research and instructional facilities, including its museums and archives, and the largest Slavic and Ucrainica collections outside of Eastern Europe.

A Vibrant Intellectual and Cultural Scene

A full calendar of special events supplements the academic offerings of the Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute. Programs have featured lectures and discussions with internationally recognized experts on Ukrainian affairs, diplomats and decision-makers directly involved in Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy, literary readings, theater workshops, screenings of rare Ukrainian films, performances showcasing Ukrainian pop, folk, and classical music, as well as excursions to Greater Boston area attractions.

The HUSI 2009 program will include guest lectures and cultural presentations such as screenings of Ukrainian films and readings by noted Ukrainian authors.

When students need to break from their studies in Cambridge, they are able to take the “T” from Harvard Square and experience everything that Boston has to offer.

Unique Opportunities for Exchange and Interaction

HUSI 2009 offers a unique blend of language study and exchange through the Harvard Summer School. Each year, around ten to fifteen students from Ukraine are awarded scholarships to come to the program at Harvard. Most Ukrainian students who arrive at Harvard are outstanding young professionals and future academics. They meet and network with scholars and the other undergraduate and graduate students, some also hailing from abroad, who attend the program.

HUSI 2009 provides opportunities for cultural exchange to flourish and cross-cultural interaction to take place, right in the heart of Harvard University’s renowned intellectual community.  In recent years, students enrolled in HUSI have included practitioners in such fields as government service, journalism, and business. Our learning community and environment for informal conversation and international interaction offers constant opportunity for students to build new networks, and to form new intellectual and personal bonds.

Our HUSI Alumni Successes

In its 39-year history, HUSI participants have included undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals from North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Since its inception, HUSI has welcomed more than two thousand students from within and beyond the Ukrainian linguistic, cultural, and territorial diaspora.

The program boasts some outstanding alumni including Father Borys Gudziak, rector of Ukrainian Catholic University; Timothy Snyder, Professor of History at Yale University; Federigo Argentieri, Professor of History at John Cabot University in Rome who was instrumental in getting Robert Conquest’s Harvest of Sorrow published in Italian; Kazuo Nakai, a prominent specialist in Ukrainian studies at the University of Tokyo, Japan; and William Gleason, the first director of the Fulbright Program in Ukraine who is currently working at the US Foreign Service Institute. Kateryna Yushchenko, the First Lady of Ukraine, is also an alumna.

HUSI 2009

Given Ukraine’s changing status in Europe after the Orange Revolution of 2004, its geopolitical position, and its current situation in the global economy and the world at large, the critical study of Ukrainian language and literature, Ukraine’s national cultures, and Ukraine’s territorial and historical complexities is as important today as ever.

Let me encourage you to apply to HUSI 2009 at Harvard University, and feel free to contact me with any questions.  

Sincerely,

Dr. Patrice M. Dabrowski
HUSI Alumna ‘02
HUSI Director
Room 31
34 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-495-4053
pmd@post.harvard.edu