May 16, 2009
NEW YORK – The Shevchenko Scientific Society, USA (NTSh) held its 19th general meeting at the society’s New York headquarters on May 16. Dr. Orest Popovych was re-elected as the NTSh president by a unanimous vote cast by 83 members.
NEW YORK – The Shevchenko Scientific Society, USA (NTSh) held its 19th general meeting at the society’s New York headquarters on May 16. Dr. Orest Popovych was re-elected as the NTSh president by a unanimous vote cast by 83 members.
Prior to the meeting, morning sessions were conducted by four scholarly sections: mathematics-physics-technology (Dr. Roman Andrushkiw, director), which featured a lecture by Dr. Roman Samulyak on “High-Performance Computing in Modern Science and Engineering”; philology (Dr. Larissa Onyshkevych, director); conferring jointly were the social science section (Prof. Martha B. Trofimenko, director) and the history-philosophy section (Dr. Taras Hunczak, director).
Леонід Рудницький, Голова Зборів |
Орест Попович, Голова НТШ-А |
Роман Андрушків, 1-й заступник Голови |
Микола Галів, Голова Верифікаційної Комісії |
Лариса Онишкевич, Голова Контрольної Комісії |
Роман Воронка, Голова Номінаційної Комісії |
Тарас Гунчак, Директор Історично-Філософічної Секції |
Григорій Грабович, Заступник Голови, Науковий Секретар |
Христя Карпевич, секретар |
Ярослав Заліпський, Дарія Дика, Олександер Лужницький | Рената Голод, Олег Третяк, Лариса Онишкевич, Тетяна Кейс, Марта Богачевська-Хом’як |
Анна Процик і Леонід Рудницький | Роман Самуляк |
The general meeting was opened in the afternoon by NTSh president Dr. Orest Popovych, who extended special welcome to Professor Leonid Rudnytzky, a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, former president of NTSh in the U.S. and now the acting president of the World Council of NTSh. Dr. Popovych also recognized Ukraine’s former ambassador to the UN, Valery Kuchynsky, who is now a corresponding member of NTSh. Then the NTSh president read the names of the society’s 24 members who had departed in the last three years, calling upon the assembly to rise and honor them with a moment of silence. Dr. Popovych then recited the names of the 65 new members recruited to NTSh in the same time period, remarking with satisfaction that many of them are recent immigrants from Ukraine as well as young scholars.
Dr. Rudnytzky read a greeting to the assembly from Dr. Oleh Kupchynsky, the president of NTSh in Ukraine.
The assembly elected the presidium for the meeting comprised of Dr. Rudnytzky, chairman, with Drs. Andrushkiw and Hunczak as his deputies, and Christine Karpevych, as the recording secretary. Also elected were the Nominating, Verification and Resolutions Committees. The minutes of the 18th general meeting of NTSh were accepted unanimously.
All present received a 99-page book containing the reports of NTSh officers as well as the society’s chapters in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. on their activities in the three-year period starting on May 20, 2006. Authors of the reports had the option of presenting addenda or highlights at the microphone, but only three availed themselves of that opportunity.
Dr. Popovych offered the following accomplishments of the NTSh Governing Board as the highlights of his three-year tenure: the publication of the Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Diaspora, Volume 1, United States of America, Book 1; the publication of the society’s “Activities and Press Reports 2000-2008”, a 640-page compilation of English-language articles about NTSh and its members as well as a registry of the academic programs for the public which were hosted by NTSh in the same time period; the introduction of Ukrainian-language computer programming by Microsoft for use in Ukraine, as a result of the many years of pressure initiated by NTSh; the establishment of full-year post-doctoral fellowships in Ukrainian studies at $35,000 each, of which 6 have been awarded to date; the $100,000 grant for the publication of an English-language translation of one volume of Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s “History of Ukraine-Rus'”; the $15,000 grant to “Svoboda” and “The Ukrainian Weekly” for their project of digitizing the archives of both newspapers; the co-sponsorship ($2500) of the annual competition for young mathematicians in Ukraine.
In thanking the Board members who made these accomplishmen
ts possible, Dr. Popovych singled out two NTSh employees – Dr. Vasyl Lopukh, director of administration, and Prof. Vasyl Makhno, both of whom are doubling as Board members, as the two pillars of the society. All of the resolutions of the 18th general meeting, including those calling for support of Ukrainian studies in America and in Ukraine, have been fulfilled, concluded the president of NTSh.
Dr. Daria Dykyj, vice-president and CFO, presented an addendum to her report. Dr. Roman Procyk, vice-president and learned secretary, made some critical comments regarding the Board’s performance.
After a discussion of the reports, the audience heard a very thorough critical review of the Board’s performance by the Auditing Committee, which was read by its Chair, Dr. Onyshkevych. Despite some critical comments, the outgoing NTSh Board was granted a vote of confidence by the Auditing Committee.
Dr. Roman Voronka, Chairman of the Nominating Committee, presented a single slate of candidates for the new Governing Board: Dr. Popovych, president; Dr. Andrushkiw, first vice-president; George Grabowicz, vice-president and learned secretary; Dr. Dykyj, vice-president; Ruslana Rossi, CPA, vice-president and CFO; Christine Karpevych and Dr. Serhiy Levkov, recording secretaries. Committee Chairs: Bylaws – Dr. Adrian Dolynsky; chapters – Dr. Halyna Hryn; library and archives – Tatiana Keis; press – Dr. Vasyl Lopukh; publications – Prof. Vasyl Makhno; scholarships/grants – Dr. Alexander Motyl; membership – Dr. Wolodymyr Petryshyn; finances – Ruslana Rossi, CPA; law advisory – Dr. Andrij V.R. Szul, Esq,; information technology – Dr. Volodymyr Vasilaky; institutional liaison – Dr. Myroslava T. Znayenko; auditing board – Dr. Marta Bohachevsky-Chomiak; delegate to the NTSh World Council – Dr. Anna Procyk; members-at-large: Drs. Albert Kipa, Serhiy Levkov, Askold Melnyczuk, Roman Procyk, Yuri Shevchuk. The above slate was elected unanimously via a show of hands.
1-й ряд: Дарія Дика, Григорій Грабович, Орест Попович, Руслана Россі, Роман Андрушків, Христина Карпевич, Марта Богачевська-Хом’як 2-й ряд: Андрій Шуль, Сергій Левков, Володимир Петришин, Анна Процик, Тетяна Кейс, Світляна Андрушків, Тарас Гунчак 3-й ряд: Володимир Василакій, Олександер Мотиль, Василь Махно, Леонід Рудницький, Роман Процик, Андріян Долинський, Василь Лопух |
In his acceptance speech, Dr. Popovych thanked NTSh members for their renewed trust and support, which he said will encourage the Board members to dedicate even more efforts on behalf of the society. He thanked all the committees and individuals for their enormous work in preparing and running so successfully the general meeting, includingh the election process. Dr. Popovych then introduced the new members of the Governing Board, welcoming each of them individually.
As to the Board’s plans for the future, Dr. Popovych first emphasized that under his stewardship all of the resolutions and promises made three years ago have been realized. In addition to the society’s customary support for Ukrainian scholarship and higher education here and in Ukraine, as well as the continued service to the Ukrainian-American community via our programs for the public, we are now proposing some new objectives as well: to publish the second and eventually the third book of the Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Diaspora; to put in order the NTSh archives: to that end we have just hired a professional archivist; to organize a more systematic grass-roots fund-raising campaign for the society; to seek professional financial planning for the society’s funds. Dr. Popovych thanked the membership again for entrusting him and his Board with the governing of NTSh for three more years.
NTSh Press Group