Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies

Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies (CFUS). CFUS was established in 1975 by the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation. Until 1979 it was called the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Foundation.

The foundation’s website, <www.cfus.ca>, states that CFUS’s aims and objectives are: to support the initiation, development, and implementation—particularly in Canadian universities—of Ukrainian studies in the form of scholarly teaching and research pertaining to Ukraine and/or the Ukrainian community in Canada; to support the development, co-ordination, and financing of research and scholarly publication in the field of Ukrainian studies at Canadian universities and elsewhere as well as the preparation, production, and dissemination of materials of an instructional nature needed in Ukrainian studies; to support the development and implementation of post-secondary professional studies and development of resources related to the education and training of teachers of Ukrainian subjects on the elementary and secondary level; to assist in the establishment and maintenance of contacts among individuals active in the field of Ukrainian studies by encouraging and supporting conferences and similar activities, including exchanges related to Ukrainian studies within Canada and between Canada and other countries; to co-operate with and assist in programs and activities designed to encourage and prepare students at all levels for participation in Ukrainian studies at postsecondary institutions and to encourage students in Canadian postsecondary institutions to participate in Ukrainian studies courses; and to collect and administer funds in support of the above aims and objectives.

The primary recipient of CFUS support has been the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS). A large part of more than three million dollars that CFUS raised in the community and (in the case of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine project, from the governments of Canada, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia) were awarded to CIUS in support of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine project, the Ukrainian Language Education Centre, the Hrushevsky Translation Project, and various CIUS Press publications. CFUS paid for the printing of all five volumes of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine (1984–93); honoraria to the encyclopedia’s editors and authors; and for the preparation and printing of the encyclopedia’s Index and Errata volume (2001). Since 2004 CFUS has provided over $320,000 to the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (www.encyclopediaofukraine.com) project.

CFUS has created several funds and award programs in Ukrainian studies. On the basis of an endowment bequeathed by the late Osyp and Josaphat Neporany of Toronto, since 1982 CFUS has funded the annual Neporany Fellowship in Ukrainian Studies awarded to a doctoral student or postdoctoral fellow chosen by the CIUS. Income from a bequest made by the late CFUS board member Robert F. Clark is used to support the Kule Ukrainian Canadian Studies Centre at the CIUS and was used to fund the Robert F. Clark Graduate Fellowship in Ukrainian Language and Literature at the University of Toronto. In 1997 the first CFUS Award for Contribution to the Development of Ukrainian Studies was given to former CFUS president Peter Savaryn, who, in turn, created the Petro and Olya Savaryn Fund for the support of Ukrainian studies in Alberta. Since 1999 the Stephania Bubniuk Award in Journalism Studies has been awarded to students in the final year of journalism studies for works of specific interest to Canada’s Ukrainian community. In 1999 the first CFUS Award for Contribution to Ukrainian Studies was given to George Stephen Nestor Luckyj, who, in turn, returned his prize to CFUS to establish the George S. N. Luckyj Fund, income from which has been used since 2009 to fund the triennial George S. N. Luckyj Ukrainian Literature Translation Prize. Also in 1999, with the support of Danylo Husar Struk’s wife Oksana and their family, friends, and colleagues, CFUS created the Danylo Husar Struk Memorial Endowment Fund for the publication of Ukrainian literary studies. In November 2009 the fund was transferred to the CIUS and renamed the Danylo Husar Struk and Oksana Pisetska Struk Endowment Fund, which is used to support the Danylo Husar Struk Program in Ukrainian Literature, including the annual Danylo Husar Struk Memorial Lecture at the University of Toronto and the electronic library of Ukrainian literature <https://tarnawsky.artsci.utoronto.ca/elul/Main-Eng.html>. Since 2002 income from the Holowacz Family Fund has been used to maintain the Jaroslaw Holowacz Collection at the library of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA) . Also since 2002 income from the Michael and Daria Mucak Kowalsky Fund has been used to fund scholarships for needy students at the NaUKMA and the National University of Ostroh Academy. Since 2008 the Olga Wirsta Award in Communications, Journalism, and Media Studies has been available to graduate students in communications, journalism, or media studies at a Canadian university whose master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation is on an issue of importance to the Ukrainian-Canadian community or promotes a better understanding of the Ukrainian-Canadian experience. Since 2012 the General Pavlo Shandruk and Olha Shandruk Endowment Fund, bequeathed by the Brotherhood of Former Soldiers of the First Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army, Toronto Branch, has been used to support research by contributors to <www.encyclopediaofukraine.com> about the involvement of Ukraine and Ukrainians in World War II from the perspective of Ukraine’s national and democratic state-building interests.

CFUS has been headed by Stanley Frolick (1975–6), Justice Walter Surma Tarnopolsky (1976–7), Orest Rudzik (1977–9), Peter Savaryn (1979–83), John Stashuk (1983–7), Louis Melosky (1987–91), Myroslav Diakowsky (1991–7), Chrystine Stodilka-Curkowskyj (1997–2000), and Olga Kuplowska (since 2000). The CFUS executive has been based in Toronto (1975–9, again since 1991), Edmonton (1979–83), Vancouver (1983–7), and Winnipeg (1987–91). Persons from various parts of Canada have served on the board of directors. Since 2007 the CFUS office has been located at Saint Vladimir Institute in Toronto.

Roman Senkus

[This article was updated in 2015.]