DANYLO HUSAR STRUK AND OKSANA PISETSKA STRUK ENDOWMENT FUND
DESCRIPTION
The Danylo Husar Struk Memorial Endowment Fund was established at CFUS by Struk’s family and friends shortly after his death in 1999. In November 2009, the Fund was transferred to the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta in order to take advantage of the Government of Alberta’s Matching Funds Program. Through the generous response of community and friends, the principal of this Fund was increased to $100,000 before the transfer.
The Fund has now been renamed the Danylo Husar Struk and Oksana Pisetska Struk Endowment Fund.
PURPOSE
The main objective of the Fund is to support the Danylo Husar Struk Program in Ukrainian Literature at CIUS, which seeks to promote Ukrainian literature in the English-speaking world by sponsoring literary research, scholarly writing, and translation, as well as to improve access to texts by means of print and electronic publications, public lectures, and readings.
BENEFICIARIES
A significant annual event supported by the Fund is the Danylo Husar Struk Memorial Lecture, given every spring at the University of Toronto, which attracts students, scholars, and a broad community audience. Since its inception, fourteen lectures have been given by such well-known literary scholars as Marko Pavlyshyn (Monash University, Australia), George Grabowicz (Harvard University), Oleh Ilnytzkyj (University of Alberta), Myroslav Shkandrij (University of Manitoba), Vitaly Chernetsky (Miami University, Ohio), Taras Koznarsky, Maxim Tarnawsky (University of Toronto), and Tamara Hundorova (Institute of Literature, Kyiv). Audio and in some cases video recordings of these lectures are available on the Program’s website. http://www.utoronto.ca/elul/Struk-mem/mem-lect-archive.html
The Fund also supports an electronic library of Ukrainian literature that includes the works of classic and modern Ukrainian authors, works of literary history, criticism, and linguistics, as well as various documents and archival materials (http://www.utoronto.ca/elul). The library is a valuable tool for teaching Ukrainian literature and an easily accessible resource for students and all who love Ukrainian literature, wherever in the world they may live.
Another project of the Struk Program is the publication of scholarship on Ukrainian literature by scholars of the Ukrainian diaspora. The website already features two web pages featuring the essays of Danylo Struk and Bohdan Rubchak. A print edition of Struk’s essays is also being prepared.
BIO PROFILES OF DANYLO AND OKSANA STRUK
Both Danylo and Oksana were born in Ukraine. After the war, by different paths, they emigrated to the United States from Displaced Persons camps in Europe. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree at Harvard University, Danylo Husar Struk completed his master’s program at the University of Alberta and his doctoral at the University of Toronto, where he then served as professor of Ukrainian literature at the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures for almost thirty years. He is also known as a scholar, poet, translator, and author of the monograph A Study of Vasyl Stefanyk: The Pain at the Heart of Existence (1972) and the textbook Ukrainian for Undergraduates (1978), which has been reprinted several times. One of his major achievements was his work on the monumental five-volume Encyclopedia of Ukraine (1984–93), first as managing editor and then as editor-in-chief.
Oksana graduated from the Institute of Notre Dame and received a Bachelor of Science degree in medical technology at Mount Saint Agnes College. She was a member of Plast, sang in a church choir, and headed the Baltimore chapter of the Ukrainian Students’ Union of America. Having come to Canada (1960), she married Danylo Struk in 1978 and became his inspiration, sharing his appreciation of the fine arts, music, theatre, literature, and travel. She has been working on an English translation of selected works by Valerii Shevchuk that are planned for publication soon.
DONATIONS TO THE FUND
Donations to the Fund can be made either directly to CIUS or to CFUS. In each case, donors should stipulate the donation is intended for the Danylo Husar Struk and Oksana Pisetska Struk Endowment Fund. Charitable tax receipts are available from both institutions. Financial information on the status of the Fund is available from the University of Alberta.
If donating through CFUS:
CFUS, 620 Spadina Avenue,
Toronto, ON M5S 2H4
Tel.: 416-766-9630
If donating through CIUS:
CIUS, 430 Pembina Hall, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, AB T6G
Tel.: 780-492-2973
