Petrach Program on Ukraine

The William and Helen Petrach Endowment provides financial support for the study of Ukraine at the Institute and for a faculty and graduate student exchange program between Ivan Franko National University in L'viv, Ukraine and elsewhere in Ukraine and the George Washington University. In recent years, the Petrach Endowment has been used to fund two scholars from Ivan Franko National University to conduct their dissertation research at IERES each year. The endowment also supports other related programs and activities on Ukraine, such as professorial lectureships, adjunct professorships, sponsorship of appropriate seminars, workshops, and colloquia.

Ivan Franko National University in L'viv, Ukraine

Ukraine's economic and political transition since 1991 exemplifies the challenges and opportunities that face the countries of the former Soviet Union. The 2004 "Orange Revolution" drew renewed attention to Ukraine and the Institute has sponsored numerous events that have analyzed and discussed Ukraine's recent political changes and its relations with Europe and Russia. As Ukraine's future continues to take shape, the Institute, with the generous support of the Petrach Endowment, will help bring clarity to the complicated transition in Ukraine.

Mr. Petrach was born in Dobrotvir, Poland (now Ukraine) and served successively in the Polish, Soviet and Czech armies against the Germans in World War II. He twice escaped from German prisoner-of-war camps and was also imprisoned in the Soviet Gulag for three years. Mr. Petrach graduated from L'viv State University in 1939 and taught as an assistant professor from 1945-1948 at Bacumov College in Czechoslovakia. He moved to Canada in 1948, and met his future wife, Helen, while visiting relatives in the United States. While Helen worked as a librarian at the Library of New York Academy of Medicine, Mr. Petrach obtained a position with the National Security Agency as an instructor of advanced Slavic languages. On retirement he received a medal citing his "outstanding" and "dedicated service to the Government of the United States, 1965-1993." After Helen's retirement, she took an interest in the stock market and was very successful. Mr. Petrach created "The William and Helen Petrach Endowment for Ukrainian Exchanges and Programs" at the George Washington University in her memory.

Read Mr. Petrach's remarkable autobiography.