PARTICIPANTS

 
 

Olha Halyabar is s medical doctor, graduate of Danylo Halytskyj Lviv National Medical University, and pediatric residency program of Lviv Regional Specialized Children’s Hospital.

Although not directly involved in politics or international policy making, the awareness and knowledge of the democratic process organization gained during the CUPP program, as well as some personal connections established within CUPP, helped her become a part of several international medical education and research projects as well as international cooperation manager of Western Ukrainian Pediatric Immunology Center (2006-2009).

Currently living in Arlington, Virginia with her husband Jerry, where is preparing for US medical boards examination. Believes that she can still contribute to improvement of pediatric healthcare by development of medical knowledge and resources sharing programs.

 

Andriy Khomenko is a Senior Manager of Finance at AT&T Mobility USA HQ, and the President of the Board of the community of St. Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Atlanta, USA. He holds a Bachelor's degree in International Relations, a Master's in International Information Systems fromTaras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , and an MBA from Duke University, USA. Andriy represents and is interested mainly in a very practical perspective on Ukrainian identity in post-national Ukraine: what has to be done, when and how. Andriy is married and has a son.

 

Maksym Klyuchar is a research assistant and graduate student in public policy and management at University of Texas at Brownsville, USA through the Edmund Muskie Fellowship Programme for 2009-2011. His career started in 2004 when he worked for the OSCE election observation mission. Having graduated from Taurida National University, Simferopol with a Masters summa cum laude in translation and interpretation in 2007, he started work with the UNDP Ukraine Crimea Integration and Development Programme in the communications unit. One of the aspirations during his work in the UN system, catalyzed by participation in CUPP in 2006, was to get a deeper understanding of policy development, local governance as well as programme management, which he is currently achieving through his studies. Upon return to Ukraine he plans to work for the government structures, the international donor community implementing development projects in Ukraine, or become part of the United Nations Volunteers programme.

 

Petro Marets graduated from Lviv Polytechnic University in 2009 with the Master’s degree in Computer Science and Information Technologies. His professional interest is the Artificial Intelligence design that was implemented in his thesis paper for the Master’s degree. He holds a position of a Business Analysis and Software Development Architect at the software development company in Lviv. He believes that Ukraine has a potential to become a powerful IT center in the world.

 

Serhiy Opanasenko is a Muskie fellow at the Rochester Institute of Technology pursuing a Master of Science degree in Finance. His program is focused on corporate finance, investment analysis, and portfolio management. Serhiy received his Bachelor’s degree in finance from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Prior to beginning his Muskie fellowship, Serhiy worked as a research analyst at SARS Capital, private investment banking firm in Kyiv. He is a 2008 participant of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program, during which Serhiy participated in the election campaign of Sukh Dhaliwal in Newton-North Delta, BC.

 

Tetyana Orlova is a Master’s student in International Economics and Finance at Brandeis University under 2008-2010 Fulbright Graduate Program. Before coming to the USA Tetyana was working as a financial analyst and acting Head of the Equity Research in an investment bank in Ukraine. She holds a Bachelors degree in International Economics from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and completed a one-year exchange program at the University of Wisconsin-Marinette under the auspices of Eurasia Exchange Program as well as a year at the Universität Passau, under ERP scholarship sponsored by DAAD. Upon the completion of her Master’s degree in the States, Tetyana plans to return to work in the financial sector in Ukraine.

 

Dmytro Panchuk is currently a Muskie fellow pursuing a Master’s Degree in Public Administration at Kansas State University. In 2007, Dmytro was an intern of Canada Ukraine Parliamentary Program and worked in the office of Judy Wasylycia-Leis, MP from Winnipeg. In 2004, Dmytro graduated from National Academy of Ostroh University with an honors diploma in Romance and Germanic Languages and Hospitality Industry. While doing his undergraduate studies, he was actively involved with the student community life by serving as Student Dean and representing his “voters” at the university, local, national, and international levels. Since 2008, in his home city of Dubno, Rivnenska Oblast, he founded and presided over the Dubno Municipal Guardians NGO as well as Dubno Youth Council, which are actively functioning local youth organizations. The teams of the both organizations have closely cooperated with the local authorities and the youth of Dubno, hosted local and international events, sent their members for conferences, workshops, and internships abroad, and done a variety of other self-government-related things. Dmytro is also an author of several essays and research on interethnic conflicts, mentality, student and local self-government problems, the truth of collectivization in Western Ukraine, and other current political, social, and linguistic matters. Today, his paper will deal with the issue of political alienation prevailing in contemporary Ukraine.

 

Oleksandr Pankiv is an LL.M. student at Boston University School of Law (Edmund S. Muskie Fellowship Program) and a Co-coordinator of Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program in 2010.

Currently, Oleksandr is interning as a foreclosure counselor at Neighborhood of Affordable Housing in Boston, helping the members of the community to avoid foreclosure procedures. Before joining BU Law Oleksandr completed a Master in Law Program at the University of Lviv and was practicing law in a boutique Law Firm Sphinx and subsequently in Lviv office of Arzinger Law Firm. As a student Oleksandr was Secretary General of European Law Students’ Association and a representative in a Student Self Government Organization of the University of Lviv. Having completed a row of educational programs and internships abroad, Oleksandr considers his CUPP experience to be the most challenging and unique in his life and a starting point to hone his career plans and life goals.

 

Bohdan Pechenyak is originally from Lviv, Ukraine, now living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He got his B.A. in Sociology from Arcadia University in 2007, and is working on completing the dual Master's program in social work and public health (MSW/MPH) at Temple University by 2011. The main reason why he joined the executive board of SUSTA is to help expand its reach, range of activities and significance, as well as to help establish and strengthen its connections with both Ukraine and the international community of Ukrainian students. Bohdan is committed to helping Ukraine develop into a successful democratic nation, and is passionate about contributing to the education and stregthening of Ukraine's civil society.

 

Oleksandr Pertsovskyi will graduate in May 2010 from Brandeis University , International Business School where he is concentrating on International Finance. He was sponsored by the Fulbright Program and also received the Earle W. Kazis Fellowship and Dean’s Prize Fellowship from the business school. While in the US, Oleksandr joined as a Summer Associate economic and finance consultancy London Economics International, LLC. He was based in Boston and worked on the projects in liberalized electricity and natural gas markets. Oleksandr is pursuing Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and has passed the first-level CFA exam in December 2009. On his spare time, Oleksandr is enjoying skiing with friends in New England’s mountains which remind him of his beloved Ukrainian Carpathians.

 

Inna Platonova is working towards her PhD at the Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary and is currently a Research Intern with the Innovation, Policy and Science program at the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa. Her research is on international development partnerships and diffusion of renewable energy technologies in developing countries. Inna is also involved with the Light Up The World, a non-governmental organization promoting sustainable lighting and renewable energy in the developing world. Inna holds graduate degrees from the Universities in Ukraine, Hungary and the Netherlands, including Master’s Degrees in European Public Affairs and Political Science. Her professional experience includes coordination of community-based renewable energy projects in developing countries; research in international development, energy policy and environment; and teaching.

 

Lyubomyr Regush CUPP 2007, received his undergraduate Degree from the Ukrainian Academy of Foreign Trade (Kyiv, Ukraine), graduate Degree from Ukrainian State University of Finance and International Trade in International Economics. Last December Lyubomyr graduated from European Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Program (7 different Universities from 6 EU-countries: U.K., Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic) in Economics of International Trade and European Integration. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue another studies of Economics in the USA. Considers CUPP as a great multicultural and educational personal experience, good political culture and democratic school for the young Ukrainian elite.

 

Andriy Semotiuk is an Attorney practicing immigration law in both the United States and Canada with offices in Los Angeles and Edmonton. A former President of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, and President of the Alberta Provincial Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, as a student Andriy was President of SUSK, the Ukrainian Canadian University Students Union. From 2002 to 2007 Andriy was Executive Director of the Hollywood Trident Foundation - a network of people interested in Ukrainian affairs and working in the entertainment industry. More recently he has taken part as an observer in Ukrainian Presidential elections both when Viktor Yushchenko was elected and now in 2010. Andriy has written articles on the legal aspects of the Holodomor and in defence of John Demjanjuk. He is currently writing a family history tracing the lives of five members of his family through the 20th century and the impact of world events on each of them.

 

Pavlo Shopin is a PhD Linguistics student at Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University and Fulbright visiting student researcher at University of California, Berkeley. In 2008 he obtained his Master of Philology in English and Literature from University of Luhansk. Pavlo is Bachelor of Philology in English and Literature as well as German and Literature. As an undergraduate student he was member of the Student Parliament at the University. In 2006 and 2008 Pavlo participated in the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program. He is currently working on his Ukrainian PhD research project at Linguistics Department of UCB.

 

Roman Tashlitskyy participated in the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program in 2002 and was a Ukrainian coordinator in 2003. After graduating from the University of Volyn with a diploma of a specialist in English and French language and literature, he pursued his graduate studies in Ukraine, simultaneously teaching at a university in Rivne. In 2007 Roman was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for an MA program in Comparative Literature at San Francisco State University, which he completed in 2009. Currently Roman works as a lecturer of literature at the National University of Ostroh Academy and as a translator for The Day newspaper (Kyiv). At leisure Roman is writing a fiction novel about Ukrainian educational system.

 

Viacheslav Tomenko is a Public Policies and Management student in Muskie School of Public Service located in Portland, Maine. He received a BBA in Management from the International Christian University of Kyiv in 2004. Since then he has worked in several non-profit organizations such as NATO, YMCA and UNFPA in Ukraine. He also had an internship in CIEE, an international exchange organization, in Boston, MA in 2005-2007.

 

Evhenia Viatchaninova is a senior journalism student at University of Kyiv and one of the CUPP 2010 coordinators. As a CUPP 2009 Intern, she worked for Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism the Hon. Jason Kenney. From May 2009 she has been co-chairing a social charity project ‘Audiobooks with Ukrainian poetry for the blind’, the best 2009 student project at the University of Kyiv. Created by Evhenia's original idea and brought to life with the financial support of “Initiative of the Year” Open University of Kyiv competition, the project has acquired some good publicity after release of the first audiobook on Bohdan-Ihor Antonych and its presentation at the Embassy of Ukraine to Canada. Prior to that Evhenia had some unique academic and professional experience, including a study abroad program in Mass Communication and Journalism at Fairfield University, USA, by means of the US Department of State Fellowship, and positions in PR and journalism, her most authoritative employer at the time being Kyiv Bureau of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.in 2010 was awarded a Skovoroda Research Grant.

 

Inna Viriasova is a 3rd year PhD student at the Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. Prior to entering into the PhD program, Inna earned a BA in Political Science at NaUKMA (Kyiv Mohyla University 2005), as well as an MA in Political Science at Central European University (Budapest Hungary 2006) and an MA in Analyzing Europe at the University of Maastricht ( The Netherlands 2007). Her initial interest in the questions of Ukrainian national identity has developed into a more broad concern for a critical examination of the processes of identity formation within capitalist, liberal democratic societies. Her current research deals with recent developments within continental political thought, specifically, with various concepts of “the political.” She hopes that viewing the political through a new lens will open up the possibility for an effective political action that is not correlated with “the state”. Upon graduation Inna plans to continue her academic career as a university professor, and hopes to use her knowledge and international experience for fostering the development of critical political inquiries within the Ukrainian academic environment.

 

Bohdan Vitvitsky has written and lectured on topics in history, law and philosophy. Since 1992 he has served as a Federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. Between May 2007 and September 2009, he served as a Resident Legal Advisor at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv where he worked on an anti-corruption project in connection with which he was only the second foreigner ever to receive a medal from the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, and commendations from the Rada Committee on Organized Crime and Corruption as well as the Ministry of Interior. He is a founder and the first president of the Ukrainian American Professionals & Businesspersons Association of New York and New Jersey, and the founder of a scholarship program that in the 1990’s sponsored students from Ukraine for a semester of study at Harvard. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and a law degree, both from Columbia University.

 

Anya Yablonska is working on her MA degree in Communication at the University of Ottawa with the primary focus of research in the field of crisis communication. She was awarded a Skovoroda Scholarship by Katedra Foundation . In Ottawa Anna has been involved with the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa. Prior to her move to Canada in 2009 Anya worked for the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine as Communications Coordinator. Anya is CUPP intern of 2006 and CUPP coordinator of 2009.

 

Mykhaylo Zakryzhevskyy is working towards his M.A. in Linguistics/TESOL at the Department of Linguistics at the Ohio University (OU), Athens, OH, USA, and is currently a Teaching Associate with the Ohio Program of Intensive English at OU. His research is on the diversity of identity in second language acquisition. Mykhaylo holds a Specialist degree in Teaching English, French and World Literature from the Horlivka State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages (HSPIFL), Horlivka, Ukraine. After his graduation from HSPIFL, he held the position of Public Relations Manager at the Ukrainian Center for Foreign Investment Promotion (InvestUkraine) and worked on improving the image of Ukraine as an investment destination. Upon graduation from OU, Mykhaylo plans to obtain his PhD in Linguistics and continue his academic career as a university professor.