Forty plus years ago, formally focusing your scholarly work on Ukraine was a new concept on campus.
It was called the Ukrainian Research Program then—a unique initiative developed within the university’s Summer Research Laboratory that was focused on creating a research community in which scholars could conduct serious research on Ukraine and organize international conferences and panels.
The innovators behind the program included Dmytro Shtohryn, a professor of library administration who was instrumental in the development of Ukrainian studies on campus; Maurice Friedberg, head of the Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures at the time; and Ralph Fisher, the first director of the Russian and East European Center (REEEC), among others.
Today, those two academic units have come together once again to create what’s now known as the Ukrainian Studies Program. The program—which is supported by an endowment fund created in memory of professor Shtohryn and generous donations from the Ukrainian diaspora community through the Ukrainian Studies Foundation—allows students to study Ukrainian language and culture, as well as take part in other programs related to Ukraine.
It’s come a long way since its foundations were first created in 1982—and more recently, it’s seen a growth spurt, thanks in part to the Slavic department’s Olha Khometa, who was hired as a professor in Soviet and post-Soviet studies with a focus on Ukraine in August 2024.
“For a while, I was the only tenure-line professor here with knowledge of Ukrainian language and some training in Ukrainian literature,” said Valeria Sobol, a professor in the Slavic department. “I am a native of Ukraine, but my specialization was more in Russian literature. I was always involved when we had students with interest in Ukraine, but a couple of years ago, we were fortunate to get a tenure track position approved, and we hired a wonderful new scholar, Olha Khometa.”
Part of Khometa’s role is to develop new courses in Ukrainian studies and establish more visibility for the program on campus—such as by creating the program’s new YouTube channel, @UkrainianStudiesUIUC—a job she was all too happy to take on.
“This was the only university I wanted to work at,” said Khometa. “I was impressed with how much Illinois had already built, how involved they were in bringing awareness to the Russo-Ukrainian war, how powerful the support of Ukraine on an academic level was. For me as a Ukrainian, this was something that was extremely important to me that I did not see in other universities.”
Khometa said the student offerings also make the program stand out.
“There are many paths to Ukraine on our campus,” she said. “You can pursue a major or a minor in Ukrainian studies, which is unique. Very few institutions offer this at the undergraduate level. I would say we also have very innovative courses on Ukraine and language courses at multiple levels, for both beginners and heritage speakers.”
Along with developing new courses, Khometa serves as chair of the Ukrainian Studies Committee and oversees the programming of Ukraine-related events on campus for both Slavic and REEEC. They’ve brought a number of speakers to campus, including Ukrainian authors and scholars and a prisoner of war.
Malina Infante, an MFA candidate in poetry in the Department of English, has been to many of these events since becoming involved with the Ukrainian Studies Program after taking Khometa’s “Treasures of Ukrainian Literature” class in spring of 2025.
“I’ve been fortunate not only to attend many of these events, but also to have met some of the speakers outside of that setting,” said Infante. “This kind of networking has been especially important for me, as Illinois has become the first place in my life where I’ve ever had a solid Ukrainian community around me, in both a social and a professional sense.”
Khometa and the committee have also organized a number of film screenings, open to both students and the community. Nicholas Ivan Johnson, an incoming sophomore studying English and Slavic studies, made it a priority to attend as many of these as he could.
“It’s a pretty tight knit program, so you get to see familiar faces at all of these events,” said Johnson. “Being surrounded by people who are likeminded and just as passionate about the same things as you are, building that rapport and familiarity… I think that’s what makes the Ukrainian studies program so unique. You don’t get that everywhere.”
They’ve even been working on hosting outreach events in Chicago to reach the Ukrainian community there.
“Chicago famously has a high percentage of diaspora and immigrant communities from our region, including the Ukrainian Village,” said Sobol. “Even though we’ve always had pretty vibrant Ukrainian studies on campus, we weren’t always noticed because we’re a bit isolated, compared to other universities. Professor Khometa has really made an effort to reach out and remind the city that we’re here—we exist.”
Khometa organized a series of talks about the Ukrainian Studies Program and invited several speakers, including Sobol and graduate student Joseph Mosse, who is pursuing a dual MA/MS in REEEC and information and library science. For Mosse, the way the program has involved students in its journey is one of the things that makes it so special.
“Oftentimes, we think of professors and scholars as being the main drive behind that kind of growth, but I feel like as a student, it’s our job to be the steam in the steam engine,” said Mosse. “Being a part of this program and talking about our experiences, bringing the stories and culture of Ukraine to light… it’s a chance to be at the leading edge of something new in a time where that visibility carries a lot of meaning and importance.”
The program’s next community outreach event will take place on November 15, 2026 at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago.
Editor's note: This story first appeared in the Fall 2026 SLCL print newsletter.