Search Results for “ukraine”

Yellow and blue balloons were fastened to each of the pillars of Zelnick Hall, but Friday’s gathering of students and faculty acknowledging that it had been one-year since Russia invaded Ukraine was not a celebration. It was a marking of one year of strife and tragedy. For Associate Professor of Dance Katja Kolcio it’s been a year of wondering if her relatives who live in Ukraine are still alive. She has not heard from some relatives since this past January. Kolcio said that February 24 “marks a year of Ukrainian bravery, steadfastness, and strength.” “I'm just continuously reminded that, sadly,…

During a recent meditation, Katja Kolcio pondered the question, 'What do you wish for the world?" Without much premeditated thought, Kolcio determined that she'd want all humans to have the kind of optimism and inner strength that Ukrainians have during the current war. "Nobody would defend one's rights with that kind of veracity without undaunted optimism and faith in our individual capacity to make a difference in the world. With everything horrible happening, there's something that's at a base level inspiring," she said during Wesleyan's sixth Livestream Conversation with Ukraine discussion on April 22. "I can't thank you enough for…

Calling the attacks in Ukraine "a war" is against the law in Russia, and all media organizations there must use the term "special military operation (SMO)." "If anybody with a newspaper [doesn't use SMO], next day, you're in in jail," said activist Frantsuaza Li of Moscow during Wesleyan's fourth Ukraine-Russia Crisis: Livestream Conversations series event on March 25. "Russian propaganda works. Not because Russian people are devils, and they think that [the war] is a good thing. Because there [is] no information in the internet. The government blocked many newspapers. The government blocked Facebook, YouTube, and people . . .…

Svitlana Andrushchenko left her home in Kyiv, Ukraine, due to the Russian invasion, but she refuses to be deemed a "refugee." "I call myself a temporarily removed person. I want [to be] back home and just be in my country. I want to live in peace in Ukraine," Andrushchenko said during Wesleyan's third Ukraine-Russia Crisis Livestream Conversation series event. "I am not scared for myself. I am scared for my children. Really, we are responsible for them." Andrushchenko, who is currently displaced in the western Ukraine city of Ivano Frankivsk, is nine hours from her home where she works as…

(Maia Dawson '24 contributed to this article.) “For me there are no more days of the week," said Ukraine native Julia Kulchytska ‘24. "There is the first day of the war, there is the second. Today is day nine." Kulchytska spoke to a crowd that had gathered outside Usdan on March 4 for a rally in support of Ukraine. Among the students, one with tear-streaked cheeks behind a pair of cat-eye sunglasses were a group of faculty, staff, and residents of Middletown, and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal. “Russian troops are coming expecting that Ukrainian people will greet them with flowers,…

Silence fell upon the crowd of students and staff assembled outside Usdan University Center as Ukrainian native Julia Kulchytska ’24 stepped up to the microphone. “The new norm is to live in a constant state of fear that I’m going to wake up and I’m going to get a message that my home was bombed,” Kulchytska said during a rally held March 4. She expressed feeling a deep sense of guilt that she is not in Ukraine with her family and described how numb and afraid she has been feeling since the war began. Kulchytska organized the Ukraine Rally for…

Associate Professor of Dance Katja Kolcio and Wesleyan President Michael Roth ’78 recently participated in an international virtual roundtable discussion hosted by the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme. The roundtable, titled "Implementing a Somatic Methodology in the Ukrainian Rehabilitation System: Developing Stress Resistance in Ex-combatants, IDPs, and Residents of Eastern Ukraine" was held virtually on April 28. The purpose of the roundtable was to develop a resolution of joint coordination between the various ministries in Ukraine responsible for the psychological health of veterans. Kolcio and Roth spoke about the importance of the Vitality Project Donbas, a collaboration between Wesleyan…

Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” In a new article, Associate Professor of History Victoria Smolkin explains the historical context and significance today of a centuries-old religious dispute over Ukraine's Orthodox Church. Smolkin is also associate professor, Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies, and a tutor in the College of Social Studies. Why a centuries-old religious dispute over Ukraine's Orthodox Church matters today A new Orthodox Church was recently established in Ukraine. Shortly after, Bartholomew I, the Patriarch of Constantinople and the spiritual head…

A Connecticut dance event offered Associate Professor of Dance Katja Kolcio an additional way to explore her ongoing dance/movement project highlighting the effect of political forces at work in Ukraine. Last summer, Kolcio invited colleague and Associate Professor of Dance Nicole Stanton to join with two other dancers, both with ties to Ukraine, to create a dance. This event, Dance for Peace, was sponsored by Artists for World Peace, an organization founded and led by Wendy Black-Nasta P’07, with music director Robert Nasta MA ’98, P’07. Kolcio, who holds a doctorate in somatics, places the dance they created, “Steppe Land,”…

Katja Kolcio, associate professor of dance, associate professor of environmental studies, and a group of students attended the Ukraine in Washington forum at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on March 30, where Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko delivered the keynote address. Poroshenko was in Washington for President Barack Obama's Nuclear Summit. The trip was funded by the Dean of Social Sciences and the Dean of Arts and Humanities. According to Kolcio, the highlight of the trip occurred when Poroshenko responded to a question posed by Misha Iakovenko '18 about the president's efforts to deal with corruption, and a recent article that appeared in the Kyiv Post by gas company…

Katja Kolcio, associate professor of dance, associate professor of environmental studies, was invited to attend White House Ethnic Day on June 2. The event brought together about 160 leaders from various ethnic communities for a discussion on immigration reform and foreign policy. The foreign policy discussion dealt predominantly with Ukraine, Kolcio’s area of interest.

Rutland explores Russia's strategy in light of the recent escalation in violence

Wesleyan Recognizes One Year Mark of the War in Ukraine

Wesleyan Community Continues Dialog about War in Ukraine

Students from Wesleyan, Belarus, Russia Discuss Crisis in Ukraine

Wesleyan Community Connects with Civic Leaders in Ukraine

Campus Community Supports Ukraine through Events, Talks, Rallies

Wesleyan Rallies in Solidarity with Ukraine

President Roth, Kolcio Speak at International U.N. Ukraine Roundtable

Smolkin in The Conversation: Why a Centuries-Old Religious Dispute over Ukraine’s Orthodox Church Matters Today

Kolcio, Stanton Create, Perform “Steppe Lands” as Freedom Dance Ukraine

Kolcio, Students Attend Ukraine in Washington Forum

Kolcio Attends White House Event, Presents Research in Ukraine

Rutland on Malaysian Airlines Crash in Ukraine