Participants in the Purdue Ukrainian Scholars Initiative to be featured in annual panel discussion

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A panel discussion led by Vijay Raghunathan, vice president for global partnerships and programs, at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 10), will feature four participants in the Purdue Ukrainian Scholars Initiative.

The hourlong event, which is free and open to the public (registration required), will be in the East Faculty Lounge, on the Purdue Memorial Union’s second floor. The discussion will include a brief overview of the Purdue Ukrainian Scholars Initiative, created in March 2022 to help faculty and PhD students whose academic pursuits have been derailed since the Russian invasion. This year Purdue hosts 15 scholars, who are continuing their research here. Purdue’s program is one of the first and largest of similar university-led programs in the United States.

Panelists from the Ukrainian Scholars Initiative set to join Raghunathan are:

• Oksana Karbashevska, a visiting scholar in the School of Languages and Cultures in the College of Liberal Arts
• Viktor Orekhivskyi, a visiting scholar in the Department of Agricultural Economics in the College of Agriculture
• Mariya Tkachivska, a visiting scholar in the Department of History in the College of Liberal Arts
• Valeriia Yatsenko, a lecturer in the Department of Management in the Mitch Daniels School of Business

“The Purdue Ukrainian Scholars Initiative is a testament to our commitment to supporting academic freedom and fostering resilience in the face of adversity,” Raghunathan said. “These scholars have brought extraordinary expertise and perspectives to our campus, enriching our academic community while strengthening the innovation ecosystem here in the United States. This program reflects our vision of how universities can act as catalysts for global impact, making a meaningful difference in the academic landscape, even amidst profound challenges.”

The scholars’ academic work stretches across a diversity of disciplines — from chemistry, communication, history, business, computational cognitive neuroscience and biomedical engineering to philosophy, agriculture, languages, botany and plant pathology.