(CIUS) February 25, 2013 - The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, announces the establishment of the Holodomor Research and Education Consortium (HREC), made possible by a generous gift of $1,062,000 from the Temerty Family Foundation (Toronto). The new consortium started its work in January 2013.

The mandate of HREC is to research, study, publish and disseminate information about the Holodomor Famine-Genocide of 1932-33 in Ukraine, ensuring that the Ukrainian experience receives greater recognition in society at large and that it is represented in the teaching of history and genocide. HREC will draw upon the capabilities of CIUS units, in particular the Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research and the Ukrainian Language Education Centre (ULEC). HREC will also engage a range of educators, scholars and institutions in the West and Ukraine. Marta Baziuk serves as Executive Director at HREC’s Toronto office, housed at the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre (UCRDC).

HREC has two main focuses: research and education. The research component (Directors Bohdan Klid and Andrij Makuch) will promote and disseminate research on the Holodomor, cooperating with scholars, universities, think tanks, organizations, and libraries in the West and Ukraine. It will produce scholarly articles, translations of documents into English, a Guide to Holodomor Sources, and a FAQ series for teachers, students and community use. A grants program will target under-researched aspects of the Holodomor, including its commonalities with other genocides. HREC is organizing a scholarly conference in Toronto on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Holodomor (November 27-28, 2013).

The education component (Director Valentina Kuryliw) will prepare and disseminate authoritative and accessible Holodomor resources for students, educators, schools, school boards, ministries and other institutions, and will engage in ongoing outreach activities to support the inclusion of the Famine-Genocide in curricula. A Holodomor teaching kit will be published this spring. Materials will be developed appropriate to specific grade levels and subjects, first in English and Ukrainian, and in French in the future. HREC will serve as a repository for existing teaching materials, post materials on a user-friendly website, and reprint and distribute resources essential to its mandate. HREC will develop training modules aimed at history and social studies teachers and will work with teachers’ associations and school boards to ensure that the Holodomor is addressed at professional development days at the provincial and board levels. A conference for educators is scheduled for May 10-12, 2013 in Toronto.

The Executive Committee of HREC is comprised of the Director of the Jacyk Centre (Frank Sysyn), CIUS Director (Volodymyr Kravchenko), Director of the Kowalsky Program for the Study of Eastern Ukraine (Zenon Kohut), Director of the Stasiuk Program for the Study of Contemporary Ukraine (David Marples), and the Director of ULEC (Marusia Petryshyn). An Advisory Committee provides expertise on various aspects of consortium work and includes prominent scholars in the field such as Paul Robert Magocsi (University of Toronto), Alexander Motyl (Rutgers University), Norman Naimark (Stanford University), and Serhii Plokhii (Harvard University). Liudmyla Hrynevych (Institute of History of Ukraine, Kyiv) serves as a consultant and coordinates the work of Ukrainian scholars and researchers.

Born in eastern Ukraine, James Temerty came from a family of Holodomor survivors. He is well-known for his philanthropic activity. Commenting on the launch of this important project, Mr. Temerty said: “I am gratified to support HREC and look forward to its success in increasing understanding and awareness of the Holodomor.”

HREC may be reached by email at hrec@ualberta.ca or by phone at 416-923-4732.

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HREC executive and staff members (L. to R.): Andrij Makuch, Bohdan Klid, Marta Baziuk, Valentyna Kuryliw, and Frank Sysyn