Purdue Ukrainian student Valeria Yatsenko, left, speaks with Crestwiew Apartments owner William Shen.
WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue University’s Ukrainian Scholars Initiative, founded in March 2022, recently received a grant from the Heritage Group to extend the initiative to May 2024.
The Heritage Group, based in Indianapolis, donated $270,000 to support all nine participants in the Ukrainian Scholars Initiative for another academic year. Purdue officials also plan to expand it for a new class of Ukrainian students.
The initiative’s goal is to assist faculty members and scholars whose academic pursuits were halted by the Russian invasion, which marked its one-year anniversary on Friday.
Purdue was able to accept 20 individuals out of the more than 100 that applied and nine students enrolled in the program. Leaders of the program are Purdue vice president Mike Brzezinski, associate provost Peter Hollenbeck, director of International Scholar Services Amanda Thompson, and ISS counselors Chad Broeker and Austin Smith.
The first student arrived in May of 2022 and the ninth was on campus by November, with the expectation to be here for at least 12 months.
The Heritage Group expressed an interest in the program in the early stages and has been engaged ever since.
Additionally, hosts of the scholars within Purdue and Lafayette have decided to continue their support of the program through May 2024.
William and Liesl Shen, owners of Crestview Apartments in West Lafayette, set aside 19 units last spring to be used; six students live there now and over 20 families from Faith Church in Lafayette gave their time and resources to furnish the apartments.
Through the program, the visiting students engage in their own research or support research conducted by Purdue faculty members. Several are enrolled in doctoral programs and are at the dissertation research stage. Their studies stretch across many disciplines, including chemistry, library sciences, psychology, linguistics, communication, sociology, neuroscience, political science, management, history, and earth and planetary sciences.
