Ukrainian scholar will address ‘Teaching During Wartime’​

This week, the School of Professional Studies and the International Center at Clark University are hosting Svitlana Ustychenko, a Ukrainian scholar and the director of the Language Center at Cherkasy State Business College.

At the center of Ustychenko’s visit to Clark is a talk, “Teaching During Wartime,” on Tuesday, May 2, at 3:30 p.m. in Room 202 of the Shaich Family Alumni and Student Engagement Center. She will address how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has affected teaching and learning in the embattled country.

“The International Center and SPS welcome the opportunity to host Svitlana Ustychenko this week,” said Susannah Marcucci, director of the International Students and Scholars office at Clark. “We hope this visit will be the start of a relationship between Clark University and Cherkasy State Business College, and are looking forward to discussing possible areas of cooperation and engagement with our Ukrainian colleagues. Svitlana will be meeting with many departments across campus that have shared interests, such as the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the Becker School of Design & Technology.”

Along with the Strassler Center and  BSDT, during her time on the Clark campus Ustychenko will meet with administrators and faculty from the International Center and International Development, Community, and Environment Department, as well as Provost Sebastián Royo and John Labrie, associate provost and dean of the School of Professional Studies.

“We are pleased that Svitlana will be participating in a working lunch with the American Language and Culture Institute to share resources and best practices for English language teaching,” Marcucci added.

Ustychenko joined Cherkasy State Business College in 1999, teaching English language courses to students as well as faculty and staff. In 2017 she became a liaison between the college and the U.S. Department of State’s Peace Corps program, also working with the State Department on the Window on America program to enhance and encourage relations between Ukrainians and Americans. Along with these roles, she also serves as director of the college’s Language Center, where she coordinates English-speaking activities and events for Ukrainian students, faculty, and staff.

Ustychenko earned a specialist degree in teaching from the Cherkasy Pedagogical Institute and a master of pedagogics of higher school from Cherkasy National University.