Project Activities:

First Year:

Spring 2004 Exchange

The first exchange, from ISU to KNU, took place in May 2004. The U.S. project director Jill Bystydzienski, and three faculty, Sharon Bird, Deborah Kilgore and Ardith Maney, participated in meetings with their Ukrainian counterparts, worked on curricular modules, and made presentations on their research and teaching interests to the KNU faculty. At the end of the visit, project participants had a much clearer idea how to structure the modules, how to integrate the comparative U.S./Ukraine content into the modules, and how the modules could be used in existing courses. There was also considerable discussion about translating appropriate reading materials from English to Russian and Ukrainian and vice versa, and how to make the modules available through distance education. The U.S. faculty who traveled to Kharkiv in May brought a suitcase of books for the KCGS library that the Ukrainian participants requested to support their work. The visitors also had opportunities to socialize with their colleagues and to do some sightseeing in Kharkiv and Kyiv.

Second Year

Fall 2004 Exchange

In October 2004, the director of Kharkiv Center for Gender Studies (KCGS), Irina Zherebkina, two faculty, Olena Ivanova and Sergey Zherebkin, one graduate student, Victoriya Larchenko, and the dean who oversees the Center, Ivan Tsekhmistro, visited ISU. The director, faculty and graduate student stayed two months, and the administrator for 10 days. The KCGS members worked with their counterparts from the Women’s Studies Program on curricular modules, used the ISU library and identified books and journals for the KNU library, attended seminars at the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and Instructional Technology Center, visited classes, met with individual faculty, and gave presentations. They also participated in a meeting in Minneapolis of the National Board of the NWSA Journal, the official publication of the National Women’s Studies Association. Dean Tsekhmistro was hosted by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Michael Whiteford. He was introduced to the university structure and organization of cross-disciplinary studies programs, met with various administrators, faculty and staff, and signed an agreement between ISU and KNU.

Spring 2005 Exchange

In May 2005, the second exchange from ISU to KNU took place. Three faculty, Sharon Bird, Brenda Daly and Theresa McCormick, and a distance education expert, Allan Schmidt, traveled to Kharkiv. The faculty stayed in Kharkiv for almost a month, conducted pedagogical workshops and gave presentations on the modules developed, their own scholarly work, and on methods of research. The distance education expert spent ten days in Kharkiv, became acquainted with the KCGS’ system of delivery of online courses, and investigated possibilities for making the modules developed by the project participants more widely accessible electronically. Two professors from Ternopil State Pedagogical University in western Ukraine, Olha Valihura and Mariya Shymchyshyn, joined the workshops organized by Brenda Daly and Theresa McCormick in order to learn about student-centered feminist pedagogies.

Third Year

Fall 2005 Exchange

Between September 15 and November 12, 2005, four faculty members, Olena Goroshko, Svitlana Babenko, Tetyana Chernetska and Iryna Ilchenko, visited ISU. They worked on curricular modules with their U.S. partners, attended pedagogical workshops at the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching as well as two panels, one on feminist methodology and another on feminist pedagogy, organized by the Women’s Studies Program. Also, each did a presentation on her recent research and/or teaching interests. While in Ames, Tetyana Chernetska was invited to University of Arizona to present the module she developed on Gender and Leadership in Ukraine and the U.S. in conjunction with a study abroad program developed by the Office of Study abroad and Student Exchange. Prof. Chernetska also worked with Jill Bystydzienski and several other ISU partners on planning activities for disseminating the modules beyond academia to members of Ukrainian NGOs. Svitlana Babenko spent considerable time developing a proposal for a Gender Studies Teaching Resource Center at KNU and a winter session on gender sensitive pedagogy. The four faculty members also traveled to Minneapolis to take part in workshops on women in the workplace and gender and public relations where they presented work from their modules on Gender Communication, Gender and Leadership, and Gender and Work in Ukraine, and to Chicago to visit the Hull House and the Women’s Studies Program at University of Illinois-Chicago. In addition, each of the four professors met with ISU faculty in their respective areas, attended classes, and gave presentations in various courses.

Spring 2006 Exchange

KNU to ISU, February-April

The third exchange from KNU to ISU took place between February 18 and April 15, 2006. The director of the Kharkiv Center for Gender Studies and Ukraine project director, Irina Zherebkina, two faculty, Olena Ivanova and Sergey Zherebkin, and two graduate students, Olena Prykhodko and Olga Romantsova visited ISU. The KCGS members worked with their counterparts from the Women’s Studies Program on curricular modules, used the ISU library and continued to identify books and journals for the KNU Resource Center, visited classes, met with individual faculty, and gave presentations. As Kharkiv Center for Gender Studies was given the green light by the KNU administration to begin developing an interdisciplinary MA program in Gender Studies, the group visited several Women’s and Gender Studies programs/departments in order to learn more about graduate program development. The visitors traveled to Rutgers University, the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, and Roosevelt University in Chicago.

ISU to KNU

In May 2006, the third exchange from ISU to KNU took place. The U.S. Project director, Jill Bystydzienski, the WSP coordinator, Julie Snyder-Yuly, and two additional ISU faculty members, Ardith Maney (Political Science and Women’s Studies) and Constance Post (English and Women’s Studies) traveled to Kharkiv. Snyder-Yuly, Maney and Post worked with their module partners to complete their last modules. Bystydzienski worked with Olena Ivanova and others to complete the Gender Studies introductory module. Maney and Post worked with Tetyana Chernetska and Center “Perspectives” team on two module dissemination seminars which were held at Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute and at a technical college in Makeyivka. In both cases, Center “Perspectives” was assisted by local NGO partners in holding the seminars and recruiting participants (about 20 women for each seminar) from among university and NGO staff.

All four visitors participated in a conference on Gender Studies titled, Prospects for Development of Gender Education in Ukraine: Do Ukrainian Universities Need MA Programs in Gender Studies? This one day conference included faculty, administrators and students from KNU as well as other universities in Kharkiv and Ukraine. The discussion was spirited and different views on the issue were exchanged. At the last meeting of the Ukraine/US participants, possibilities for continuing collaboration were discussed. Plans were made to organize a follow-up meeting for the project participants in Crimea, possibly in July 2008.