Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Wright State University students can’t study abroad in Ukraine right now, so the university is collaborating with a Ukrainian university to educate the students about each culture.
Twelve Wright State students will be able to attend a five-week video series, “War and Society in Ukraine: Collaborative Online International Learning,” with Ukrainian students who are on the frontlines of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The students come from the V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University and have been displaced in the war.
“That faculty and students from a university that has been destroyed by Russian missiles and who remain under siege are willing and able to participate in the program is, to me, truly remarkable,” said Sean Pollock, associate professor of history at Wright State and the series’ lead organizer.
The first video on Thursday was introductory, but the following lectures will be on the beginnings of the war and the reasons behind Russian president Vladmir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, as well as the plight of many Ukrainian refuges. The series runs through mid-April.
“The idea is, to the extent that we can, avoid political questions and focus on this effort to build a bridge between civil societies in America and Ukraine,” Pollock said.
Michelle Streeter-Ferrari, director of the University Center for International Education, said the video chats may be a way for students to learn more about other cultures.
