The Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sent shock-waves around the world. The Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia (WCEE) responded to the war by creating several unique initiatives:
- The WCEE Scholars at Risk Fellowship, an emergency program that brought seven Ukrainian scholars and their families to the University of Michigan for three years.
- Partnership with the The Reckoning Project, an international NGO dedicated to collecting fact-based, legally admissible testimonies from witnesses and victims of human rights violations, war crimes, and other atrocities in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion. WCEE’s team translates, edits, analyzes, and archives testimonies, and designed an interactive website that serves as a pedagogical tool and memorial to the victims of the war.
- Ukraine-related events to educate the U-M and greater Detroit area communities, including a teach-in for students and faculty shortly after the full-scale invasion, lectures by Lt. Col. (Ret.) Alexander Vindman and Iuliia Mendel, President Zelenskyy’s former press-secretary and 2023-24 WCEE Distinguished Fellow. WCEE also hosted roundtables, sponsored film screenings and performances, and curated art exhibitions.
- NGO Leadership Workshops for Ukrainian civil society leaders and others in the region assisting Ukrainian refugees.
- Fellowships for Ukrainian PhD students to conduct short-term research at the University of Michigan, as well as summer fellowships to attend ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) training virtually.
Read more about WCEE’s Ukraine-related initiatives.
