Volodymyr Khitsyak
Public relations expert for MTS-Ukraine, Western Territory Board
Khitsyak graduated from UCU’s Faculty of Philosophy and Theology in 2004. He worked as a journalist for leading publications of Lviv and was the editor of “Makler,” a real estate periodical. Since 2009 he has worked for MTS-Ukraine, Ukrainian Mobile Communications, UMC.
“I can say that this academic discipline [theology] constantly influences my life. In addition to a wealth of knowledge, UCU gave me a formed worldview, a system for conceptualization, the ability to analyze, to look for non-standard approaches. Furthermore, as I communicate with many UCU graduates, in particular those who have realized themselves in other fields – in addition to philosophy, theology, or history – I know that they are truly able to constantly break stereotypes, to be the best among their peers who have corresponding diplomas or work experience. My direct supervisor has great respect for an UCU diploma and, when he presents me at business meetings, he always mentions my education.”
Bozhena Zakaliuzhna
Project manager at the Centre for Cultural Management, Lviv, Ukraine
“For me the Ukrainian Catholic University was the ideal place to test myself out: all the conditions are here to discover your talents and realize your possibilities. It’s a very unique laboratory in which to ‘know thyself.’ But, above all, the university is people who accept you, who are close by and don’t walk away in difficult times. There is a certainty that remains for the future that you can be yourself everywhere.”
Fr. Stepan Sus
JANUARY 2020 UPDATE- Good news! UCU graduate Bishop Stepan Sus is now the youngest Catholic bishop in the world. More HERE
Father Stepan Sus is the director of the Center for Military Chaplaincy of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Lviv, Ukraine. He has also helped establish chaplaincy programs for children living in orphanages and other state-run institutions and for students at state-run colleges and universities.
Father Sus recalls a touching instance in his ministry:
“Once the commander sent two cadets to clean the floor in the military chapel. This was when we were repairing the church and there was a lot to clean up. These two guys did not really want to go to church, let alone to clean up, because they were not religious. But they had to listen to their commander, and so they came.
“I remember that they didn’t help us very much that first day. But they asked a lot of questions, like ‘Why go to church?’ and ‘What is prayer?’ They really like working in the church and they asked their commander if they could be assigned to clean up in the chapel as long as the repair work continued.
“After a month or so their attitude toward the church changed quite a bit. Later they even went to confession and received Communion. I spoke with one of them, who said some very fine words to me:
‘I am,’ he said, ‘grateful to my commander, because once he made me take two steps and clean up the chapel. A lot of the guys laughed at me, because they knew that I never went to church, even though I had a reputation as a ‘good’ cadet. But those two steps changed my live entirely, and now I know how to pray and I can help others find their way to the church.’
Father Sus has evangelized many young men, including some baptisms. He graduated from the Ukrainian Catholic University and Holy Spirit Seminary in 2006.
Michael Salo, COO of Romexsoft, First UCU Grad to Become UCU Senator
Michael (Mykhailo) Salo: COO, managing partner of the company Romexsoft; member of the academic council of the UCU (Ukrainian Catholic University) Lviv Business School (LvBS) MSc in Technology Management program; member of the UCU investment council. Salo is actively involved in the non-commercial sector: he is president of the Lviv Education Foundation charitable organization and was a member of the administrative council of L’Arche-Ukraine. He previously held the post of financial director of LvBS from 2010 to 2016. From 2006 to 2010, he was UCU’s financial director of the Ukrainian Catholic University and assistant to UCU’s first vice-rector for administrative and financial affairs.
Education: Ukrainian Catholic University, master’s in theology; Economics Faculty of the Institute of Post-Diploma Education of Ivan Franko National University in Lviv. He interned at the Financial Department of Seton Hall University, New Jersey, USA.
“UCU is a special place! I studied here as one of the first students of the Lviv Theological Academy. For me the university was always a place of development, friendship, trust, and acceptance, a place of encounter with people who are not afraid of great challenges, who take responsibility and then act. For me, becoming a Senator of the university is a great honor, trust and responsibility for the development of the university, the responsibility to be a good representative of the university, its advocate, through my actions to foster the further development of this special place, where its staff and students can witness, serve, and communicate!” So says Michael Salo.
News about appointment to UCU Senate (Governing Board) HERE
Egor Reznichenko
Egor Reznichenko, a student at the St. Petersburg Orthodox Theological Academy, took part in UCU’s 2011 Philosophy Summer School.
“UCU’s Summer Philosophy School gives fundamental knowledge of the subject, and also an opportunity to interact with Western scholars, which is very important for researchers. Our disputes are fairly lively- we have heated discussions of problems. All the participants are very different, so discussion is always rich.
“As a future priest, I should know how to conceptualize religion in a philosophical way, for philosophy is the common language that we speak with people and the intelligentsia. Priests should know how to speak about high Christian values in an understandable language.”
Sr. Romana Musenko
Overseeing the repair of a large building, taking care of orphan children, and maintaining a monastic prayer life is not always easy (!). However, Sr. Romana, a nun of the Order of St. Joseph, does her best. Her order assigned her to take in a number of orphans in Potelych, near the Polish border, and this has included fundraising to renovate a structure donated by the Ukrainian government and coordinating the repair work.
Consequently, Sr. Romana is most grateful for the training she is receiving at UCU’s Institute of Leadership and Management. “We are so glad finally to be taking courses in the management of non-profit organizations,” said Sr. Romana.
