Showcasing Ukrainian resilience and innovation to the world – Alexander Kuzma on the work of the UCU Foundation in the USA

Showcasing Ukrainian resilience, expertise, and innovation to the global community is the focus for the UCU Foundation team in the USA, which for many years has been raising funds for the development of Ukrainian Catholic University and support for students in Ukraine.

Alexander Kuzma is Chief Development Officer at the foundation. He is responsible for fundraising in support of Ukrainian Catholic University. We met with Mr. Kuzma at UCU in June 2025, during the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

In an interview with historian Olena Dzhedzhora, Kuzma spoke about his life, his first trip to Ukraine, how he became part of the university community, the work of the UCU Foundation in the USA, and the new challenges brought on by wartime. We present his story below.

Alexander Kuzma was born in Hartford, Connecticut. His parents were refugees from Ukraine after World War II. His mother, Oksana Haftkowych, was from Lviv, and his father, Orest Kuzma, came from the small village of Khvativ near Olesko Castle. The eldest brother of his father, Bohdan Kuzma, was a commander in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and died in 1951. Alex was raised in a patriotic Ukrainian family alongside his two sisters. The children sang in choir, attended Ukrainian school, and were active members of the Plast scouting organization. After high school, he attended Yale University and later graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston.

He worked for a few years as a lawyer, then for the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund. Since 2010, he has worked for the UCU Foundation in the USA, where he is now Chief Development Officer and raises funds for Ukrainian Catholic University.

Kuzma first traveled to Ukraine in 1977 as a university student. At the time, he was the conductor of the Yale Russian Chorus, a student choir that sang a great deal of liturgical music.

“I didn’t intend to glorify ‘Russian’ culture. I joined that choir with a secret mission. We organized a series of concerts in Leningrad, Tbilisi, Kyiv, and Moscow. I trained the choir—made up of Americans (Japanese, Jewish, Irish guys)—to sing ‘Zirvalasya Khurtovyna’ (The Blizzard Has Broken Loose), a resistance song by Vasyl Vytvytsky honoring UPA partisans,” Kuzma recalled.

The choir sang that song only in Kyiv, at a concert at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

“My Japanese-American friend Ray Kinoshita sang a beautiful solo at the end, with the lyrics: ‘Oh, mother, I’ll return when the guelder rose blooms, bringing with me the golden sun of freedom to your house.’ We finished, not knowing whether the Soviets would throw us out of Ukraine. But the audience response was wild—people stood, shouted ‘bravo,’ stomped, clapped. A KGB agent in the back yelled: ‘You can’t sing that!’ That was the first time I truly saw that the spirit of Ukrainian patriotism was still alive, even in the Brezhnev era.”

After the performance, people came up, hugged the singers, and thanked them. The choir members were deeply moved—many were crying. Kuzma also got to see his aunt Lesya, who had come with her children all the way from the village of Ilnytsia. That moment convinced him Ukraine could one day be independent, because its spirit was still strong.

In the early 1980s, Kuzma led the choir at Christ the King Church in Boston, a close-knit group of like-minded singers: “I tried to recruit young singers to strengthen the choir. We had an amazing team—Marta Kolomayets, Boris Lushniak, Marta Baziuk (now Koznarska), Larysa Kurylys, Oksana and Peter Piaseckyj, and then-layman Borys Gudziak. We sang with sincerity.”

Later, he brought together 100 singers from four parishes to form a large choir that sang during the Millennium of Ukrainian Christianity celebration at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Hartford. Even the American press wrote about it. Borys Gudziak was there too, then a doctoral student at Harvard. He often spoke to the diaspora about the coming changes in Ukraine.

“Back in 1982–83, Archbishop Borys was already studying at UCU in Rome and speaking with Patriarch Josyf Slipyj. Each fall, he returned to Boston and told us: ‘The Patriarch says our church is ready to come out of the underground. He believes Ukraine will gain independence. We’ll restore the Theological Academy in Lviv. The Pope will come to Ukraine.’ I believed that could really happen.”

In those years, it sounded impossible—the USSR was still strong, and there were no signs of its collapse. But eight years later, almost everything came true, except the Pope’s visit (which happened in 2001, when Pope John Paul II visited Lviv and blessed the cornerstone of Ukrainian Catholic University).

“I think we underestimate what a miracle that was. In hindsight, it seems inevitable. But at the time, it sounded like madness. And yet it all came true. I see it as divine grace and providence, which only Patriarch Slipyj and Archbishop Borys expected,” Kuzma said.

In 1990, during the Revolution on Granite, Kuzma returned to Ukraine with the choir and his parents—on their first visit home since immigrating. His father had a wonderful tenor, his mother a soprano. The choir first performed in Lviv, then in Kyiv—on the very day the student protests achieved victory.

“It was surreal. A young guy jumped onto our bus and shouted: ‘We won! Come with us to the podium!’ So our whole choir ran. We saw heroes like Vyacheslav Chornovil, Mykhailo Horyn, Ivan Hel. We were invited to sing ‘Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished.’ My mom, though tiny, stood proudly and sang. People were crying, singing, cheering. It was overwhelming to be in Ukraine at that historic moment,” Kuzma recalled.

“Later I found out that people like Natalia Klymovska and Yaroslav Rushchyshyn—future UCU leaders—were also there. We stood side by side, not knowing each other, unaware that one day we’d all be part of the same community.”

In 1994, through the efforts of Cardinal Ivan Lubachivsky, Borys Gudziak, and others, the Lviv Theological Academy was reopened. At the time, few believed in the success of the project.

“In the mid-90s, the euphoria had faded. The diaspora realized Ukraine wouldn’t instantly bloom. Corruption, post-Soviet thinking—many in America, used to comfort, became disillusioned. They stopped helping when Ukraine didn’t meet their idealized expectations,” Kuzma noted.

Support for UCU grew when the first building on Khutorivka Street was built and Borys Gudziak was ordained to the priesthood.

“Interest from the diaspora surged after Pope John Paul II’s visit—it was hard to ignore a million people at a Liturgy. But I especially honor those who believed in the dream when there was nothing: the Tymiak, Klufas, and Slywotzky families. It took courage and faith to believe this vision could come true,” Kuzma said.

He joined the UCU Foundation in 2010, after working on ecological and medical issues at the Children of Chornobyl Fund. Archbishop Gudziak invited him to lead the foundation.

“The foundation’s main goal is raising money. America is capitalist—money talks. Donations are a sign of trust. After the 2008 financial crisis, people lost a lot of investments. It was a hard time.”

Yet, during that uncertain time, Archbishop Borys Gudziak launched plans for the academic campus. Around the same time, Viktor Yanukovych came to power in Ukraine, pressuring UCU and Archbishop Gudziak personally. In spring 2010, Archbishop Gudziak addressed students and staff publicly:

“He said: ‘I can’t guarantee your safety, but I’ll stand with you. We won’t cooperate with a government trying to destroy democracy.’ Then he pointed to an empty lot and said: ‘Soon you won’t recognize this place.’”

Two years later, the UCU Collegium, a residence for students and staff, stood there. In four years, the dining hall and academic building were built. It was a difficult time, but Patriarch Slipyj’s dream was becoming reality.

“The foundation raised serious funds thanks to visionary donors like James Temerty (Canada), and Adrian and Christine Slywotzky. They embraced Archbishop Borys’s vision of thinking boldly, dreaming big—’Just do it.’ We’re deeply grateful to them,” said Kuzma.
Today, UCU’s donor base includes supporters from Florida, Arizona, California, Italy, Liechtenstein, and beyond.
“Our biggest challenge is to push our mission and campaign beyond the Ukrainian diaspora,” Kuzma admits.

Currently, the foundation is working more with the business sector, the new Ukrainian diaspora — representatives of the IT industry, successful entrepreneurs — startup founders with Ukrainian roots, Roman Catholic clergy, and representatives of other denominations, because Ukraine’s pain in war and its striving for peace resonates in the hearts of many people, no matter where they live or what faith they profess.

Every year, charitable events take place in America to raise funds for the development of UCU and support for students. The university’s fundraisers also involve many ambassadors in promoting and finding benefactors.

“To some extent, the war has drawn new donors to us. In one year, over 1,000 new donors joined the UCU Friends community. They are very generous, but also somewhat impulsive. Right after the war started, donations for humanitarian aid and UCU grew, because people admired Ukrainians resisting Putin and Russia. But later, it became somewhat more difficult, as our donors said: ‘Now we’re giving money to the front line, and UCU can wait until the recovery stage,'” Kuzma admitted.

However, the projects UCU is implementing under its Strategy 2030 have resonated with many donors, who supported the creation of the UCU Medical Clinic, programs to support veterans and mental health, development of educational programs in innovation and robotics, and many other university initiatives.

Kuzma said:
“Our donors see that UCU plays a very important — even key — role in society. Graduates of the Faculty of Applied Sciences are producing brilliant innovations that directly support the military effort and resistance against Russia.”

Today, the foundation is also working on growing its endowments, especially for faculty stipends, to help and strengthen their efforts during wartime.

“When I come to Ukraine, I have the pleasure from time to time to attend professors’ lectures. This year, I was at the School of Theology, and the lectures given by Yaroslav Hrytsak, Archbishop Borys, Fr. Yuriy Shchurko, and Mariya Tytarenko — they were so inspiring and profound that I was in awe. They encourage dialogue among students and their colleagues. And this is already a tradition of academic communication. In my opinion, this is an extraordinary treasure that Archbishop Borys and the community have created here,” said Kuzma.

Another mission of the UCU Foundation in America is advocacy for Ukraine: to be the voice of our country in the world, to tell the truth and share the stories of Ukrainians with ordinary Americans, and to gain their support — these are new challenges for the foundation’s staff.

“I have a big task — to bring stories of the heroes from UCU’s ‘Little Stories of a Big War’ project into the American media. To talk about them in podcasts and blogs. We are trying to appear more on radio. Even when performing with our choir, we try to share the truth about Ukraine. People crave information; they instinctively feel that Ukraine is truly something unique and beautiful, but they can’t quite touch it. For an American audience, little stories from the big war can be very impactful, because they often struggle with statistics and feel overwhelmed. But when they feel a personal connection or emotion — that is extremely important, and it must not be underestimated,” Kuzma emphasized.
According to him, through personal stories of remarkable Ukrainians, Americans discover Ukraine and better understand its value particularly in a cultural context. Interest in art, literature, and music created by talented Ukrainians can sometimes promote Ukraine more effectively than diplomacy.

“I wrote an article about Victoria Amelina in which I posed the question: ‘Why does the world know so little about our artists? Because they are persecuted.’ Alla Horska, Volodymyr Ivasyuk, Mykola Leontovych, and many others — they were all tortured to death. These were people who could have written symphonies or famous poetry, declaring Ukraine to the world. Vasyl Stus could have won the Nobel Prize, but he was killed a year before. Thank God, the world is beginning to realize who our Ukrainian heroes are. We must write and speak about all of this,” said Alexander Kuzma.

The UCU Foundation in the USA faces new challenges and tasks.

Due to political fluctuations in America and global instability, interest in Ukraine is changeable, and emotions influence donors less. Now, what speaks to influential and successful people are the success stories of UCU, its students, and graduates.
Showing the global community our resilience, expertise, and innovation — this is the new direction of the UCU Foundation’s work in the USA.

Soon, two charity events will take place in America: the Perelaz folk ball at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Jenkintown (near Philadelphia), and a Charity Luncheon in New York. Their goal is to raise funds for the development of new university programs, scholarships for talented students and faculty, and endowments in honor of the UCU community’s Heroes of the War.
On behalf of the Ukrainian Catholic University team, we thank Alexander Kuzma for his many years of service and wish him continued success and fruitful work.

Text: Lesia Volodymyrenko

Interviewer: Olena Dzhedzhora