The annual Martha Kolomiyets scholarship to support female students of the journalism program of the Ukrainian Catholic University was initiated by the brother of a well-known international journalist, Andriy Kolomiyets, together with friends of Ms Marta.
This is reported by the UCU website.
This year, August 16 marks the first anniversary of the death of Marta Kolomiyets, a journalist, director of the Fulbright Program in Ukraine, initiator and head of many educational and cultural projects. The foundation of a personalized scholarship for UCU is a continuation of her work and a tribute to the memory on the eve of the anniversary.
According to the head of the school of journalism and communications of UCU, Fr Andriy Shestak, students will receive a scholarship according to their rating points. In addition, the initiators made a donation for scholarships in the form of an endowment – a sustainable fund that has an interest-bearing savings capital. Thus, the scholarship will be inexhaustible and will serve as a support for female students for many years to come.
"Marta Kolomiyets has worked for the Ukrainian Weekly, The Associated Press news agency, and Newsweek magazine. She has also long been a member of the UCU Friends Committee in the United States and Ukraine. Therefore, it is symbolic that our talented students, thanks to the support of her family and friends, will receive a personalized scholarship from Marta Kolomiyets, whose life and passion was journalism. We believe that this generous support will inspire our students to look up to her achievements and generously increase their own," Fr Andriy Shestak commented.
Background reference
Marta Kolomiyets was born in 1959 to a Ukrainian family in Chicago (USA). Her father is originally from the Poltava region, her mother is from Western Ukraine. She graduated from William H. Taft High School. She studied Slavic Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
She obtained her journalism degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She recorded many testimonies of people who survived the Holodomor of 1932-33 and passed them on to the US Congress library.
As a journalist of the Ukrainian Weekly publication (1991-1998), she was the first American journalist to come to Ukraine. She recorded the testimony of Ukrainian dissidents, made friends with them and helped them.
At one time, she held the following positions: Information Officer at USAID; Director of Community Partnership Programs at the American-Ukrainian Foundation; Director of the Ukrainian Educational Program for Market Reforms; Director of the National Democratic Institute; Chairman of the Ukrainian Women's Foundation Board.
From 2010 to 2012, she headed the programs and communications of the Ukrainian Catholic Educational Foundation in the United States. Since 2013 she was the director of the Fulbright Program in Ukraine;
Together with her husband Daniil Yanevsky, she produced a film about patriarch Iosyp Slipyy. She actively helped release the" political prisoner of the Kremlin " – Film Director Oleg Sentsov.
Marta Kolomiyets died on August 16, 2020.