Agricultural Sciences

Two-day symposium to examine science and culture of Ukraine

University Park, Pa. -- The College of Agricultural Sciences and the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State will sponsor a two-day symposium examining the science and culture of Ukraine, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 on Penn State's University Park campus.

"Diverse Landscapes of Ukraine: A Celebration of 20 Years of Independence" will assemble speakers from universities in the United States, Ukraine and from around the world to address seminal topics in agriculture, environmental resources, language and culture.

The first day of the symposium will feature presentations and discussions on sustainable forest resource development, trends in Ukrainian agriculture and the environmental aftermath of the April 1986 nuclear reactor meltdown in Chornobyl.

That accident, which spread radioactivity over much of Europe and contaminated areas of Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia, is seen as offering lessons for the recent nuclear disaster at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

The second day will be dedicated to literature, language, culture and thearts in 21st century Ukraine, focusing on the ways they shape and reflect the country's cultural and physical landscape as well as Ukrainian identity. All scholarly events at the symposium are free and open to the public.

The symposium is supported by the Woskob New Century Fund and the Woskob Endowment in Ukrainian Studies. Registration, session and other information is available on the Web at http://bit.ly/j9LbDh online.

For more information, contact Deanna Behring, director of international programs in the College of Agricultural Sciences, at 814-863-0249 or by email at dmb37@psu.edu.

Last Updated January 9, 2015

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