On February 25, 2025, Salisbury University had the pleasure of welcoming three panelists from Ukraine to discuss how they are working today in “universities without walls”. Marking the third anniversary of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, our guest speakers were able to bring to our attention everything that they have been dealing with over that time span. Although Ukraine is going through difficult times, we are all hopeful and prepared to rebuild community on a post-conflict future.
Dr. Yuriy Petrushenko, who is head of the Department of International Economic Relations at Sumy State University in Ukraine was one of the guest speakers we were able to hear talk. Since 2021, Sumy State University has had over 14,000 students go through their program. Due to the events going on in Ukraine, most of these students must attend class virtually online, while medical students are the only ones able to have face to face learning. The mission for the lifelong learning center in Sumy is to make accessible and high-quality educational services available for the adult population of Sumy. Dr. Yuriy goes on to emphasize that the University has provided psychological support for over 500 families while going through these difficult times, doing everything they can to restore and gain hope.
Another speaker that Salisbury University was able to welcome was Dr. Natalia Tsibuliak, an associate professor at Berdyansk State Pedagogical University in Ukraine. The experiences shared by Dr. Tsibuliak were quite mind shocking, delving into her experiences of how her university turned close into a warzone. On February 27, 2022, the city of Berdyansk was taken over by troops, where students had once walked, had turned into a place where soldiers took over. Along with Dr. Tsibuliak’s university, another 44 universities had to be relocated during this time and over 65 had been damaged. The University and Dr. Tsibuliak did not let this stop them, saying “University is not walls, University is people”, emphasizing their hope and determination to get through this with the support of each other.
The last guest speaker was one of Salisbury University’s own, Dr. Brian Polkinghorn. Dr. Brian is a distinguished professor here at Salisbury and the Executive Director of the Bosserman Center. Dr. Brian emphasized the use of different technologies that are involved during these wars in Ukraine, saying that “technology is embedded in warfare”. We also learned from Dr. Brian that all male’s aged from 18-60 in Ukraine are not allowed to leave the country due to the possibility of them being drafted to help in the war efforts. In all, the 3 speakers brought to this university were able to give emotional, firsthand testimonies on what it’s like to be in school in such a tough environment, giving hope to any who doubt what they can persevere through.