In 1991, a lecture fund was established through a major gift donated by the estate of the late Vasyl and Maria Petryshyn, with additional funds provided by their son Dr. Wolodymyr Petryshyn and other family members. The income from the fund was to be used to support an annual presentation made by distinguished scholars with national or international reputation in the field of Ukrainian studies. The guest speaker, topics of their presentations and dates are determined by the Lecture Committee consisting of the Director of HURI and two Harvard colleagues of his choice.
List of the Petryshyn Memorial Lectures
2023 Anne Applebaum, Staff Writer at The Atlantic and Senior Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University, "Brutality, Incompetence, and Historical Echoes in Russian-occupied Ukraine." Learn more >>
2022 Timothy Snyder, Levin Professor of History and Global Affairs, Yale University, "Ukraine: A Normal Country" Watch
2021 Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Crown Family Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of History, History Department, Northwestern University, "A Paradigm-Changing Day: Jews, Ukrainians, and the 25th Anniversary of the Babyn Yar" 
Watch
2020 Larry Wolff, Julius Silver Professor of European History at New York University; Executive Director of the NYU Remarque Institute; Co-Director of NYU Florence, "Disunion within the Union: The Uniate Church and the Partitions of Poland" Watch
2019 Guido Hausmann, Professor of Southeast and East European History, University of Regensburg; Head of the History Division, Leibniz-Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, "The Legacies of Brest-Litovsk 1918: From Diplomacy to Historiography" Watch
2018 Andrew Wilson, Professor of Ukrainian Studies, University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, "Deconstructing the East Slavic Idea in Ukraine and Belarus: What Has Happened to National Identities Since 2014
2017 Frank Sysyn, Director of the Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), "Mobilizing the Peasantry: The Quandaries of Modernity in the Galician Carpathians, 1880-1914" Watch
2016 Serhy Yekelchyk, Professor of History and Germanic & Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria, "How a Plaza Became the Maidan: A Spatial History of Celebration and Protest in Modern Kyiv" Watch 
Listen
2015 Volodymyr V. Kravchenko, Director, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies; Professor of History and Classics, University of Alberta, "(Re)defining the Ukrainian-Russian Borderland: The Case of Kharkiv/Kharkov" Listen
2014 Andreas Kappeler, Professor of East European History, Emeritus, University of Vienna, "A Russian Woman and the Ukrainian Movement: The Journey of Aleksandra and Petro Yefymenko" Listen
2013 Paul Robert Magocsi, Professor, Department of History and Department of Political Science, Chair of Ukrainian Studies, University of Toronto, "The Crimean Tatars: A Fate of a Deported People"
2012 Norman M. Naimark, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institute, Stanford University, "The Ukrainian Famine in the History of Genocide" 
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2011 Zenon Kohut, Director Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta Listen in iTunes
2010 Mark von Hagen, Director, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies; Professor, Department of History, Arizona State University Listen in iTunes
2008 Giovanna Brogi Bercoff, Professor of Slavistics, University of Milan, "Canon and Culture in Early Modern Ukraine: The Baroque and Its Aftermath" Listen in iTunes
2007 Tatiana Tairova-Iakovleva, Professor of Ukrainian History and Director, Center for Ukrainian Studies, St. Petersburg State University, "Ivan Mazepa: The Hetman and the Myth in Historical Context" Listen in iTunes
2006 Olexiy Haran, Regional Vice President for Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, The Eurasia Foundation, "Post-Orange Ukraine and the March 2006 Elections: What Now?"
2005 Dr. Dominique Arel, Chair of Ukrainian Studies, University of Ottawa, "Understanding the Regional Factor in Ukrainian Politics, 1994-2004"
2004 Dr. Yaroslav Hrytsak, Institute of Historical Research, Lviv National University, "A Ruthenian Peasant in a Ger,man Outfit: Ivan Franko and the Making of Ukrainian Identity"
2003 Alexander J. Motyl, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, and Deputy Director, Center for Global Change and Governance, Rutgers University-Newark, "Making Ukraine, and Remaking It"
2002 Dr. Natalia Yakovenko, Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, "Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants: Religious Coexistence in Ukraine in the 16th to 17th Centuries"
2001 Dr. Andrea Graziosi, University of Naples Federico II, Italy "The Ukrainian Experience in the European War/Revolution of 1905-1956"
2000 Dr. Hiroaki Kuromiya, Indiana University, USA "Reinterpreting Ukrainian History: New Sources and New Ideas"
1999 Dr. Maria Zubrytska, Lviv Franko University, Ukraine, "Contemporary Ukrainian Literature and Its Readers: a Mutual Longing for Recognition"
1998 Dr. John A. Armstrong, University of Wisconsin, USA, "Independent Ukraine in the World Arena: Prospects for the Republic and Implications for Studies"
1997 Dr. John-Paul Himka, University of Alberta, Canada, "History, Christendom, and East European Culture: Reformulating Some Questions"
1996 Dr. Francis J. Thompson, University of Antwerp, Belgium, "The Union of Brest (1596) in Its Historical Context"
1995 Dr. Yuri Scherbak, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States, "A New Nation, New Relations: Ukraine's Emerging Foreign Policy"
1994 Dr. Marta Bohachevska-Chomiak, National Endowment for the Humanities, "Political Communities and Gendered Ideologies in Contemporary Ukraine"
The first Vasyl and Maria Petryshyn Memorial Lecture took place on April 24, 1994.