The award, granted by Penn State University's McCourtney Institute for Democracy, honors excellent work advancing democracy.
Vienna, November 4, 2024 - CEU's Invisible University for Ukraine (IUFU) has been selected for the 2024 Laurence and Lynne Brown Democracy Medal from the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State University. The prestigious medal honors the best work advancing democracy in the United States and internationally and comes with a cash prize of $10,000. It is given annually to recognize practical innovations, such as new institutions, practices, technologies or organizations that advance the cause of democracy.
"I am proud that the IUFU's important work will receive this prestigious award for its unique contribution to strengthening democracy under the most difficult of circumstances, namely during a war. Providing relevant, virtual and in-person teaching for students affected by the war in Ukraine demonstrates how a university can make a difference during a time of crisis," said Shalini Randeria, President and Rector of Central European University (CEU).
The award-winning program, Invisible University for Ukraine (IUFU), is an initiative of Central European University (CEU) and was launched in the spring of 2022, one month after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The program's objective is to help sustain intellectual growth in the midst of incredible hardships, with coursework designed to mitigate the effects of the war on students' academic development and provide a framework to push back against autocracy. It offers continuing academics for BA, MA and PhD students from Ukraine whose studies were affected by the war. Almost 1,000 Ukrainian students have taken online, and in-person courses taught by faculty from across Europe and beyond since the invasion of Ukraine began.
The award was handed over during a ceremony at Penn State University on October 31, 2024, to Balazs Trencsenyi, Professor of History and Director of CEU's Institute for Advanced Study, one of the founders of IUFU. Trencsenyi also gave a public lecture on the work of the IUFU, along with Nataliia Shuliakova, who completed the very first cohort of the IUFU course and is now a Master's student at Yale University.
Christopher Beem, McCourtney Institute for Democracy managing director and research professor of political science, said it's important to recognize IUFU's work as the war in Ukraine continues and the United States faces its own struggles regarding the role of higher education in democracy.
"It is the responsibility of the academy to defend the truth against its many enemies. That is one essential way that higher education helps sustain democracy," Beem said. "In this regard, we in the U.S. have much to learn from the courage and commitment of Invisible University for Ukraine."
CEU's IUFU initiative is also the focus of a book, "Invisible University for Ukraine", which will be published in the coming weeks by Cornell University Press. The volume recognizes the initiative of the IUFU's organizers and its students, describes their work to sustain democracy, and outlines their innovative educational model developed in the face of ongoing war.
The IUFU's next event, an in-person Winter School, will take place at CEU's Budapest site from January 11-18, 2025.
