The Federation of Ukrainian Student Organizations of America (SUSTA) was founded in 1953 during the first congress of Ukrainian students in the United States, held at Columbia University. Eleonora Kulchytska was elected the federation's first president. She helped oversee and support the interests of the 654 members of SUSTA who were scattered throughout some fifty universities and colleges in the United States. She established the organization for generations to come.

 

The original mission of the federation was to help foster and disseminate knowledge about Ukrainian history; to strengthen the moral and spiritual values of Ukrainian Americans, to support and preserve Ukrainian culture and traditions; to prepare students to take part in the intellectual and practical life of the United States, or a free Ukraine; to coordinate the activities of member clubs and societies; and to raise money on behalf of students.

 

And they very much did so - SUSTA was a networking, social, and political powerhouse. At their peak they had thousands of members. Just in the NYC hromada alone they had close to two thousand members. And their budget was in tens of thousands; they were flying major political figures to come speak at their meetings and arranging large events. SUSTA was also on the forefront of the fight for a free Ukraine, protected political prisoners, and attacked the Soviet Union for its acts of oppression on the Ukrainian people. In 1963 SUSTA published material in a book titled: Ukrains'ke studentstvo v Amerytsi. It included material from the nearly 50 student associations and clubs at various American universities and colleges, with the most active of these being affiliated with academic communities in Chicago, Baltimore, New York City, Cleveland, and Philadelphia.

 

Following the founding in 1953, there were 8 subsequent congresses; the last one under the original SUSTA was in 1966 at Seton Hall University, in New Jersey. After 1966 SUSTA took a hiatus, and from then until now its existence has fluctuated going back and forth from revival to subsidence back to revival. There have been many attempts at revival. The most recent conference was 2001 in Chicago. Though, that revival was short lived and immediately following that conference, SUSTA became dormant.

 

Then in 2006 Adrian Podpirka, an undergrad at Columbia University took the initiative to restart the organization. He gathered representatives from various Ukrainian clubs across the US, outlined a constitution, and opened talks about re-establishing the organization. And the next year Rutgers Ukrainian Students Club volunteered to organize a conference aimed at just doing so: the 1st Annual SUSTA Conference. The conference was aimed at informing students about SUSTA and having students hear community leaders talk about SUSTA and Ukrainian Issues; as well as have students discuss the future of Ukrainian student affairs in America. Present at the conference were such well-regarded members of the Ukrainian Community as Michael Sawkiw of UCCA and Askold S. Lozynskyj of the Ukrainian World Congress.

 

    2007 SUSTA Conference (Rutgers University, NJ)

    Left to right:

      Viktor Voloshyn, Embassy of Ukraine;

      Yuri Shevchuk, Chair of Shevchenko Scientific Society, Professor at Columbia U;

      Yuriy Symczyk, CYM (The Ukrainian Youth Association);

      Michael Sawkiw, President of Ukrainian Congress Committee of America;

      Roma Lisovich, Treasurer of the Ukrainian National Association;

      Askold Lozynskyj, President of the Ukrainian World Congress.