UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Steve Pifer, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, will visit Penn State's University Park campus to deliver a talk titled, "The Role of Europe in Resolving Ukraine's Orange Revolution Crisis." Sponsored by the Woskob Ukraine New Century Fund in the College of Agricultural Sciences, the talk will take place at 2:30 p.m. on April 10 in 102 Weaver Building.

Ukraine's "Orange Revolution" followed the country's highly charged presidential election of 2004, when widespread intimidation and voter fraud, allegedly perpetrated by the government of outgoing president Leonid Kuchma, led to the disputed election of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych as the new president. After much political maneuvering and a series of peaceful protests that nearly turned violent, the Ukrainian Supreme Court threw out the election results, paving the way for a new vote. Under close international monitoring, Ukrainians elected Viktor Yushchenko, whose supporters had adopted orange as the signifying color of his campaign.

Now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Pifer was a foreign service officer for more than 25 years, focusing on U.S. relations with the former Soviet Union and Europe, as well as on arms control and security issues. He served as ambassador to Ukraine from 1998 to 2000.

Pifer's talk is part of the Woskob Speaker Series, which in March featured Cathy Campbell, president and CEO of the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation. Campbell spoke on "Fostering International Collaboration and Peaceful Applications of Technology."

The Woskob Ukraine New Century Fund -- begun by real estate developers Helen and Alex Woskob of State College -- also supports several other Penn State initiatives:

--The Woskob International Research in Agriculture, or WIRA, program, brings as many as four scholars from Ukrainian agricultural universities to Penn State each year during the fall semester to study educational methods, take and co-teach courses, establish links with Penn State researchers and promote study-abroad opportunities for undergraduate students.

--The Ukrainian Forest Resources Initiative is a joint effort between Penn State, the National Agricultural University of Ukraine, the Ukrainian National Forestry University and others to develop sustainable forest management research and extension programs in Ukraine.

--As part of a faculty exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences since 1997 has hosted 55 young faculty members from countries of the former Soviet Union, about half of them from Ukraine. These Ukrainian scholars have returned home to help advance the market economy by improving educational programs in farm management, marketing, farm policy, agribusiness and agrarian law. Penn State also co-hosts an annual conference in the region to bring together former participants, university administrators, farmers and government representatives. This year's conference will be held in Ukraine and will be sponsored by the Woskob Ukraine New Century Fund.

The Woskob fund also will support future planned initiatives in horticulture, food science, and alternative energy and biofuels research.

Natives of Ukraine, the Woskobs are founders and co-owners of State College-based A.W. and Sons Enterprises. Since 1963, they have developed numerous real estate projects in Centre County, including housing for thousands of Penn State students.

More information on programs sponsored by the Woskob Ukraine New Century Fund is available by calling the College of Agricultural Sciences' Office of International Programs at (814) 863-0249 or by visiting the Web at http://www.cas.psu.edu/docs/international.

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Chuck Gill (814) 863-2713 cdg5@psu.edu