Institutional development of the workplace

In the Slovak Republic, with the support of the state, since the 1997/1998 school year, elementary schools have been established with the teaching of the Ruthenian language, and later also with the Ruthenian language as a teaching language. This fact necessitated the urgent need for university training of teaching staff for these national schools. Their preparation was entrusted to the Institute of National Studies and Foreign Languages of the University of Prešov in Prešov, which was established for this purpose on September 1, 1998 as a university-wide workplace. Its integral part was the department of Ruthenian language and culture with three employees (two scientific and pedagogical: Doc. PhDr. Vasiľ Jabur, CSc. and PhDr. Anna Plišková and one administrative worker - Alica Turoková-Meceňová), which is the institutional predecessor of today's Institute of Ruthenian language and culture. In 2006, the name of the institute was changed to the Institute of Regional and National Studies, its status and focus were changed. As a result of the mentioned changes, the department of Ruthenian language and culture was reduced only to the "group for Ruthenian language and culture" within the new department for the research of nationality issues. However, the content of her work remained preserved, while it was divided into several main areas, which also became the basis for the activities of the newly established Institute of Ruthenian Language and Culture on March 1, 2008:

• scientific-research and development for the field of norm-making of the Ruthenian literary language,
• pedagogical and educational,
• publication,
• documentation.

Head of workplace

Institute of National Studies and Foreign Languages: prof. RNDr. Ivan Bernasovský, DrSc. (1999 – 2002), prof. RNDr. Jarmila Bernasovská, PhD. (2003-2006);

Institute of Regional and National Studies: prof. PaedDr. Štefan Šutaj, DrSc. (2006-2007);

Institute of Ruthenian Language and Culture: doc. PhDr. Anna Plišková, PhD. (since 2008).

Personnel structure

The institute currently employs: 1 professor, 3 associate professors, 3 assistant professors, 1 assistant, 1 technical-administrative worker.

Educational and research infrastructure

The activity of the institute, like in the past and its predecessors, is financed from the purpose-specific financial resources of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic and from the budget of the PU to ensure higher education and science.

The establishment of the Institute of National Studies and Foreign Languages was also connected with the extension of the building in the courtyard of the former Rectorate of PU on Nám. legionnaires no. 3 in Prešov, which was realized from a special subsidy of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic in the amount of Sk 3,700,000.00 (or €122,817). In the years 1999-2000, the institute participated in the solution of the PHARE project 9905.02 "Tolerance towards minorities", within the framework of which it received funds for the material equipment of the multimedia classroom in the amount of Sk 1,182,142.00 (or €39,240). Thanks to this, the institute could, in accordance with its statute, begin to fully develop its activity and mission in the above-mentioned areas.

Currently, the workplace has 5 offices for employees equipped with the necessary computing technology (computers, printers, scanners, copiers), two classrooms equipped with the necessary didactic technology (multifunctional whiteboards, data projectors, computers, laptops) and a unique Library of Carpathian Studies. The basis of this specialized library is a collection of publications from various spheres of Carpatho-Rusyn studies (Rusyn language, literature, ethnography, history, culture, etc.) and from various areas of historical Carpathian Rus, respectively. of Central and Eastern Europe (Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Romania), the USA and Canada, as well as a unique collection of microfilms containing Ruthenian periodicals from 1848-1939, which was donated to the Institute by the Carpathian-Ruthenian Research Center in the USA. Thanks to the rich study material for the given field of knowledge, concentrated in the Library of Carpatho-Rusynistics, the International Council for Research and Exchange (IREX) in Washington in 1999 chose the University of Prešov as an educational center for academic staff dealing with Carpatho-Rusynistics, and subsequently the institute's annual guests are foreign scientists and PhD students from Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Italy, Great Britain, USA.

Accredited study programs

• Bachelor study program Teaching Ruthenian language and literature (in combination) in the field of study Teaching and pedagogical sciences (guarantor doc. PhDr. Anna Plišková, PhD.);
• Master's study program Teaching Ruthenian language and literature (in combination) in the field of study Teaching and pedagogical sciences (guarantor doc. PhDr. Anna Plišková, PhD.).
• Doctoral program Slavic studies – Ruthenian language and literature in the field of study Philology (guarantor Prof. PhDr. Peter Káša, CSc.)

Scientific research activities

In the field of scientific research, ÚRJK workers, or the Ruthenian language and culture departments of the previous institutes were the organizers of five international scientific conferences on the grounds of the PU, focusing mainly on the issues of the current state and perspectives of the development of the Ruthenian written language and literature (1999, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2011).

In the mentioned period, our employees participated in several domestic and international scientific research and educational projects:

• they were co-investigators of the three-year state research and development program entitled Nation, Nationalities and Ethnic Groups in a Transforming Society (principal investigator at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Košice, 2003 – 2005),
• from 1999 to the present day, they have been involved annually in the domestic grant project of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic – Creation of Ruthenian language and literature textbooks, within which all Ruthenian language and literature textbooks published so far in Slovakia for primary and secondary schools with teaching were published with their participation and under their authorship of the Ruthenian language and with Ruthenian as the language of instruction,
• Słowniczek tematyczny I – II (supporter of the project Foundation for the support of the Lemko Rutenika minority in Warsaw, 2004, 2006),
• Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture (project holder University of Toronto, 2002, 2005),
• to the most important project from the perspective of the Ruthenian language – the preparation of the monograph Русиньскый язык from the series Najnowsze dzieje języków słowianskich within the international scientific research project Wspólczesne przemiany języków slowianskich (project holder Uniwersytet Opolski – Instytut Filologii Polskiej, 1999 – 2002); with its publication (Opole, 2004, supplemented edition with changes 2007) the Ruthenian language was effectively accepted into the family of Slavic written languages,
• to a three-year scientific research project within the framework of the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education and Science under the title Ruthenian literary language in Slovakia: research and development (No. 1/0399/08, 2008 – 2010),
• to the 3-year project of the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences entitled Dynamic processes in contemporary linguistics and Slavic studies (No. +/023511, 2011 – 2013),
• to the 2-year project of the Slovak Ministry of Education Agency for EU structural funds under the title Improving the language competences of students of the University of Prešov in Prešov in the languages of national minorities (OPV-2012/1.2/05-SORO: Support for improving the quality of higher education and SAV, 2013 – 2015)
• to the 4-year project of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic for Science and Research of the FF UK in Bratislava under Slovak in the context of multilingual communities in Slovakia (APVV-0689-12, 2013 – 2017).

 

Enrichment and visibility of the institute's activities are also long-term educational projects, which mean an invaluable contribution to the development of Carpatho-Russian studies on an international scale:

• Open day - presentation of Carpatho-Russian studies for high school students (with the support of the subsidy system of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic - the Culture of National Minorities program, 2008 - 2010),
• Scientific seminar of Carpatho-Ruthenistics - presentation of the results of scientific research activities of domestic and foreign Carpatho-Ruthenists (from the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, Canada) - the result of which are peer-reviewed collections of scientific studies under the name Studium Carpatho-Ruthenorum (since 2009),
• Studium Carpatho-Ruthenorum – an international summer school of the Ruthenian language and culture organized for domestic and foreign students interested in acquiring and deepening language competences in the Ruthenian written language, knowledge of history, literature, ethnography and culture of the Carpathian Ruthenians; teaching at the summer school is conducted in parallel in Ruthenian and English, and since 2010, more than 70 participants from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Ukraine, the USA and Canada have taken part in this educational project.

In order to increase the qualification structure of the institute, our staff have so far received two scholarships - in 2002 and 2008 - for young doctoral students from the Carpatho-Russian Studies Fund at the University of Toronto for a 3-month study stay at the Center for Russian and East European Studies of the University of Toronto. Their result was the preparation and subsequent successful defense of dissertations on the Ruthenian language and literature.

Editing and publishing activity

On March 1, 2013, the Institute of Ruthenian Language and Culture celebrated five years of its fruitful existence. During this period, his staff recorded around 80 publication units, among which are monographs published by domestic and foreign publishing houses, published invited papers from domestic and foreign scientific conferences, scientific and professional works in domestic and foreign conference and non-conference proceedings, textbooks for elementary and secondary schools schools, university textbooks, original works of art, technical and artistic translations, for which the staff of the institute received awards from the Slovak Literary Fund (2002, 2004) and the Carpathian-Rusyn Research Center in the USA (2007). Since 2009, the institute has annually published a peer-reviewed collection of scientific works Studium Carpato-Ruthenorum – Studies in Carpatho-Russian Studies and prepared several occasional collections that were the result of domestic and international scientific conferences and seminars organized by it.

Domestic and international cooperation

Thanks to their unique and specific position within the Slovak Republic, the staff of the institute cooperate closely with state institutions and national entities operating in the sphere of Ruthenian culture, respectively. developing their activities on the basis of relevant laws towards national minorities:

• with the civic association Rusín and Ľudové noviny on language editing of Ruthenian periodical and non-periodical press,
• with the Methodological and Pedagogical Center in Prešov in assessing and preparing Ruthenian language and literature textbooks for primary and secondary schools,
• with the Society of St. John the Baptist in assessing and editing church literature published in the Ruthenian language,
• with the Alexander Duchnovič Theater on translations and language adaptation of theater plays into the Ruthenian language,
• with the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic, the Government Office of the Slovak Republic, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic and other state institutions on translations of official documents into the Ruthenian language.

For the same reason, employees of the institute are approached for membership in executive committees, editorial boards of domestic and foreign scientific periodicals and anthologies, in expert commissions, working groups and advisory bodies of state institutions, etc.

Currently members are:

• of the International Language Commission for the Ruthenian Language,
• of the Language Commission at ÚRJK PU,
• Working group for education and youth exchange of the Slovak-Polish intergovernmental commission for cross-border cooperation,
• Scientific and Professional Council of the Slovak National Museum – Museum of Ruthenian Culture in Prešov,
• Editorial board of the international historical magazine Rus' (Chisinau, Moldova),
• Editorial board of the journal Ruthenistic studies (Serbia),
• Advisory Board of the Academy of Ruthenian Culture in Slovakia,
• Working group of the Government Office of the Slovak Republic to develop a list of names of municipalities in the languages of national minorities,

On the basis of projects and bilateral agreements, the institute cooperates for a long time with foreign workplaces, institutions and universities that implement study programs and scientific research based on Carpatho-Russian studies - in Poland (Pedagogical University and Jagiellonian University in Krakow), Serbia (University of Novi Sad), Hungary (Nyíregyházska higher school), Canada (Department of Ukrainian Studies, University of Toronto). A benefit for the future of Carpatho-Russian studies in Slovakia and in the international context could be the preparation and implementation of a joint study program of the mentioned cooperating subjects.