Archived News | Return to News Center

July 9, 2004

ULM Faculty Member and Two Students Join Ukraine Team

Dr. Charles Pryor, Head of Educational Leadership and Counseling, and two ULM students, Steve Traxler, a construction major and Stuart Traxler, a criminal justice major, joined a team of ten volunteers who traveled to eastern Ukraine from June 17 to June 27 to provide instruction and humanitarian aid in a children's camp there. In addition to the camp work, the team served as consultants to an orphanage recently established to provide a home for up to twenty-nine homeless Ukaranian children.

The team, made up of ten members of North Monroe Baptist Church, with expertise in teaching, ministry, health care, recreation, and community planning, included Dr. Charles Pryor, Steve and Stuart Traxler of ULM, Lois Pryor, an elementary teacher, David McCormick, a music minister, Dr. Shelly McCormick, a pediatrician, Lilly Traxler, a cosmetologist, Joanne Poret, Director of Monroe City Zoning and Planning, and Edward and Joyce Schroth, a retired industrial arts teacher and a retired dental assistant. All participants who traveled at their own expense, applied their knowledge and skills to meeting the needs of the 210 children in attendance and to improving the quality of life in the surrounding environment.

As a result of ULM's presence in the Ukranian community, Svetlana Victorovna Bondar, a key person in the children's camp and orphanage work, will be attending graduate school at ULM this fall to earn the master's degree in counseling. Ms. Bondar is a proven professional in her field of work. She has done undergraduate work in Iowa as a participant in a highly selective exchange program and is a graduate of State Lugansk Pedagogical University, Ukraine, where she maintained an undergraduate GPA of 3.4. ULM is pleased to welcome Svetlana to ULM and to Monroe. Her long-range plans include continuing her work in Ukraine with specialization in providing services to that country's high orphan population.

PLEASE NOTE: Some links and e-mail addresses in these archived news stories may no longer work, and some content may include events which are no longer relevent, or reference individuals and/or organizations no longer associated with ULM.