The Ohio Northern University Center for Democratic Governance and Rule of Law presents a panel discussion on “The Crisis in Ukraine: What is Happening and What Does it Mean?” in the Celebrezze Moot Court Room on Tuesday, March 25, at 7 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public.

A four-member panel will discuss the recent developments in Ukraine and analyze its implications for the region and the impact between Russia and the rest of the world. The panel will consist of Galyna Korniyenko, project manager for N3w Normal; Perry Bush, professor of history at Bluffton University; Howard Fenton, ONU professor of law; and Michael Loughlin, ONU professor of history. David Pimentel, director of the Center and visiting associate professor of law, will moderate the panel.

Korniyenko, who lives in Ukraine, currently works with local and central governments and disability organizations to educate governments, businesses and community organizations about the challenges that blind people face in everyday life. From 2006-12, she worked in the executive office for the city of Cherkasy, Ukraine, where she acted as liaison between local government and nongovernmental organizations, political parties, law enforcement and mass media; monitored execution of human rights laws; served as secretary of the supervisory committee on parole issues; and advised the executive office on information technology needs and uses. She describes herself as a civic activist, and was involved in some of the early, nonviolent demonstrations in Kyiv in recent months.

Bush has taught history at Bluffton University for more than 20 years and, in 2011, was selected as a Fulbright Scholar by the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars to teach at Zaporizhia National University in Ukraine. During 2012 he traveled extensively in central Ukraine and Crimea, participating in conferences and lecturing in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk and Yevpatoria, along the Black Sea in Crimea.

Loughlin has taught a class on American foreign policy at ONU for more than 25 years, with a focus on the Middle East including a critical evaluation of recent uses of America’s power in that region. His expertise is modern European history and he has visited Ukraine numerous times. His publications deal with French fascism. Recently he was asked by several professors from Moscow, critical of ongoing fascist-like trends throughout Europe, to contribute an article on French Fascism and its possible relationship to the French National Front of Jean-Marie and Marine Le Pen for a university publication in Putin’s Russia.

Fenton, who has taught at ONU since 1988 is director of the ONU Pettit College of Law’s LL.M. program in Democratic Governance and Rule of Law, a program designed for young lawyers from transitional democracies.  He has consulted on law reform efforts in Ukraine since 1996, including as recently as 2011 and has contributed to two books on administrative justice in Ukraine. Fenton has also served as an adviser to the governments of Georgia, Armenia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Uzbekistan and recently co-authored a guide to administrative law reform for U.S. State Department foreign aid officers.