Biography

Shevelov was the Deputy Head of the Artistic Ukrainian Movement in Munich (1945-1949), the founder of the Association of Ukrainian Writers titled Slovo. Since 1946, he was a full professor of the Ukrainian Free Academy in Munich where, in 1949, he was awarded a doctoral degree. Shevelov taught Ukrainian and Russian in Lund (Sweden). In 1951, he moved to the USA where he worked as a full professor at Harvard (1952-1954) and Columbia (1954-1977) Universities. Shevelov was the President of the Ukrainian Free Academy in New York (1959-1961, 1981-1986) where he was the honorary President till his very death.

Shevelov’s scientific interests cover Slavic philology, particularly the history of Ukrainian linguistics (morphology, syntax and lexicology), comparative analysis of the Ukrainian and other Slavic languages. He made a significant contribution to the history of the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, to the reconstruction of Common Slavonic languages. He studied the heritage of Alexander Potebnja.

Shevelov is the author of more than 800 works, including 17 books. In 2001, his memoirs came out, the first volume of which tells about his live, studies and work in Kharkiv in 1915-1943, his communication and cooperation with students and faculty members of the University.

Titles

Member of Taras Shevchenko Society (1949), foreign member of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Doctor Honoris Causa of University of Alberta (1983) and Lund (1984) University, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (1992); honorary member of Kharkiv Historical-Philological Society (1994).

Awards

Laureate of Taras Shevchenko Prize (2000, he donates the monetary constituent of the award to Ukrainian Gymnasium No. 6 in Kharkiv).