Sympathy to the Family and Former Colleagues of Alex Sydorenko, Professor Emeritus
JONESBORO – The university community extends sympathy to the family, friends and former colleagues of Dr. Alexander Sydorenko of Jonesboro, emeritus professor of history, who died Tuesday, Feb. 11.
Sydorenko served as a member of the Arkansas State University faculty for 48 years, from 1972 until 2020. He taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate Russian and European history courses.
Born in Ukraine during World War II, he and his family were driven out of the country and later emigrated to Brazil, then to the U.S. in 1959. Becoming a U.S. citizen in 1966, Sydorenko earned his master’s and his doctoral degree, in Russian and Ukrainian history, at the University of Illinois.
Highly respected as a leader among the faculty and a vigorous advocate for academic freedom, he was elected to a term as chair of the Faculty Senate and as president of the Faculty Association in 1997-98. He also served five years as chair of the Department of History.
His professional activities included being president of the Ukrainian American Association of University Professors and the Arkansas Association of College History Teachers. In addition to numerous scholarly articles, he was author of a book, “The Kiev Academy in the Seventeenth Century.” In 2022, he delivered the Corinne Sternheimer Greenfield Lecture on “Russia and Ukraine: A Civilizational Perspective,” less than a month after the Russian invasion of his native country began.
Survivors include two sons, Alexander Jr. and Jeremy; a grandson, Logan; and two cousins in Ukraine. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, at Roller Farmers Union Funeral Home. His complete obituary is online.
The clock tower of the Dean B. Ellis Library will be darkened Tuesday evening in memorial tribute to Sydorenko for his contributions to higher education and Arkansas State University.
