The Slovak Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh is pleased to offer funding for Pitt students enrolled in a Slovak language course or a Slovakia-related course at the University of Pittsburgh to support their studies, research, or internship at Pitt or in the Slovak Republic. The funding is made possible thanks to the Thomas Kukucka Memorial Scholarship established through the mediation of the Kukucka family in memory of Thomas Kukucka, a student of Slovak at Pitt, who died tragically before his planned journey to Slovakia in 1988. It draws on family, private, and corporate donations.
The scholarship is offered to students who have enrolled in Slovak language in the Spring Term AND intend to continue their Slovak language or Slovakia-related study at Pitt in the subsequent Fall Term (or during Pitt’s Summer Language Institute). The scholarship must be applied to tuition and fees. Auditors are not eligible.
Thomas Matthew Kukucka was born in 1956 of second- generation Slovak parents. He showed an interest in Slovak culture and language as a ten-year-old, asking his Slovak grandparents about words and culture from their old country. They were delighted that a grandson showed an interest, and it created a special bond between them.
Tom attended Pitt, was editor of the Pitt News & graduated in 1979 with a degree in English writing. He went on to a career in journalism. When he began work at the Pittsburgh Press in 1986, he pursued his interest in learning the Slovak language. He attended non-credit classes in Slovak at CCAC and Pitt. One of his teachers at CCAC , Sylvia Lorensc had escaped communist- occupied Czechoslovakia and he was fascinated by her stories of that experience. Meanwhile, in his Press workplace, he practiced Slovak by creating word-guessing games for his coworkers and incorporating the language in his workday life with them.
As Tom gained knowledge in speaking Slovak, he planned a trip to Slovakia to use those skills to trace his roots in that country. Unfortunately, he was killed in a July 1988 car accident before he could pursue that dream. His parents did make that trip a year later, in his stead.
Tom's co-workers at the Press knew he would like others to be enriched by learning Slovak and they created this scholarship in his name. The Kukucka family remembers Tom's interest in Slovak education and tries to support Pitt's efforts to continue this scholarship.