KU professor victim in fatal K-10 crash

Richard Gwin/Journal World-Photo Emergency personal work the scene of a two vehicle accident on Kansas Highway 10 around 4 p.m.

A 63-year-old Kansas University professor died Tuesday after crashing his Mazda SUV head-on into a semi-trailer truck, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol’s online crash log.

Alexander G. Tsiovkh, director of Ukrainian studies and associate professor of practice in the KU Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, or CREES, was driving westbound on Kansas Highway 10 in south Lawrence at 4 p.m. when his vehicle crossed the center line near mile marker 4, about a mile east of East 1200 Road and K-10, the report said.

When the vehicle crossed, it collided with an eastbound semi-trailer truck, driven by 34-year-old Mohamed Igal, of Kansas City, Mo., in the eastbound lane, according to the report. The two vehicles separated, with Tsiovkh’s vehicle landing in the north ditch and the semi-trailer truck traveling off the roadway, landing in the south ditch.

Tsiovkh died on impact and Igal was taken to Kansas University Hospital, the report said.

“On behalf of the university community, I extend condolences to Alexander Tsiovkh’s family, friends and colleagues. His scholarship and knowledge of Ukraine helped enlighten discussions on an area of the world that has been at the center of international attention,” KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said in a news release Wednesday.

Mariya Omelicheva, CREES director, said, “CREES is a community, and Alex has been central to expanding and strengthening it not only through teaching, but also taking an active part in the Center’s social events and academic programming and adding a hint of humor to serious and mundane stuff.”

Originally from Lviv in western Ukraine, Tsiovkh was director of Ukrainian studies and an expert on Ukrainian history and politics, KU said.

Tsiovkh became a visiting professor at KU in 1993. Since 1994, he organized and directed the KU Intensive Ukrainian Language and Culture summer program at Ivan Franko University in Lviv, KU said.