Department of the World History
The Department of the World History was formed in June 2001 (from September 2009 — till June 2011 — Department of the World History and Law), as one of the two departments of historical faculty, which was restored in the structure of Zhytomyr State Pedagogical University named after Ivan Franko. The first head of the department was appointed Candidate of Sciences (History) I. I. Yarmoshyk, and since 2004 the head of the department has been Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor O. M. Shvydak.
Since December 2009 the department has been headed by Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor G. M. Starodubets. K. V. Sokalska is a senior laboratory assistant.
The department staff provides teaching subjects of world history of different chronological stages (Ancient World, Medieval, Modern and Contemporary History of Europe, America, Asia, Africa, the Slavic peoples), ethnography, archeology, museology, archives and others.
Lecturers of the department provides educational, archaeological (M. V. Khadadova, P. V. Opanashchuk), archival and museum (I. M. Vlasyuk, H. O. Mishchuk) educational practices.
The members of the department are one of the best professionals on the Faculty. Two of the ten lecturers are Doctors of Sciences (History): Professor G. M. Starodubets, Associate Professor O. A. Buravskyy; seven of the ten lecturers are Candidates of Sciences (History), Associate Professors: O. S. Kuzmin, I. M. Vlasyuk, H. A. Mishchuk, L. V. Hutsalo, A. V. Sedlyar, P. V. Opanashchuk, A. V. Shevchuk.
Senior Lecturer of the Department M. V. Khadadova has been working on the candidate’s thesis. G. M. Starodubets, Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor runs the preparation of post- graduate students for defending the candidates’ theses. The cycle of her scientific interests is the history of Stalinism, Ukrainian national liberation movement of the period of the Second World War.
The lecturers of the department are the authors of several textbooks. In particular, Professor O. M. Shvydak published «Politology» (two editions),he actively participated in the preparation of a collective textbook «Zhytomyr. Historical Review » which was published with the stamp of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Associate Professor O. S. Kuzmin published a textbook «Historical Process» that is for the students of the historical faculty. In 2009, a textbook written by G. M. Starodubets «History of Ukraine (from ancient times to the present) Collection of the problematic tasks and tests» was recommended for the students by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. In 2015 G. M. Starodubets in cooperation with V. I. Synyavska and V. I. Synyavskyy published the textbook «Practicum on the world history (1990-2015 years)».

Scientific researches of the lecturers are conducted in the field of the complex department’s scientific topic «Urgent problems of Modern and Contemporary history of Slavic peoples». Scientific achievements of the lecturers is more than 500 works. Among them are «Modern History of Western Europe and North America» (O. S. Kuzmin, 2011), «Scripts and book collections of Volyn in the fonds of the National Library of Ukraine named after V. I. Vernadsky» (S. M. Mishchuk, 2007), «Scientific description of manuscripts and ancient printed books in Ukraine (the second half of the nineteenth — 30th of the twentieth century)» (S. M. Mishchuk, 2011), «National-territorial regions in the USSR (20-30s of the twentieth century)» (L. V. Gutsalo, 2009), «Roman Catholic Church on the Right-Bank Ukraine (the end of XVIII — the beginning of XX century): monograph» (O. A. Buravskyy, 2013) and others.
The participation of lecturers in national and international conferences is productive. The Department conducted All-Ukrainian scientific-practical conferences on the themes: «Ethnosocial processes in the Right-Bank Ukraine», «Liberation war led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the Right-Bank Ukraine», «Problems of Ukrainian state creation». In 2010 the Department initiated the conference «World War II in the historical dimension». In May 2015 the Department in cooperation with Institute of History of Ukraine, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and National University of Defense of Ukraine conducted the All-Ukrainian conference «The wars and armed conflicts in Eastern Europe in XX — the beginning of XXI centuries».
Since 2008 our department has annually hold All-Ukrainian (since 2010 — International) Volyn scientific conference that gathers dozens of scholars from all over Ukraine. The eights one will be conducted in November 2015.
The Historical Faculty began to publish the scientific journal «Volyn Historical Notes» (editor—in-chief-Doctor of Sciences (History) S. M. Mischuk). It’s first addition appeared in October 2008. And in May 2010 the scientific journal classified to the professional publications on historical subjects.
The feature of the research work of the department is the involvement of students. Topics of students’ works refer to the essential areas of scientific activities of the department. These are the topical issues of the world history, the history of Ukraine and historiography. Future historians study the problems of Ancient World, Medieval history, Modern and Contemporary History. Under the supervision of the lecturers, the students prepare speeches not only for scientific forums which are hold in Zhytomyr State University, but also in other educational institutions of Ukraine. The lecturers of the Department are running the preparation of the students’ scientific works for All-Ukrainian contests: of the student’s scientific works (Associated Professor A. V. Shevchuk), «Ukrainian Liberation Movement of 1920–1950 years» (Professor G. M. Starodubets) etc.
The Department regularly publishes scientific collection of students’ works «Student Historic Studios» (Chairman of the Editorial Board — Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor G. M. Starodubets). Since 2012 the Department together with the Students’ Scientific Society conducts the annual regional students’ conference «Urgent problems of the history of Slavic peoples» (the fourth one will be conducted in March 2016).
The members of the department has maintained friendly relations and cooperate with educational and research institutions of Kyiv, Vinnytsya, Zaporizhya, Kamyanetz-Podolsk, Lviv, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv. Teachers provide constant support to educational establishments in the advanced study of history and social sciences. The department provides probation period and improving the qualification of school teachers and other educational establishment of I-II level of accreditation of Zhytomyr region.