Paul Robert Magocsi

Paul Robert Magocsi (Rusyn: Павел Роберт Маґочій, romanized: Pavel Robert Magochy; born January 26, 1945) is an American professor of history, political science, and Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. He has been with the university since 1980 and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1996. He currently acts as Honorary Chairman of the World Congress of Rusyns, and has authored many books on Rusyn history.,

Born in Englewood, New Jersey, Magocsi (his surname Magocsi is pronounced something like "magótchy", varying in different languages) is of Hungarian and Ruthenian (Rusyn) descent. He completed his undergraduate studies at Rutgers University B.A. in 1966; M.A. 1967, Princeton University in M.A. 1969, Ph.D. 1972. He then went to Harvard University, where he was a member of the Society of Fellows between 1973 and 1976. In 2013, he was awarded doctor honoris causa by the University of Prešov in Slovakia.

Magocsi has taught at Harvard University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 1996, he was appointed permanent fellow of the Royal Society of Canada—Canadian Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences.

Besides his primary focus on East-Central European history, Magocsi is a scholar of nationality and ethnicity more generally, and edited the collection Aboriginal Peoples of Canada: A Short Introduction (2002).

In 2025 his Ukraine: A History Course, consisting of 45 lectures recorded by the Chair of Ukrainian Studies, along with a semester course The People From Nowhere: A History of Carpathian Rus' (22 lectures) were published on YouTube.

In 2025 a Festschrift consisting of 183 testimonials, In So Many Words: Celebrating Paul Robert Magocsi, Edited by Nicholas Kupensky, was published.[1]

In September 2025 a curated Paul Robert Magocsi Map Collection featuring 466 maps of Ukraine, Crimea, and Central Europe from over a dozen of his books was posted online.[2] The collection features 381 maps of Ukraine, Crimea, and Central Europe: 277 maps are in English, 92 maps are in Ukrainian, 6 maps are in Polish, and 6 maps are in Japanese. The collection also includes 87 of his maps from the Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups.