PORTLAND, Oregon — Responding the 1763 invitation of Catherine the Great for Western Europeans to move to the Russian Empire, more than 30,000 immigrants (mostly Germans) made the trek to the Russian Steppe between 1764 and 1772. Of significance to those whose descendants settled the western Kansas prairie 110 years later, nine Roman Catholic colonies were founded along the Volga River in 1766: Degott (July 18), Graf (June 10), Herzog (July 14), Katharinenstadt (June 27), Louis (June 14), Mariental (June 16), Rohleder (June 14), Schuck (July 18), and Volmer (July 18).To celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the establishment of these nine colonies, the Center for Volga German Studies at Concordia University is hosting an all-day seminar series at the Rose Garden Banquet Hall in Hays on Saturday, June 4. Registration before May 27 is $30 per person; registration after that is $40 per person.