The program offers a bachelor of arts degree (BA) and a minor. The undergraduate certificate is inactive.
General Requirements
Fields of Concentration
The program offers the following concentrations for the undergraduate major and minor, the master’s degree, and the graduate certificate:
- Russian literature
- Russian language (as a concentration for the major, special requirements apply—see below; Russian language is not a minor concentration option)
- Slavic linguistics
- Russian and East European history
- Contemporary Russia, East Europe, and Eurasia
Courses with these focus areas are offered by the program and such participating departments as anthropology, geography, history, political science, and sociology. Any course taken that includes instruction on one of these focus areas and has at least 40 percent Russian, East European, former Soviet Eurasian, or Slavic content, including independent research undertaken by the student, may be applied to the field of concentration requirement with administrative approval. Students may petition to have courses taken in other disciplines count toward the concentration or elective requirement if the content of these courses meets the 40 percent standard. This applies to regularly scheduled courses and to independent reading and conference courses.
Students can request sample programs of study in the various concentrations from their advisor or from the program’s office.
Major Requirements
The major requires 40 graded credits; courses must be passed with grades of C– or better. Credits used to fulfill the language requirement may not be applied to the 40-credit requirement.
Bachelor of Arts Degree Requirements
| Language Courses | ||
| RUSS 101–103 | First-Year Russian 1 | 15 |
| RUSS 201–203 | Second-Year Russian 1 | 15 |
| RUSS 316–318 | Third-Year Russian 1 | 15 |
| Field of Concentration Courses | 16 | |
Four upper-division courses in a chosen concentration 2 | ||
| Elective Courses 3 | 24 | |
| Total Credits | 40 | |
| 1 | Three years of college-level Slavic language study is usually fulfilled by taking Russian language courses. Students may petition to substitute one year of a second Slavic language for one year of the primary Slavic language. The language option is chosen in consultation with program advisors. |
| 2 | Two courses must be at the 400 level. |
| 3 | At least 12 credits must be earned in upper-division courses. As many as 8 of the 24 credits may be in the concentration area, but may not be used to satisfy both the concentration requirement and the elective requirement. Electives must include courses in at least two fields outside the concentration. |
Additional Requirements
A research paper written in conjunction with one of the upper-division courses or as a separate Reading and Conference course (RUSS 406, REES 406) in the field of concentration.
Double Majors
Subject to approval by program administrators, as many as four 300- and 400-level courses taken to fulfill requirements for a second major may be used to fulfill the 40-credit requirement of the Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies major. To apply for a double major, students must complete and submit a declaration form to the center’s office.
Honors in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Majors who have an overall GPA of 3.50 by the end of the junior year and who are interested in honors should meet with their advisor, then submit a thesis proposal to the center’s director for approval. If approved, the student registers for a minimum of 4 credits in Thesis (403) under the supervision of a program faculty member. The thesis, which fulfills the research requirement, must be completed at least one term before the term of graduation.
Special Requirements for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Majors with a Russian Language Concentration
- Language Requirement. Students who choose the language concentration should finish the program with advanced mastery of Russian. The fourth year of the language counts toward the concentration and is expected as the core of the concentration. In addition, students are expected to take a translation exam from Russian into English, which is administered once a term.
- Field of Concentration. The language concentration, like the other concentrations, consists of four courses beyond the basic third-year sequence. Three of them must be Advanced Russian: [Topic] (RUSS 436) or the equivalent; in each concentration, students may substitute two courses taken abroad for two courses of the concentration. The other course may be any other 4-credit 300- or 400-level language course, such as Russian through Theater (RUSS 309), or an independent reading course on a language topic.
- Research Paper. The paper must be written in Russian. It should involve some outside reading, but the research component is less important than the writing of an eight-to-ten-page typed paper in Russian.
- Electives. Because students should have an analytical perspective on the language, they are required to take an advanced course in Slavic linguistics. Because they should have a sense of the literary use of Russian, they also must take a 400-level Russian literature course as one of their electives.
Minor Requirements
The minor requires 28 graded credits; courses must be passed with a grade of C– or better. Courses taken to fulfill the language requirement may not be used to fulfill the 28-credit requirement.
| Language Courses | ||
| RUSS 101–103 | First-Year Russian 1 | 15 |
| RUSS 201–203 | Second-Year Russian 1 | 15 |
| RUSS 316–318 | Third-Year Russian 1 | 15 |
| Field of Concentration Courses | 12 | |
| Three upper-division courses in a chosen concentration 2 | ||
| Elective Courses 3 | 16 | |
| Total Credits | 28 | |
| 1 | Three years of college-level Slavic language study is usually fulfilled by taking Russian language courses. Students may petition to substitute one year of a second Slavic language for one year of the primary Slavic language. The language option is chosen in consultation with program advisors. |
| 2 | One course must be at the 400 level. |
| 3 | At least 12 credits must be earned in upper-division courses. As many as 4 of the 16 credits may be in the concentration area, but may not be used to satisfy both the concentration requirement and the elective requirement. |
Additional Requirements
A research paper written in conjunction with one of the upper-division courses or as a separate Reading and Conference course (RUSS 406, REES 406) in the field of concentration.
There is no limit on the number of language courses taken at other universities, including courses taken abroad, that may be used to satisfy the language requirement for the major or minor, subject to an equivalency assessment by the Russian language coordinator. With respect to concentration and elective requirements, undergraduate majors may apply as many as 4 upper-division transfer credits toward the concentration and as many as 12 transfer credits toward the elective requirement, but not toward universitywide graduation requirements.
Secondary School Teaching Careers
The College of Education offers a fifth-year program for teaching licensure in foreign language. This program is described in the College of Education section of this catalog.
