Russian Program

Russian and East European Studies

Palace Square, St. Petersburg

Co-Directors: Associate Professor Alyssa Gillespie (Russian Language and Literature) and Associate Professor Semion Lyandres (History)

Description

Students can complete either a supplementary major or a minor in Russian and East European Studies to gain valuable interdisciplinary training that complements their major field. The program enriches their understanding of this rapidly changing and strategically important region of the world through a robust offering of courses in language, literature, history, politics, art, anthropology, film, music, and economics, while also encouraging firsthand experience of the area through study abroad during a summer or semester.

Extracurricular offerings

Throughout the academic year, the Program in Russian and East European Studies sponsors a full slate of cultural activities--including film series and visits to musical events and art exhibits--that allow students to expand their knowledge of the region beyond the scope of their coursework. In addition, the Russian and East European Studies lecture series brings nationally and internationally renowned scholars to campus to share their latest research in fields pertinent to the minor; these lectures are tailored to the undergraduate audience and often tie in closely with courses currently being taught or program-sponsored cultural events. Russian and East European Studies cooperates closely with the Department of German and Russian and other participating departments to sponsor a monthly Russian language table and a variety of social gatherings.

Click here for the current semester's listing of approved events for the REES cultural enrichment course (RU 47100)

Requirements

The Supplementary Major in Russian and East European Studies
Supplementary majors in Russian and East European Studies must have (1) three semesters (or the equivalent) of college-level Russian or another approved East European language (this requirement may be satisfied, in whole or in part, through participation in approved summer language institutes when necessary); (2) five additional courses (15 credits) in Russian and East European area studies at the 30000 or 40000 level, normally taken in residence at Notre Dame across at least three departments (at most one of these courses may be a language course at the fourth-semester level or above; the counting of a language course is allowed only for a student who is not completing a major or minor in Russian); (3) three 1-credit courses chosen from language-across-the-curriculum tutorials associated with a Russian and East European Studies course taught in any discipline, a Research Apprenticeship in political science on a Russian and East European Studies related research project (POLS 47905), and/or cultural enrichment offerings (RU 47100) in Russian and East European Studies; and EITHER (4) a substantial senior thesis directed by a member of the Russian and East European Studies faculty (students will receive 3 credits in the fall semester for preparation of the thesis and 3 credits in the spring semester for writing the thesis) OR (5) a sixth 3-credit course in Russian and East European area studies at the 30000 or 40000 level in any discipline (an additional advanced-level language course may satisfy this requirement only for a student not completing a major or minor in Russian) plus a one-semester senior seminar with a focus on a Russian and East European Studies topic, culminating in a senior essay. (Note: at present such seminars are offered only in the history department to history majors only; REES students not majoring in history may contact the professor for permission to enter the course.)

The Minor in Russian and East European Studies (Russian Majors’ Track)
This minor option is available to students making good progress toward completion of a full or supplementary major in Russian. The minor requires (1) four courses (12 credits) in Russian and East European area studies at the 30000 or 40000 level, normally taken in residence at Notre Dame (no more than one of the four courses may be chosen from Russian departmental offerings; language courses, including RU 40101/40102, will not satisfy this requirement); and (2) two 1-credit courses chosen from language-across-the-curriculum tutorials associated with a Russian and East European Studies course taught in any discipline, a Research Apprenticeship in political science on a Russian and East European Studies related research project (POLS 47905), and/or cultural enrichment offerings (RU 47100) in Russian and East European Studies.

The Minor in Russian and East European Studies (History Majors’ Track)
This minor option is available to students making good progress toward completion of a history major, with a concentration in Russian and East European history consisting of at least three approved courses on topics in Russian and East European history. The minor requires (1) two semesters of college-level Russian or another approved East European language (language courses satisfying this requirement may not be double-counted between a college language requirement and the REES minor); (2) two courses (6 credits) in Russian and East European area studies at the 30000 or 40000 level, normally taken in residence at Notre Dame from offerings outside the history department; and (3) two 1-credit courses chosen from language-across-the-curriculum tutorials associated with a Russian and East European Studies course taught in any discipline, a Research Apprenticeship in political science on a Russian and East European Studies related research project (POLS 47905), and/or cultural enrichment offerings (RU 47100) in Russian and East European Studies.

Curriculum

Anthropology

  • ANTH 30395 Russian Realms: Societies/Cultures of Eastern Europe and Beyond

Art, Art History, and Design Arbat Street, Moscow

  • ARHI 30213 Art into History: Byzantine Art
  • ARHI 30441 Twentieth-Century Art I (1900-1955)

Economics

  • ECON 30220 Marxian Economics
  • ECON 33220 Marxian Economic Theory

Film, Television, and Theatre

  • FTT 30246 Post-Soviet Russian Cinema Evening Bells (1892) by Isaac Levitan

History

  • HIST 30408 The Holocaust
  • HIST 30464 German History, 1740-1870 (requires permission of REES Co-Directors)
  • HIST 30465  Modern German History Since 1871 (requires permission of REES Co-Directors)
  • HIST 30470 Medieval and Early Modern Russia
  • HIST 30471 Early Imperial Russia (1700-1861)
  • HIST 30472 Late Imperial Russia (1861-1917)
  • HIST 30473 Early Twentieth-Century Russian History (1894-1945)
  • HIST 30474 Russian History Since World War II
  • HIST 30475 Twentieth-Century Russia: War and Revolution
  • HIST 30476 From Dostoevsky to Sozhenitsyn: Russian Intellectual History
  • HIST 30481 History of Eastern Europe, 1900 thru WWII
  • HIST 30482 Eastern Europe Since 1945
  • HIST 30483 History of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century
  • HIST 30495 Twentieth-Century Poland
  • HIST 30496 History and Cinema of Communist Poland
  • HIST 30553 History and Cinema in East-Central Europe

History Senior Seminars
(Note: open to history majors only; other majors should request permission from the course instructor)

  • HIST 43408 Research Seminar: The Holocaust
  • HIST 43471 Russia Engages the World
  • HIST 43557 Modern European Revolutions
  • HIST 43560 Communist Europe: The Soviet Bloc, 1945- 1991

Music

  • MUS 40023 Twentieth-Century Russian Composers: Skryabin, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich
  • MUS 40024 Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky

Political Science Palace Square, St. Petersburg

  • POLS 30420 Building the European Union
  • POLS 30424 Eastern European Politics
  • POLS 30487 The Rise and Fall of World Communism
  • POLS 30488 Transitions to Democracy
  • POLS 34536 The Changing Face of Central/Eastern Europe
  • POLS 40472 Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia

Russian Literature and Culture
In English

In Russian

Theology

  • THEO 20249 The Eastern Church: Theology and History
  • THEO 40278 Russian Religious Thought