Russian and East European Studies // Academics // Russian Program // Department of German and Russian Languages and Literatures // University of Notre Dame

Russian and East European Studies

Palace Square, St. Petersburg

The Minor in Russian
and East European Studies

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

Description: The minor in Russian and East European Studies offers students interdisciplinary training that builds upon their foreign language study and complements their major field. The minor enables students to enrich 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: Completion of the minor requires the following four components: (1) at least three semesters (or the equivalent) of college-level Russian or another approved Central or East European language (German will be accepted in certain cases); (2) four additional courses (12 credits) in Russian and East European area studies, taken in residence at Notre Dame and distributed over at least three departments (no more than one of these courses may be a language course, chosen from Intermediate Russian II, Advanced Russian I or II, or the equivalent); (3) a senior thesis directed by a member of the Russian and East European Studies faculty (students will receive 1.5 credits in the fall semester for preparation of the thesis and 1.5 credits in the spring semester for writing the thesis); (4) three 1-credit courses (graded pass-fail) chosen from the following: Language Across the Curriculum tutorials associated with a Russian and East European Studies course taught in any discipline; cultural enrichment offerings in Russian and East European Studies (RU 47100); and/or a Research Apprenticeship in political science on a Russian and East European Studies related research project (POLS 47905).