Requirements
The Russian Program offers a major, a supplementary major, an honors track, a Russian language minor, and a Russian studies minor that features courses exclusively in English. You can also pursue International Economics with a concentration in Russian.
Major requirements
The major in Russian consists of 10 courses (30 credit hours) at the 20000 level and above, including at least 6 courses taught by department faculty.
- Introductory prerequisite courses:
- RU 10101 Beginning Russian I (offered only in Fall)
- RU 10102 Beginning Russian II (offered only in Spring)
- Required courses:
- RU 20101 Intermediate Russian I (offered only in Fall)
- RU 20102 Intermediate Russian II (offered only in Spring)
- RU 30101 Advanced Russian I (offered only in Fall)
- RU 30102 Advanced Russian II (offered only in Spring)
- Note: Until Spring 2022, the Advanced Russian classes had 40000 course numbers. These course numbers also count for the requirement. If you are in an approved semester-long program in Russia, you are automatically exempt from the language course that is offered concurrently with your semester abroad.
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Four 3-credit courses in literature, film, journalism, or culture at the 30000 and 40000 levels, with at least 1 at each level.
- All 30000-level courses are taught in English and fulfill a University Core Requirement.
- All 40000-level courses are taught in Russian and fulfill a University Core Requirement.
- Electives: two additional courses at the 20000 level and above
- Note about courses outside the Department: With the permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, 1 course on a Russian subject taught in another department, such as Anthropology, History, Political Science, or Theology, may be counted toward the Russian major
Supplementary major requirements
The supplementary major in Russian consists of 8 courses (24 credit hours) at the 20000 level and above, including at least 4 courses taught by Department faculty.
- Introductory prerequisite courses:
- RU 10101 Beginning Russian I (offered only in Fall)
- RU 10102 Beginning Russian II (offered only in Spring)
- Required courses:
- RU 20101 Intermediate Russian I (offered only in Fall)
- RU 20102 Intermediate Russian II (offered only in Spring)
- RU 30101 Advanced Russian I (offered only in Fall)
- RU 30102 Advanced Russian II (offered only in Spring)
- Note: Until Spring 2022, the Advanced Russian classes had 40000 course numbers. These course numbers also count for the requirement. If you are in an approved semester-long program in Russia, you are automatically exempt from the language course that is offered concurrently with your semester abroad.
- Electives: two 3-credit courses in literature, film, journalism, or culture, with 1 at the 30000 level and 1 at the 40000 level.
- All 30000-level courses are taught in English and fulfill a University Core Requirement.
- All 40000-level courses are taught in Russian and fulfill a University Core Requirement.
- Electives: two additional courses at the 20000 level and above
- Note about courses outside the Department: With the permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, one course on a Russian subject taught in another department, such as Anthropology, History, Political Science, or Theology, may be counted toward the Russian major.
Russian language minor requirements
The Russian minor consists of 5 courses (15 credits) at the 20000 level or above taught by Department faculty.
- Required courses:
- 2 language courses at either the Intermediate (Intermediate Russian I and II) or Advanced (Advanced Russian I and II) level
- Electives: 3 additional 3-credit courses at either the 30000- or 40000-level.
- All 30000-level courses are taught in English and fulfill a University Core Requirement.
- All 40000-level courses are taught in Russian and fulfill a University Core Requirement.
Minor in Russian studies
The minor in Russian studies allows students interested in Russian, East European, and Eurasian culture an opportunity to develop cultural competence in the region without a focus on language study. It consists of 16 credits in Russian literature, culture, history, and political science.
- A 1-credit introductory course
- Five additional 3-credit courses at the 30000 level or above, 3 of which must be taught by faculty in the Department of German and Russian.
- With the permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, courses taken away from Notre Dame may count toward this minor.
International economics requirements
The undergraduate major in international economics is a collaborative effort between the Department of Economics and the various departments of languages and literatures. Through this major, the collaborating departments seek to blend two programs of study to ensure that students achieve advanced linguistic and cultural competency in Russian as well as excellent preparation in economics.
Russian requirements:
- RU 20101 Intermediate Russian I
- RU 20102 Intermediate Russian II
- RU 30101 Advanced Russian I
- RU 30102 Advanced Russian II
- one 3-credit literature/culture elective at the 30000 level
- one 3-credit literature/culture elective at the 40000 level
- one additional 3-credit literature, culture, or history elective at the 30000 or 40000 level
- Note: Until Spring 2022, the Advanced Russian classes had 40000 course numbers. These course numbers also count for the requirement.
Economics Requirements: (Please consult the Dept. of Economics webpage for full and accurate details.)
- Calculus A and B
- Principles of Microeconomics
- Principles of Macroeconomics
- Intermediate Micro Theory
- Intermediate Macro Theory
- Statistics
- Econometrics
- 2 electives focused on international economic topics. The available electives will vary by semester. Past courses which have satisfied this requirement include:
- International Trade
- International Money
- Development Economics
Other Requirements:
- RU 33000 Exploring International Economics (1 credit) must be taken in your sophomore year to prepare for the Senior Research Project; if you study abroad sophomore year, you must take this course junior year.
- ECON 48100 Senior Research Project
Honors thesis requirements
By March 1, the Director of Undergraduate Studies for Russian informs all junior majors with a GPA of 3.5 or better in the major that they are eligible to apply for departmental honors.
To apply:
- A student must enlist the support of a professor on the Russian faculty and must ensure the professor's willingness to act as his/her thesis advisor on a topic of the student's own devising.
- By April 15 of junior year, the student should submit a 250- to 300-word thesis proposal to the prospective faculty advisor.
- The proposal will then be shared with the full Russian faculty. The proposal should define the topic of the thesis and outline what the student hopes to accomplish. In addition, the student should explain how the topic relates to his/her intellectual interests more generally (why is this topic an appropriate culmination to his/her undergraduate studies?) and, where appropriate, how the topic figures into the student's future intellectual and academic plans.
- Students submitting a proposal will be notified by May 1 of their junior year whether their proposal has been accepted.