The department gives its own placement test to all incoming students who have studied Russian. On the basis of this test, the students are placed in an appropriate course. Successful completion of RUS107 or immediate assignment to a higher course satisfies the A.B. foreign language requirement.
A minimum of eight departmental courses is required. Four upper-level (200 and above) courses must be within the department, two of which must be from the core survey courses (SLA 219, 220, 221); the other four courses may be from cognate areas depending on the student's particular interests. For example, if the major field of concentration is 19th-century prose, the program might include courses from French or German literature. Students with a strong interest in Russian and Soviet studies might take area courses in the Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies such as Russian history, politics, anthropology, or sociology.
These are only suggestions. The program is flexible and strives to satisfy as wide a range of interests as possible.
As of 2020-2021, Juniors are no longer required to write two papers as part of the departmental requirement. Juniors will be required to take a departmental Junior seminar in the fall, which will be graded, and will write a JP in English in the spring.
Courses must be taken for letter-grade credit to qualify for credit in the concentration. The only exceptions would be for those courses which offer only a PDF option (usually cross listed courses with Theater). These exceptions require approval from the departmental representative.
Departmental concentrators who are considering pursuing graduate studies in Slavic are reminded that most graduate schools require a reading knowledge of a second modern foreign language (usually French or German) and a second Slavic language (we offer Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Czech, and Polish). Students who are interested in taking these other Slavic languages should let the Departmental Representative know as soon as possible, as they are often offered only when students request them.
CALENDAR FOR MAJORS, 2019-2020- Please see below new deadlines for JP and Senior Thesis
First two weeks of Fall semester: majors meet with Director of Undergraduate Studies
First four weeks of Fall semester: majors meet with JP or thesis adviser
January 7: JP in English due
January 16: Partial draft of Senior Thesis due
April 15: Seniors submit to the Departmental Representative list of literary works for Departmental Examination
April 22: Draft of JP in Russian due
May 4: Certificate Papers due
May 11: Senior Thesis due
May 13, 14, 15: Senior Departmental Exam
May 19: Revised JP in Russian due
