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courses and programs

The Lauder Institute in conjunction with the Wharton School and the Penn Law School


The Lauder Institute offers an MA in International Relations that may be pursued in combination either with the Wharton School’s MBA or the Law School’s JD program, with Russia serving as one possible area of concentration. Students of the Lauder Institute pursue intensive language study as well as a tailored curriculum of specialized courses and programs focusing on the political, economic, social, and cultural contexts in which international business is conducted.

For more information, refer to the Lauder Institute website, or contact Dr. Maria Bourlatskaya .


The History Department


The History Department offers regularly repeating undergraduate survey courses and seminars in Russian and Soviet history and culture. Interested undergraduates might try the introductory courses HIST 048 (the survey course on Imperial Russia) and HIST 049 (the survey course on Twentieth-Century Russia and the Soviet Union). More advanced undergrad courses include: HIST 413 Individuals and Collectives in the Soviet Union, 1945-1991; HIST 202 Russia in the Age of Anna Karenina (seminar); Russia's Orients (seminar).

The History Department likewise offers a regular cycle of graduate level seminars in Russian and Soviet history. Regularly offered core courses are: Issues and Themes in Imperial Russian History and the Graduate Reading Seminar on Soviet History.

Syllabi and course descriptions may be found at the History Department website and on the individual webpages of Prof. Holquist and Prof. Nathans.

The History Department also runs the Penn Russian History Seminar, with invited scholars working on topics from throughout the region.

For more information, contact Prof. Nathans or Prof. Holquist.

The Political Science Department


The Political Science Department offers an undergraduate course on Russian politics, PSCI 217, and occasionally courses on comparative postcommunism. These courses can be taken for graduate credit (usually at the 500 level) by making arrangements for additional readings and assignments with the instructor. See the departmental website for current course listings. Contact Prof. Sil for more information.


The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures


The Slavic Department offers a broad range of undergraduate and occasional graduate courses on Russian and other Slavic languages, literatures and cultures. The Department’s programs include an undergraduate major, minor and language certificate in Russian. Although the Department does not currently offer the PhD, students interested in graduate study in Slavic topics may apply to the Comparative Literature and Literary Theory Program, to pursue a specialization in Russian or some other Slavic area.

The Slavic Department sponsors a range of lectures and other events, including an annual undergraduate research conference, the Slavic Bazaar, and an annual faculty research symposium.

Information on courses and events can be found on the Slavic Department website. For more information, please contact the department chair, Prof. Kevin M. F. Platt.

Turkish Armenia: See Dr. Holquist's current book project By Right of War, that investigates the conduct of
the Russian army in Turkish Armenia during WWI.
Austrian Galica: See Dr. Holquist's current book project By Right of War, that investigates the conduct of
the Russian army in Galicia during WWI.
St. Petersburg Russia, Capital of the Russian Empire: See Dr. Holquist's book Making War, Forging Revolution:
Russia 's Continuum of Crisis, 1914-1921
.
Chernobyl, Ukraine: Dr. Petryna’s first book, Life Exposed: Biological Citizens after Chernobyl describes
the vexed scientific and social circumstances that followed the Chernobyl disaster.
Kazan, Russia: Formerly the seat of the Khanate of Kazan, the city was conquered in 1552 by Ivan the Terrible.
See Dr. Platt's current book project Terrible and Great: Ivan IV and Peter I, as Russian Myths.
Samara, Russia: Professor Yakubovich's study explores the role of formal institutions and
informal networks in shaping the local labor market in the late 1990s.