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Programs of Study, 1997-1999
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
SLAVIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
(Including Bulgarian, Czech, Old Church Slavonic, Polish, Russian, Serbian or Croatian, and Ukrainian)
Head of the Department: Olga Soffer
Correspondence and Information: Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 3092 Foreign Languages Building, 707 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801; (217) 333-0680
GRADUATE FACULTY
Professors: E. Bristol, M. Friedberg
Associate Professors: F.Y. Gladney, S. P. Hill, R. Tempest
GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS
The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures offers graduate work leading to the degrees of master of arts in Russian, master of arts in the teaching of Russian, and doctor of philosophy with specialization in Russian literature or Slavic linguistics.
ADMISSION
Prospective graduate students of Slavic languages and literatures should have had the equivalent of at least three years of college Russian and some advanced course work in Russian literature. Some acquaintance with other languages and literatures is desirable. Students choosing Russian or other Slavic languages and literatures as a minor subject should consult the department. The Graduate College admission requirements apply.
MASTER OF ARTS IN RUSSIAN
In addition to fulfilling the requirements of the Graduate College, candidates must pass both a written and an oral examination in their major and must pass the Russian proficiency examination. Students may specialize in literature or linguistics. All students must complete a departmental core program composed of courses in literature and linguistics. No master's thesis is required.
MASTER OF ARTS IN THE TEACHING OF RUSSIAN
All candidates for this degree are required to take (1) Russian (five units, including at least two units from courses open only to graduate students); (2) education (two units, including one unit in educational psychology and one unit in educational policy studies); and (3) electives (one unit). These courses must be selected with the approval of the adviser. Candidates must pass an examination based on their course work and on a reading list. Contact the certification officer of the Council on Teacher Education (130 Education Building, 333-7195) for information pertaining to pursuing certification while enrolled in the graduate program.
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
All candidates for the Ph.D. degree must fulfill the general requirements of the Graduate College and must have a reading knowledge of two non-Slavic languages, ordinarily French and German. Students entering the program with an M.A. degree from another department must pass a qualifying examination by the end of their second semester of full-time study in the department. A student may choose literature or linguistics as a major field. In addition to satisfying departmental language proficiency requirements, students must complete eight units of course work beyond the M.A. degree, of which at least five are within the student's major field of study. The student must also complete a minor consisting of three graduate-level courses in a single field, or two such courses each in two fields. Possible minor fields include Russian literature, Slavic linguistics, another Slavic language or literature, or an acceptable subject area outside the department. A student with a double minor may elect to be examined in only one minor. Students majoring in Russian literature must complete two graduate-level courses in another modern Slavic language or literature in the original language. Students majoring in Slavic linguistics must complete a minimum of three graduate-level courses in two other modern Slavic languages or literatures in the original languages. A Ph.D. preliminary examination, consisting of written and oral portions on both major and minor fields, is required. A thesis is required for the degree of doctor of philosophy.
Graduate courses are offered in the following Slavic languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Old Church Slavonic, Polish, Russian, Serbian or Croatian, and Ukrainian.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Major areas include East, West, and South Slavic linguistics; language teaching pedagogy; and computer-assisted language teaching. In literature, the fields of specialization include Russian literature of all periods, particularly of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Russian literature and society, emigre Russian literature, the Russian romantic and symbolist poets, Russo-Western literary and cultural contacts, and Russo-Jewish literary relations. Other major areas of interest represented include the Soviet, Russian, and East European cinema, literary translation, and Polish literature.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has one of the country's three outstanding Slavic library collections. The Illinois Summer Research Laboratory on Russia and Eastern Europe brings to the campus more than one hundred postdoctoral researchers from all over the country every year to take advantage of the Slavic library resources. The library's unique Slavic reference service is in year-round operation, answering queries from libraries and individual scholars throughout the country.
FINANCIAL AID
Several forms of financial assistance, including University fellowships, Foreign Language and Area Studies (Title VI) Fellowships, teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and tuition and service-fee waivers are available. There are also opportunities for part-time related work in the Slavic and East European Division of the University Library and elsewhere on the campus. Most students making satisfactory progress are assured of some form of financial assistance and also receive the opportunity to acquire classroom teaching experience.
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