Russian Language, Literature, and Culture, BA

Erika Haber
324 HBC
315-443-4200

ehaber@syr.edu

Faculty

Gerald R. Greenberg, Erika Haber, Zofia Sztechmiler

The study of Russian language, literature, and culture provides more than just competence in reading, writing, and speaking the language. Students in this major, which leads to a B.A. degree, also learn about Russian literature, art, folklore, film, media, and business, and, hence, about the people and culture as well. Through courses in other departments, students may also investigate the history, philosophy, and political science of Russia.

Students are admitted to the major through departmental approval and should consult the Russian language coordinator about their majors as early as possible. Early consultation is particularly important for students with little or no preparation in Russian so they may be sure to satisfy prerequisites and requirements within four years.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Understand the main ideas and most supporting details in a connected discourse on a variety of general interest topics, speech that is authentic and connected, and basic time-frame references, but their understanding is often limited to concrete, conventional discourse

2. Engage in conversation in a participatory manner in order to communicate information on topics such as autobiography, community, national, and international interest, narrate and describe in past, present and future, and deal with a social situation with an unexpected complication

3. Understand the main idea and supporting details of authentic narrative and descriptive texts, use contextual clues to compensate for limitations and use knowledge of language conventions to support comprehension

4. Write routine informal and formal correspondence, as well as narratives, descriptions, and summaries of a factual nature, narrate and describe in past, present, and future, and produce connected discourse of paragraph length structure

5. Exhibit knowledge about Russia, explain characteristics of Russian culture and Russian traditions, and describe and analyze Russian history and its role in contemporary Europe

Major Requirements

To major in Russian, students complete the following requirements for either Option I or Option II.

Option I

The program requires 25 credits in RUS courses, 4 of which may be in lower-division courses.

Option II

The program requires 28 credits, 16 of which are in RUS courses. (Of the 16 RUS credits, 4 may be in lower-division courses; the rest are in upper-division courses.) The remaining 12 credits (6 of which are in upper-division courses) will be in relevant courses approved by the Russian faculty, taught in English in various departments.

Study Abroad

To become more fluent in Russian and to gain additional insight into the Russian culture and its people, students are encouraged to study abroad. For further information on programs administered through Syracuse University, contact the Russian Language Program Coordinator or Syracuse University Abroad.