Slavic Department is now Russian and East European Studies
Mitchell Orenstein, Professor and Chair of the Department of Russian and East European Studies. Courtesy of Mitchell Orenstein.
The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures is now the Department of Russian and East European Studies, representing a shift towards a more multidisciplinary and multicultural approach to the study of a vital and highly dynamic region of the world. The department is chaired by Professor Mitchell Orenstein, a leader in the interdisciplinary study of Russia and Eastern Europe who joined Penn Arts and Sciences in 2015.
Additionally, the department has introduced a new and more flexible major in Russian and East European Studies, with three concentrations: Language, Literature, and Culture; History, Politics, and Society; and Cinema, Arts, and Letters.
The name change and multidisciplinary approach reflect the full range of languages, nations, and peoples in the East European region—including Hungarians, Romanians, Balts, Jews, and Roma—studied by members of the department. The department has long had a commitment to teaching courses on the history, politics, economics, and cinema of the region, in addition to languages and literatures.
The department also hopes to expand its offerings in East European languages and literatures, as well as diversifying course offerings in the social sciences.
The name change coincides with an enormous growth in public interest in Russian and East European Studies due to investigations of Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the changing perceptions on Russia’s presence on the world stage.
Fall/Winter 2017
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