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SLAVIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures offers majors in Russian and Polish. These majors provide students with the opportunity to study the languages, literatures, and cultures of Russia and Eastern Europe, including Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Serbia.

During the Fall and Spring Terms, the department offers language courses in Russian, Polish, Slovak, and Ukrainian, with Serbian available through the Language Acquisition Institute. Students with any prior experience with Russian or Ukrainian (such as from having spent any time at all in the former Soviet Union or from having parents who are able to speak or understand any Russian or Ukrainian at all) are required to consult with the instructor before being admitted to any language course in the department.

Summer Term intensive courses in Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Serbian, Russian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romanian, and Ukrainian are offered. The Summer Institute, available in June, July, and the first part of August, covers an entire year of study on the first-, second, and third-year levels. For prospective majors, the Institute affords the opportunity to make rapid progress through the language in order to qualify for advanced courses or study-abroad opportunities. Deserving of special mention is the department's program in Slovak language, literature, and culture -- the only such program in the United States, and one that additionally offers the opportunity for several students each year to study in Slovakia.

Students in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures include those whose primary interest is languages or literature, who wish to enhance their career opportunities in a special way, who have an interest in the politics and culture of Russia and Eastern Europe, and who have a desire to explore their ethnic heritage. Many Russian majors continue their studies in graduate school, or go on to careers in law, engineering, business, and government. Students of Polish, Slovak, Serbian, Ukrainian, and Russian find knowledge of those languages valuable in working in local Western Pennsylvania institutions, politics, business, health-related professions, and media because of the large population of those ethnicities in this region, which traces its roots to the various Slavic nations of Eastern Europe. Students are advised to begin language study early to gain as complete a command of the language as possible. For more information on the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and its programs, see http://www.pitt.edu/~slavic/.

Russian Major Requirements

The Russian major requires at least 30 credits above the level of RUSS 0040 (Intermediate Russian 2) and must include the following:

• RUSS 0400 (Advanced Russian 1) and 0410 (Advanced Russian 2)
• RUSS 0420 (Nonliterary Readings) or 0430 (Literary Readings)
• RUSS 0850 (Russian Culture 1) or 0860 (Russian Culture 2)
• RUSS 0800 and 0810 (Masterpieces of Russian Literature)
• RUSS 1400 (Structure and Morphology of Modern Russian)
• RUSS 1420 (Fourth-year Russian)
• RUSS 1430 (Fourth-year Russian)
• At least two courses in an approved related area in political science, history, economics, art history, or other Slavic language and literature

Additional courses at the 1000 level in Russian literature are strongly recommended. Prospective majors are encouraged to take RUSS 0800-0810 (Masterpieces of Russian Literature) as early as possible as an introduction to Russian literature.

The following rules and requirements apply to Russian majors:

• Advanced placement assessment and credit by examination may be arranged through consent of the instructor and the department chair.
• RUSS 0800 and 0810 (Masterpieces of Russian Literature) are offered regularly as W-courses and will satisfy the departmental W-course requirement.

For more information see: http://www.pitt.edu/~slavic/handbook.html/undergrad.

Polish Major Requirements

Students interested in majoring in Polish should check with the department for current requirements for completing the major.

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