Graduate Studies in Slavic

The Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at Florida State University offers a diverse and exciting MA curriculum in Russian language, literature, culture, and historical linguistics. The Master's Degree program trains students who wish to continue their studies in a PhD program in Slavic (or in FSU's PhD program in the Humanities, with concentration in Slavic), or to work in governmental or NGO fields or language pedagogy.

Our recent graduates have gone on to doctoral programs in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University and the University of Toronto. Our strong emphasis on linguistic and cultural proficiency also prepares students for work in the federal or foreign service or non-governmental organizations. Career workshops with government personnel inform students of a wide range of professional opportunities. Our students have gone on to careers and internships with the US State Department, Department of Defense, the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, and human rights organizations.

Our students receive comprehensive pedagogical training that emphasizes experience in the classroom as well as expertise in theory and methodology for Russian language instruction. Graduate instructors are responsible for their own undergraduate language courses, which may include elementary to intermediate level Russian courses or a course in Russian Grammar and Popular Culture. After attending a two-week summer training program, gradutate instructors enroll in a departmental seminar in Language Pedagogy and Second Language Acquisition. Moreover, a teaching practicum focused on Russian language pedagogy and professional issues is offered every semester.

We are committed to providing exceptional training to prepare students for PhD programs in Slavic and Comparative Literature. In addition to rigorous surveys of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian literature, faculty in the Slavic Division offer distinctive seminars such as:

• Critical Approaches to Vladimir Nabokov
• Gogol and Psychoanalytic Theory
• Hermeneutics and Rhetoric of Old Rus' Literature
• History of the Russian Literary Language (a content-based course)
• Movements and Genres: Contemporary and Traditional Approaches

Through the departmental lecture series, students also encounter some of the most prominent specialists in the field. Recent guests have included Michael Henry Heim (UCLA) and Tomislav Longinovic (UW-Madison).

Graduate students are encouraged to present their research at professional conferences. Recently, our students have delivered papers at the Yale Graduate Student Slavic Conference, FSU's Conference on Literature and Film, and meetings of the Southeastern Medieval Association and the Southern Conference on Slavic Studies.

Students may also take courses with Modern Languages faculty in other language areas (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Spanish) to develop expertise in comparative literary and cultural studies, sociolinguistics, and second language acquisition.

The Slavic Division faculty are:

Prof. Nina Efimov, Associate Professor (Florida State, 1991)

Prof. Robert Romanchuk, Associate Professor (University of California, Los Angeles, 1999)

Prof. Lisa Ryoko Wakamiya, Assistant Professor (University of California, Los Angeles, 2000)

See the Slavic Division faculty webpages for more information about individual faculty specializations and interests.

Master's Degree Program

Two types of Master's Degree programs are available, the thesis-type and the course-type. The thesis-type program requires a minimum of thirty (30) semester hours including at least six (6) hours of thesis credit. In the course-type program a minimum of thirty-two (32) semester hours is required.

Seven to twelve credit hours per semester is considered a full academic load. Seven to nine hours is the normal load for teaching assistants.

In either program the student must successfully complete a comprehensive examination consisting of both written and oral portions. The comprehensive is designed as a field examination, and the written portion will cover both the courses an individual student has taken and the general Master's reading list required of all graduate students. The oral examination spans the fields encompassed by the written examination; for students who have written a thesis as part of their program, the oral examination additionally constitutes a defense of the thesis.

Financial Aid

University graduate fellowships (amounting to $10,000) are available on a competitive basis to a limited number of students. Departmental teaching assistantships, which help finance educational costs as valuable classroom experience is gained, are also available. Additional assistance is available from the university's Work Study program.

Graduate fellowships and teaching assistantships provide a stipend plus a waiver of matriculation and out-of-state tuition costs. Additionally, since FSU participates in the Academic Common Market among thirteen Southern states, residents of those states qualify for in-state fees.

Graduate students are also eligible for a range of research and travel fellowships, including the Ada Belle Winthrop-King Memorial Fund and the Nikola R. Pribic Fund. Click here for more details, including application deadlines. The University also offers an interdisciplinary Master's Degree program in Russian and East European Studies. In addition, students who wish to pursue a Ph.D. with concentration on Slavic Studies may do so through the interdisciplinary Humanities Program.

The Application Process

The deadline for applications for the Fall Semester is February 15.

All prospective applicants should consult the FSU Office of Admissions website and the Graduate Information page for the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics for general information about applying.

If you have questions about graduate admissions, procedures, and forms, contact Wendy Pigott in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at wpigott@mailer.fsu.edu or (850) 644-8397.

For specific questions about Slavic Division course offerings and academic advising, contact Prof. Robert Romanchuk at rromanch@mailer.fsu.edu.