Graduate Certificate

The certificate program in Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies (REECAS) provides graduate students with a general background in the areas of anthropology, economics, foreign policy, geography, government and politics, history, language and literature, law, and sociology. It also provides specific knowledge about one of these areas. With its emphasis on interdisciplinary study, a REECAS certificate enhances the training of Ph.D. candidates who wish to teach and do research at the college level, and serves the needs of M.A. and Ph.D. students who wish to make a career in broadcasting, government service, journalism, library work, or other professions requiring a well-rounded acquaintance with this diverse and highly important area.

Although students may take advantage of the flexibility the REECAS certificate program provides to select courses and a language involving Eastern Europe other than Russian, anyone seeking a career in a field connected with REECAS would do best to combine the study of another language with Russian. Czech, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Uzbek, and Turkish/Azeri are offered regularly; Bulgarian, Romanian, and Kazak may be taught from time to time. The certificate student, in consultation with the graduate adviser, must choose an academically coherent group of courses which focuses on a specific geographic area and language.

To receive a certificate, a student must take 15 credits of required courses distributed over four disciplines. Of these required courses, one must be a seminar in which a research paper is written on a topic approved by the major professor. The student must demonstrate a working knowledge of one language of Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union before beginning the second year of REECAS and will be expected to write the seminar paper utilizing original source material in the target language(s). Students should contact the program office for specific information regarding these requirements.