Undergraduate Degree in Slavic, German, and Eurasian Studies
Overview
The student completes a minimum of 30 hours of study (29 hours for Russian emphasis) in one of five concentrations: German Studies, Polish Studies, Russian, South Slavic Studies, and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (REES). The department encourages students to fulfill core requirements from courses in the SLAV 140/141, SLAV 144/145, and SLAV 148/149 series, GERM general education courses, or the REES 110/111/310 or REES 220/221 series. Beyond the minimum required hours, students are strongly encouraged to take additional courses in the Slavic, German, and Eurasian Studies department and appropriate background courses in the history, philosophy, and political science of the respective regions.
For detailed requirements and degree plans, please see the KU Catalog.
Language Assessment of Slavic, German, and Eurasian Majors - All majors in Slavic languages complete a degree-level assessment in the final semester of their Slavic, German, and Eurasian major at KU (or somewhat earlier if desired), in the form of an Oral Proficiency Interview test. This test demonstrates and documents their attainment of the SGES learning outcomes for undergraduate students. This test is not an extra work assignment (and lasts under an hour), and its purpose is chiefly for departmental documentation, though students receive an official ACTFL score for their own purposes.
Concentration Overview
We offer students a diverse and challenging program in the language and culture of German-speaking Europe, including literature, the arts, history, business, and politics. Courses at the 100, 200, and 300 levels emphasize student involvement with the aim of developing students’ use of the German language, including the ability to comprehend, interpret, and produce spoken, written, and multimedia texts in different genres. Cultural topics are integrated into instruction starting in the first semester. At the 400 and 500 levels, survey courses provide students with a broader perspective on German cultural traditions, while other advanced courses often have a thematic focus.
Courses taken in departments such as the history of art, philosophy, political science, sociology, and theatre will enhance students’ study of the language and culture of German-speaking Europe.
German Studies students are strongly encouraged to study abroad and should discuss this opportunity with the Director of Undergraduate Studies early in their undergraduate career.
For more details on the German Studies concentration (and other SGES concentration) requirements, including a 4-year study plan, please consult the KU course catalog.
Please contact our undergraduate major advisor with any questions you may have.
Concentration Overview
The University of Kansas has a more than thirty-year tradition of teaching Polish language and literature. The Department offers yearly regular courses of elementary, intermediate and advanced Polish. Students who already have advanced knowledge of Polish can take independent study courses in Polish Language and Literature after obtaining the consent of the instructor.
KU recommends that students study abroad, and can consult with students to pick the programs that best match their academic and professional interests.
Professor Svetlana Vassileva-Karagyozova is the Director of the Polish Program. She teaches upper-level courses of Polish and courses in Polish and Czech (West Slavic) literature, culture and cinema. Her research interests include 21st century Polish prose, the Polish post-1989 Bildungsroman, Communism, memory studies, and trauma theory.
For more details on the Polish concentration (and other SGES concentrations) requirements, including a sample 4-year study plan, please consult the KU course catalog.
Please contact our undergraduate major advisor with any questions you may have.
Concentration Overview
Russian has been taught at KU since 1943. Students can take up to four years of language instruction (with courses from the RUSS 100 through the RUSS 600 level). In addition to work on the language students have the option to take a wide number of courses in the literature, culture, film and structure of the language that are taught in English. Students are encouraged to plan a semester or academic year of study abroad into their academic program, especially after they have completed RUSS 504 or 512 on the KU campus. Students, whose academic schedules allow only a summer of study abroad, should complete RUSS 208 before studying abroad. The study of Russian opens up a myriad of career opportunities in fields ranging from business to diplomacy to environmental studies to technology and cultural exchange.
For more details on the Russian concentration (and other SGES concentrations) requirements, including a sample 4-year study plan, please consult the KU course catalog.
Please contact our undergraduate major advisor with any questions you may have.
Concentration Overview
This concentration allows students to focus on Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian (known as Serbo-Croatian during the existence of Yugoslavia, 1918-1990). Although Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian have all become official languages of their newly independent states, they remain completely understandable among each other. If you learn one language, you can speak to any of nearly 20 million people in three countries, in the Republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Career opportunities connected with Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian are numerous and so far demand for employees with knowledge of the language(s) has greatly exceeded supply. Possible career paths with this language include commerce, academia, intelligence, security, tourism, NGOs, journalism, diplomacy and foreign service. KU is the only place in the U.S. between the West Coast and the Mississippi River where one can study Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian from the beginning to the advanced level.
For more details on the South Slavic concentration (and other SGES concentrations) requirements, including a sample 4-year study plan, please consult the KU course catalog.
Please contact our undergraduate major advisor with any questions you may have.
Concentration Overview
The Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (REES) concentration offers students the opportunity to undertake the interdisciplinary study of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia, training the next generation of professionals, policymakers, and citizens to understand and engage this geopolitically vital and culturally diverse world region.
The REES concentration, offered in partnership with KU’s nationally-recognized Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, allows students to take a wide array of courses across traditional disciplinary boundaries to gain expertise in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. The concentration pairs the study of language and culture with courses on the region’s history and politics. Allowing students to choose from a range of offerings based on their interests and culminating in an intensive research capstone experience, the concentration offers a flexible course of study within the Department of Slavic, German, and Eurasian Studies and is easily paired with a double major in Global & International Studies, History, or Political Science.
For more details on the Polish concentration (and other SGES concentrations) requirements, including a sample 4-year study plan, please consult the KU course catalog.
Please contact our undergraduate major advisor with any questions you may have.
Languages as Career Preparation
If you study chemistry, you become a chemist. But, if you study Russian (or Polish or Croatian), you don't become a Russian (or a Pole or a Croat).
The career path from studying a language to acquiring a professional is not as obvious as studying in a professional school (journalism, education, business, pharmacy). Your undergraduate preparation in Slavic languages, in contrast, can prepare you for an even wider range of possible employment opportunities.
Job ads for entry level positions often require applicants to have “excellent written and oral communication skills.” Your undergraduate course work in Slavic, German, or Eurasian languages will help you develop and hone those skills in the following ways.
Your course work includes many assignments that require you to develop skills in critical reading, writing, and public speaking. In this way, your course work prepares you for all careers that require reading and gathering complex information, considering the reliability of sources, and synthesizing that information. Your essays on course exams, reflection papers, and research papers prepare you to write effectively and to communicate ideas with clarity and precision.
Your language learning course work will push you to think long and hard about how languages work to express nuances of thought. Learning how to speak another language will teach you to reflect on how people communicate and to become flexible in using multiple resources to get your point across. Learning a language develops your skills at noticing subtle differences and paying attention to detail and accuracy. Reading articles and stories and viewing films from other countries will introduce you to other cultures and other ways of seeing and experiencing the world.
Learning a language is learning another culture. You will learn to recognize its patterns of thinking, experiencing the world, and its systems of values. Studying the novels, films, and artistic products of other cultures gives you grounded insights into how other cultures think about the world and the experiences of everyday life. Studying abroad in Eastern Europe and Russia gives you opportunities to learn and live in another culture and to understand what it means to be a global citizen.
The skills that you acquire can lead you to work in business, government and nonprofit organizations, such as: arts/ cultural organizations, news/ media/ entertainment businesses, community development, environmental and public health organizations, government (Departments of State, Education, Commerce, Finance, Defense; agencies dealing with national security and international law enforcement), libraries and information services, museums and historical societies, and education, to name just a few.
Combining your major in Slavic languages with a second major in another field or professional school will expand your knowledge and skills even further.
An undergraduate major in Slavic can also serve as strong preparation for graduate study in a professional school (law, journalism, information sciences and others) or for graduate study in Slavic languages and literatures.