TWO LANGUAGE DEPARTMENTS IN THE COLLEGE TO MERGE

This July, the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Languages & Literatures and the Department of German Studies at the University of Kansas will merge and become the Department of Slavic, German & Eurasian Studies. The merged department in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences will host a joint Bachelor of Arts degree in Slavic, German & Eurasian studies with concentrations in Russian, German, Polish, South Slavic, and Russian, East European & Eurasian studies. The new department will host an open house from 3 to 5 p.m. April 6 in the main hallway of level 2 at Wescoe Hall. The public is invited to attend and learn more about the courses and curriculum.

The merged department will preserve the existing curricula and research profiles in German studies and Slavic & Eurasian studies. The restructuring of these two departments also will mirror a number of departments across peer institutions that carry similar expertise.

“This merger will maintain the outstanding work we see from faculty in each of the programs and ensures the continuation of opportunities that will be available to students in both fields,” said John Colombo, interim dean of the College.

Colleagues in the merged department will continue in disciplinary research excellence as well as in building intellectual synergies around joint research interests in second language acquisition, 20th- and 21st-century diaspora studies and film, 19th-century literary studies, comparative literature, Central Europe and European studies, World War I and World War II studies and memory, as well as other areas.

"I am excited to work with our German studies colleagues in a new way,” said Ani Kokobobo, associate professor and chair, Slavic and Eurasian languages & literatures. “Many of us have intellectual overlaps in our research and teaching, and we have already been working collaboratively on graduate student advising. As a scholar, I am personally excited about comparative and world literature research possibilities."

Students currently earning the German Studies major or minor will be able to finish those degrees.