The U.S. Russia Foundation Grant
Through this grant, we are able to offer a one-year, online, introductory college level Russian sequence for high school students in the state of Kansas free of charge.
Through a $220,000 grant from the U.S. Russia Foundation (USRF), the KU Department of Slavic, German, and Eurasian Studies (SGES) will provide opportunities and access to Russian Studies to Kansas High School students, primarily through the offering of free, online elementary Russian language courses (RUSS 150 and 152).
This grant builds on a previous grant of $120,000 from the U.S. Russian Foundation from the 2021-2022 academic year, which accommodated approximately 100 high school students. Additionally, the new grant will allow for the department to offer a robust ongoing curriculum in cultural studies, illuminating Russia’s racial and ethnic diversities, as well as current political and challenges. The department hopes to use the study of Russian culture and language to inspire a new generation of Russian Studies experts at a time when such voices are sorely needed.
Participants from the first year of the grant included students from throughout Kansas, including Sedgwick, Johnson, Shawnee, Butler, Lane, Jackson, Johnson, and Wyandotte Counties among others. In this context, online study allowed students from all over the state, many of them in rural districts, to take a class together, on top of their high school curricula.
In reapplying for an additional two-year period for the grant for August 2022 - August 2024, the department will continue to teach the current high school students at a low intermediate level, as well as launch new beginning language sequences for new students. As part of the grant, the department is planning to add an interdisciplinary lecture series to provide students with opportunities to have cultural competency on the region.
| "Deciphering Russia" Webinar Series | "Russia Week" In-Person Workshop |
The department will record approximately 20 lectures about Russian Studies, which will mostly be prepared by experts at KU, but supplemented by external experts when needed. These lectures will be uploaded to the department’s website. Topics will include:
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The U.S. Russia Foundation is a US-based organization with no ties to the Russian government. USRF has been considered an undesirable organization by the Russia and was expelled from Russia a few years ago. The USRF has made a statement (and taken financial action) in response to the war in Ukraine, which can be viewed on their website.
Project Coordinator
Principal Investigator (PI)
Previous Events
SPRING 2021
KU offered a two-part webinar, “Why Russia Matters,” with interdisciplinary lectures from KU faculty members and alumni. High school students received snapshots of Russian culture, literature, language, history and politics, as well as discovered the career paths stemming from Russian studies.
May 4: Why Russia Matters, 6 - 8 PM
- Ani Kokobobo, “Russian Language and Russian Studies in the Great Plains”
- Erik Scott, “Why Russia Matters in Today's World”
- Aric Toler, BA/MA, “What Russian Allowed Me to Do”
May 11: Russian Mini-lesson, 6 - 7 PM
- "Говорить по русски," Elementary Russian Mini-Lesson
SUMMER 2021
The project also hosted a “Russia Week” for five days virtually in summer 2021. Twenty high school students received a cultural introduction to contemporary Russia and Russian culture while also receiving a brief introduction of Russian language from KU instructors.