• 2023-12-13 - The publication of Slavic Department Head David Cooper's The Czech Manuscripts was celebrated by the University of Illinois with a front-page story by Jodi Heckel on December 12. The full story can be found here (or by navigating to the University's homepage!) and more information about the monograph can be found...
  • 2023-10-23 - Professor Harriet Murav appeared with Dr. Gennady Estraikh on The New Books in Jewish Studies Podcast with host Ari Barbalat to discuss their work Soviet Jews in World War II: Fighting, Witnessing, Remembering. As referenced by the podcast creators, Murav and Estraikh's 2019 Academic Studies Press title "discusses the participation of Jews as soldiers, journalists, and propagandists...
  • 2023-10-16 - Slavic Department graduate student Sergei Motov was awarded “judge’s choice” in NYU Jordan Center’s Graduate Student Essay Competition. The competition called for essays in cultural criticism, public-facing treatments of scholarly work, political analysis, and book, film, or event reviews. Motov’s essay was entitled ...
  • 2023-10-04 - Slavic Department Head David Cooper appeared on The Slavic Connexion podcast to discuss his recent book, The Czech Manuscripts: Forgery, Translation, and National Myth (Cornell, 2023). In a half-hour long program, Cooper and podcast host Cullan Bendig discuss a series of medieval-...
  • 2023-08-17 - Professor Harriet Murav, with her collaborator Sasha Senderovich of the University of Washington, has won a prestigious NEH Scholarly Translations and Editions Award for their work on the volume In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union. Together they will prepare for publication an annotated translation into English of ten...
  • 2023-07-21 - Professor Richard Tempest was interviewed by the Illinois News Bureau regarding the insurrection of Prigozhin's Wagner Group in Russia. Tempest provides background on the Wagner Group and Prigozhin. You can read the full interview with his analysis of the consequences here
  • 2023-07-12 - Professor Peter Wright has been selected as a 2023-24 Fulbright Scholar for Croatia. He will conduct research there in the Fall semester for his book project, entitled The Business of Solidarity. Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that provide unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad. According to Fulbright,...
  • 2023-03-17 - Congratulations to Professor Valeria Sobol, who has been designated as a recipient of both the campus and LAS Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching! You can read the full announcement on the LAS website. Here is the citation for her award: Valeria Sobol...
  • 2022-06-30 - Professor George Gasyna was interviewed again for the Polish Institute in New York's ongoing Encounters with Polish Literature series on the topic of the author Joseph Conrad. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the series has turned to exploring some of the many literary connections between Poland and Ukraine. As the Institute notes, "Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) is often thought of as an...
  • 2022-06-30 - Graduate Student Tyler Dolan has been awarded an ASEEES Summer Dissertation Writing Grant for summer 2022. The grants are funded by ASEEES donors and members and offer up to $6000 grants for dissertation writing on any aspect of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies in any discipline. Congratulations Tyler and best wishes on your work!
  • 2022-05-16 - Professor Eugene Avrutin (History, affiliate with Slavic) has published an important new study of the history of race and racism in Russia with Bloomsbury. Racism in Modern Russia: From the Romanovs to Putin examines the developing scientific and popular discourses on race in Russia over the past 150 years and the associated prejudice, discrimination, and violence. Read the...
  • 2022-03-04 - Slavic Review, the leading journal in Slavic Studies, edited by Harriet Murav, is hosting a discussion forum with short pieces by experts addressing aspects of the war in Ukraine. We encourage readers to follow the developing discussion there.
  • 2022-02-28 - A large crowd rallied at the Alma Mater on campus on Sunday at noon to show support for Ukraine in an event organized by the Ukrainian Students Association. Many Slavic students, grad students, faculty members, and friends attended to manifest their opposition to the Russian invasion. Student leaders spoke about their ties to Ukraine, their worries for family members there, and their hopes for...
  • 2022-02-28 - The SGSA along with the Slavic Department and REEEC also condemns the unprovoked military assault by the Russian government on Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We, the SGSA, reject the false narrative that the Russian government has built to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty.  In times of crisis like these, it is easy to forget to take care of ourselves; to be consumed by doom-scrolling,...
  • 2022-02-25 - The Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center and the Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign We Condemn the Military Assault on Ukraine The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the home of many scholars and students who have dedicated their lives to the study of Russia, East Europe, and Eurasia.  Many people...