About

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh is proud to be the home of the only permanent Slovak Studies Program in the United States, and one of approximately twenty doctoral programs in Slavic Studies in the United States. The Slavic Department teaches language courses in Russian, Polish, B/C/M/S (Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian), Slovak, and Ukrainian, but remains primarily Russian-oriented. Undergraduate degrees offered include a Major in Russian, Minor in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Minor in Polish, and Minor in Slovak Studies. The PhD in Slavic Literature and Culture is often combined with Certificates in Cultural Studies, Film and Media Studies or Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies.

Owing to an exceptionally strong auxiliary program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, under the aegis of the University Center for International Studies, the University of Pittsburgh has numerous faculty and student contacts and exchanges with Eastern Europe, including Russia, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Bulgaria.

The Slavic Department's strong commitment to its undergraduate program is reflected in a high student retention rate and the quality of its undergraduate majors and minors.  Its equal dedication to the graduate program has ensured a record of unusual success in job placement for its PhDs. All tenured faculty teach at the undergraduate level. Many of our courses are taught in the Nationality Rooms in the historic Cathedral of Learning.  Slavic also offers General Education courses in English that are popular with students of all majors, such as Russian Fairy Tales, which won "Best Class" in a student poll by The Pitt News.

Another of the department’s strengths is in Film and Media Studies. In the past several years the department has helped organize a series of screenings from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Ukraine, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia, as well as films from all of the newly independent nation states of Central Asia. Each May, the Slavic Department's graduate program hosts the annual New East Cinema Symposium, a week-long series of films and discussions held on the university campus in Oakland, a tradition which began in 1999 as the Russian Film Symposium.

Contact Us

Find contact information for the Slavic department.

Community Support

Slavic communities provide support that enables the department to offer more language programs and establish full-time faculty positions.

Departmental Bylaws

These Departmental Bylaws are adapted in large part from the Bylaws of the Departments of English, Theatre Arts, and Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh. Some language in this document is derived either wholly or in part from those documents and this contribution is hereby acknowledged.

Summer Language Institute

For over twenty years the department has offered intensive summer language programs in Russian, Polish, Slovak, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Bosnia/Croatian/Serbian, Czech and Hungarian. More than half of the participants in the summer programs come from schools outside the University of Pittsburgh system.

Proceeds from the Summer Institute enable the Department to underwrite the Ivan Elagin graduate fellowship, which provides one year of support for an incoming graduate student without teaching responsibilities. 95% of participants in SLI receive partial and full scholarships.

Student Reflections on STARTALK, the SLI, and Project GO

Read student testimonials regarding Slavic Department programming here.