Klimova's diverse professional and academic interests include visual and popular culture of the late-Soviet and post-Soviet periods, cultural representations of Chernobyl, post-Soviet protest culture and art, Eastern European and Central Asian cinema, instructional technology, instructional design, online teaching and learning, and curriculum development. She is also a program director of The STARTALK Russian Summer School, a board member of the American Council of Teachers of Russian, a Dobro Slovo Slavic Honorary Society faculty advisor, a Russian Culture Club advisor, and a regional chair for The ACTR Olympiada of Spoken Russian.
Education & Training
- M.S.Ed., Instructional Technology, Duquesne University, 2015
- PhD in Russian Literature and Culture, University of Pittsburgh, 2013
- PhD certificate in Film Studies, University of Pittsburgh, 2013
- PhD certificate in Cultural Studies, University of Pittsburgh, 2008
- MA in Russian Literature, University of Pittsburgh, 2007
- MA in Popular Culture, Brock University, Canada, 2005
- Specialist, Instructor of Cultural Studies, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus, 2001
Courses Taught
- Russian Language (Beginning through Fourth-Year Russian)
- Russian Conversation Practicum: Learning Russian through Russian Internet
- Russian Conversation Practicum: Russian Youth Cinema and Culture
- Language Across Curriculum: Space, Robots, and Aliens: Watching and Reading Sci-Fi in Russian
- Chernobyl Memory Museum: Cultural Representations of the Nuclear Threat
- Modern Russian Culture
- History of Russian Film I: Eisenstein and Company
- History of Russian Film II
- Forbidden Love on Screen and Page
- Man and Superman: Representations of the Superior Individual in Culture
- Sci-Fi: East and West
- Russian Fairy Tales
- Masterpieces of 20th Century Russian Literature
- Masterpieces of 19th c. Russian Literature
- Russian Newspapers & Magazines
Representative Publications
“Aliaksei Paluyan’s Courage” (Film review). Kinokultura 76 (April 2022).
“From Blended Learning to Emergency Remote and Online Teaching: Successes, Challenges, and Prospects of a Russian Language Program before and during the Pandemic.” Russian Language Journal 71/2, Article 5. 2021.
“Virtual Crafting: Boosting Creativity While Building an Online Community.” with Molly Peeney and Shannon Donnally Quinn. The FLTMAG (July 2021), online.
“Andrei Korytko’s Yards” (Film review). Kinokultura 71 (January 2021).
“Anton Kolomeets’ The Tutor,” (Film review). Kinokultura 67 (January 2020).
“Dar’ia Zhuk’s Crystal.” (Film review). Kinokultura 63 (January 2019).
“Film Adaptations of Doctor Zhivago.” Books to Film: Cinematic Adaptations of Literary Works. Ed. Barry Keith Grant and Jim Craddock, Farmington Hills: Gale/Cengage Learning, 2018.
“Sergei Solov'ev’s 2-Assa-2.” Directory of World Cinema: Russia 2. Ed. Birgit Beumers. London: Intellect Ltd, 2015.
“Aleksandr Rogozhkin’s The Peculiarities of the National Fishing and The Peculiarities of the National Hunt in the Winter Period.” Directory of World Cinema: Russia 2. Ed. Birgit Beumers. London: Intellect Ltd, 2015.
“Iaropolk Lapshin’s Game without Rules.” Directory of World Cinema: Russia 2. Ed. Birgit Beumers. London: Intellect Ltd, 2015.
“Sergei Paradzhanov’s The Color of Pomegranates.” The Routledge Encyclopedia of Films. Eds. Sabine Haenni, Sarah Barrow, John White. London: Routledge, 2015.
“Reading Other People’s Letters in the 1970s: Reconstructing Soviet Spectatorship in Il'ia Averbakh’s Other People’s Letters.” The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review (April 2013): 1-35.
“Anti-Soviet Kitsch in Perestroika Melodrama: Sergei Solov'ev’s Assa.” Studies in Slavic Cultures X (October 2012). University of Pittsburgh. Department of Slavic Languages: 47-59.
“Aleksandr Rogozhkin 'Osobennosti natsional'noi okhoty' (1995).” Noev kovčeg russkogo kino. Ot 'Sten'ki Razina' do 'Stiljag'. Braguinski, Nikita, Vassilieva, Ekaterina. eds. Vinnytsia: Globus-Press, 2012. 453-7.
“Il'ia Averbakh 'Chiuzhie pis'ma' (1975).” Noev kovčeg russkogo kino. Ot 'Sten'ki Razina' do 'Stiljag'. Braguinski, Nikita, Vassilieva, Ekaterina. eds. Vinnytsia: Globus-Press, 2012. 307-11.
Research Interests
- Censorship in culture, youth culture and cinema
- Late-Soviet and post-Soviet literature and culture
- Eastern European and Central Asian cinema
- Representation of Chernobyl in culture
- Protest art and culture
- Instructional technology and curriculum design
- Alternative assessment
Representative Conference Presentations
“Rewarding, Not Penalizing in a Russian Language Classroom: Alternative Grading as a Response to the Mental Health Crisis” a presentation, Ungrading Conference 2024, USC Dornsife, Center for Languages and Literatures, January 2024
“The Honest Gaze of Dinara Asanova: The Ambivalence of Late-Soviet Teenagers,” a presentation, The 2023 ASEEES Annual Convention, 2023
“Developing Students 21st Century Skills in the Chernobyl Course," a presentation for the roundtable, “Teaching Chornobyl: Methods, Experiences, and Projects,” The 2023 ASEEES Annual Convention, 2023
“ACTFL Resources to Teach Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” with Junko Yamamoto, The annual Spring Methodology Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2023
“Remembering the Nuclear Event: The Construction of Memory about Chernobyl in Street Art and Murals” The 2022 ASEEES Annual Convention, 2022
"Exploring Diverse Cultures through Interactive Online Maps and Virtual Tours in a Russian Language Class" a presentation for the roundtable, the 2022 AATSEEL Annual Conference, 2022
“Digital Projects and Digital Portfolios for Assessing Students’ Language Proficiency” The Digital Humanities Advancement Grant Conference, Allegheny College, 2022
“Diversity and Inclusion Oriented Projects in a Russian Language Classroom,” a presentation for the roundtable “Addressing Diverse Identities and Perspectives of the Russophone World.” The 2021 ASEEES Annual Convention, 2021
“Belarusian Protest Culture in 2020-2021: Street Art and Digital Art Between the Public and the Private,” The 2021 ASEEES Annual Convention, 2021
“Integrating Internet Culture in the Russian Language Curriculum: Runet for Culture-Based Language Learning.” The American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) Conference. 2021
“The Nuclear Thread in Visual Culture: Popularizing Chernobyl in Cinema and TV,” The 2020 ASEEES Annual Convention, 2020
“We Are Different, but We Are Together: Addressing Cultural and Gender Diversity in the Russian Language Curriculum,” a poster presentation. Provost’s Diversity Institute for Faculty Development, University of Pittsburgh, 2020
Invited Lectures and Workshops
"Designing Hybrid Language Curricula: A Case Study of Pitt Russian Program," Technology in Language Teaching Forum, Robert Henderson Media Language Lab, University of Pittsburgh, September 2023
“Mixed Grading Strategies for Assessing Students in Russian Language and Culture Courses” Ungrading in L2 Courses: A Round Table. Department of French and Italian, University of Pittsburgh. October 2022
"Implementing DEI Principles in a Russian Language Classroom: Innovative Practices & Strategies," a workshop together with Izolda Savenkova, the 2022 AATSEEL Annual Conference, 2022
“We Came out into the Streets!”: Cultural Reactions to the 2020-2021 Belarusian Protests,” a guest talk, the Russian section, Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen, April 2021
“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Russian Language Curriculum,” a series of professional development workshops for the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program language instructors, co-led with Izolda Savenkova, March-April 2021
“Using Authentic Materials for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” a webinar with Izolda Savenkova, the American Council of Teachers of Russian, February 2021
"Struggle for Belarus: Cultural and Artistic Responses to The Political Crisis of 2020” a guest talk with Sonya Bilocerkowycz. The Lauder Institute, University of Pennsylvania, October 2020.
"Self-, Peer-, and Outside Assessments in the Language Classroom: Digital Portfolios," a webinar, CREEES, University of Pittsburgh. August 2020
"Using Web-based Slides for Interactivity: Nearpod and Peardeck in a Russian Language Classroom" a workshop, with Maria Dianifaba and Michael O’Brien, CREEES, University of Pittsburgh. August 2020
"Project-based and Community-based Language Learning in the Online Environment," a workshop, CREEES, University of Pittsburgh. June 2020
“The Nuts and Bolts of Online Language Teaching,” a workshop, CREEES, University of Pittsburgh. May 2020
Employment Since Graduation
Assistant/Associate Teaching Professor/Director of the Russian Program, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh, 2020-current
Lecturer/Acting Director of the Russian Program, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh, 2019-2020
Visiting Lecturer, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh, 2017-2019
Merton Humanities Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow, Mercyhurst University, 2015 – 2016
Dissertation Title and Year
Soviet Youth Films under Brezhnev: Watching between the Lines, 2013