Deadline: December 15, 2023
Yale University’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures invites applications for its Ph.D. program in Slavic and Eurasian literatures and cultures. The deadline for admission is December 15, 2023. More information about the admissions process can be found on the website for the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Yale University’s Slavic Department is one of the most dynamic in the United States and takes great pride in the creative and forward-thinking scholarship of its faculty and students. Our graduate program values interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives on Russian, East European, and Eurasian literatures and cultures. While maintaining a foundation in the study and teaching of language and literature, the Department sees both as embedded in a global context and a broad network of cultural production. In coursework, exams, professional training, mentoring, and intellectual life, our graduate program seeks to provide its students with the knowledge, skills, and vision to become engaged, innovative Slavists and Eurasianists for the twenty-first century.
The faculty members of the Yale Slavic Department have been recognized internationally for their teaching and research. With deep and evolving connections to comparative literature, art history, film and media studies, history and the social sciences, the environmental humanities, gender and sexuality studies, and the digital humanities, the faculty are actively engaged in integrating Slavic and Eurasian studies into the diverse communities and conversations of the academic and public spheres. Many opportunities for such integration within Yale are provided by the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Program of the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studiess Program of the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, but also by the uniquely collaborative culture of the university’s faculty and institutions. The Slavic graduate program also benefits from the many resources of the university: from Yale’s renowned strengths in the humanities to the rich collections of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Sterling Memorial Library (and its Slavic, East European and Central Asian Collection), and the Yale University Art Gallery.
Ph.D. Program
In line with our particular strengths in interdisciplinary study, the Department offers a flexible doctoral program, which can accommodate specializations in Russian, East European, and Central Asian culture with a strong emphasis on transnational and transmedial approaches. The Department also offers a combined degree in Slavic Languages and Literatures and Film and Media Studies.
Additionally, Yale University makes available to graduate students several certificate programs, such as Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Film and Media Studies, Translation Studies, Environmental Humanities, or the MacMillan Center’s Councils on African, European, Latin American and Iberian, and Middle East Studies. Graduate students can also receive a Certificate of College Teaching Preparation or a Certificate in Second Language Acquisition.
Alumni Placement
We are proud of our exceptionally strong job placement record. Since 2013, alumni have received tenure-track positions at Brown University, Lewis and Clark College, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Newcastle University, Pace University, Portland State University, San Francisco State University, UC Davis, UCLA, University of Cambridge, the US Air Force Academy, Wesleyan University, and West Point. Our graduates have also found careers in library services, university administration, educational consulting, and cyber security and intelligence.
Funding
Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences offers a competitive funding package, which is guaranteed for five years as well as an optional sixth year. The full financial award includes the full cost of tuition, a 12-month stipend (minimum of $40,530 for 2023-24), comprehensive health insurance, and a family support subsidy for graduate students with children under 18.
Additional Information
Our department website includes further information about our program. Prospective students are encouraged to contact the current Director of Graduate Studies, Molly Brunson ( (molly.brunson@yale.edu)), who can answer any additional questions, connect you with current faculty and students, and share the graduate program handbook.