CREEES Professional Resources Forum

Deadline: January 5, 2021 (Fall enrollment)

The Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies is a two-year multidisciplinary program that offers advanced training for those qualified students who seek an integrated knowledge of the language, history, society and culture of the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Eurasia. This graduate degree offers the opportunity to create an individually tailored program. Upon graduation, students will have an extensive understanding of the country or countries of specialization, including a working knowledge of one of the region’s languages. The program primarily serves students preparing for professional careers and those seeking an M.A. before pursuing a professional career trajectory or Ph.D. in a particular discipline.

This region of the world covers over one-sixth of the globe and comprises countries, which differ enormously in language, ethnicity, religion, culture, political history and economic development. Since the mid-1980s, the process of reform, collapse and reconstruction in the region has led to a heightened interest in the area and the need for serious and scholarly understanding of the region. It is the mission of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies to facilitate such understanding.

The M.A. program offers either a thesis or report option. Click here for more information about degree requirements.

In addition to the standard M.A. program, we currently offer five dual-degree programs, in which students can work towards M.A.s in two disciplines at The University of Texas. These programs are structured in such a way that students can earn both masters degrees simultaneously in approximately three years; students must fulfill all requirements for both degrees.

Students have found that this multidisciplinary approach allows them to respond to an increased need in both the public and private sectors for specialists with a thorough understanding of the culture, economics, geography, history and politics of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Students must apply to both programs in order to be considered for the dual-degree program. *Please note that the admission deadlines for other programs may be earlier than the deadline for the CREEES program.

Deadline (extended): December 18, 2020

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites students interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in Slavic literatures and cultures to apply to our graduate program. Qualified students beginning their graduate career at Illinois are guaranteed five years of financial support (contingent on satisfactory progress). This includes fellowships, teaching, research, and graduate assistantships, summer support, and the opportunity for an editorial assistantship at Slavic Review, one of the world’s leading academic journals in our discipline. We also welcome applicants who have completed an M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures or related fields. 

While the Russian classics continue to be a focus of our program, oriented toward students concentrating on 18th- through 21st-century Russian literature, our Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures also offers a cultural studies track and other interdisciplinary work. A wide range of opportunities for individual specialization includes the languages, literatures, and cultures of Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria, as well as Yiddish. Interdisciplinary study is facilitated by our close ties with other campus units such as the federally funded Russian, East European & Eurasian Center; the Program in Comparative & World Literature; the Unit for Criticism & Interpretive Theory; the Department of Gender & Women’s Studies; the College of Media; and the Program in Jewish Culture and Society. Students may earn formal graduate minors or certificates from these units or they may create their own minors to satisfy Ph.D. requirements.