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General: Our graduate programs are designed to train future scholars and teachers of Slavic languages and literatures. Students concentrate either in literature and culture or in linguistics and philology; they combine a core curriculum with independent research early in their graduate career. More information: Meet our Students: Meet
our current graduate students. They participate in the life of the Department (studying, teaching, running the library,
organizing film series, performances, colloquia, conferences), in the life of the University (there is a community
of students in the humanities, including interdisciplinary Working Groups at
The Doreen Townsend Center for the Humanities),
and in the profession (reading papers at national and international conferences and organizing conferences at Berkeley). Graduate Program in literature and culture: The program in
literature and culture provides a thorough knowledge of the evolving
literary canon and historical context while encouraging students to
acquire expertise in literary and cultural theory. After courses leading
to the Masters examination (emphasizing systematic historical coverage),
students articulate an individuated program leading to an independent
research paper, individually-designed qualifying examinations, and
a dissertation. For the qualifying examinations, the student chooses
a concentration within a major field (for example, Russian poetry;
the 1920s; Soviet and post-Soviet culture; Medieval Slavic culture)
and, as a minor field, another national literature or another academic
field (for example, Film studies; Polish language and literature;
South Slavic studies; Eurasian studies; Russian and East European
history; drama; folklore; translation; language pedagogy). Berkeley
welcomes students with interdisciplinary interests. Slavic students
pursue minors in film, drama, gender studies, and the like. The program
encourages students who wish to focus on the diverse literary and
cultural traditions that make up Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia.
The Slavic Department works in collaboration with the departments
of Comparative Literature, Linguistics, Anthropology, History, Theater,
Music, Art History, and with the Institute of Slavic, East European
and Eurasian Studies, which houses The Berkeley Program in Soviet
and Post-Soviet Studies and The Caucasus and Central Asia Program.
Graduate Program in Linguistics: The program in
linguistics integrates systemic and contextual linguistics (the
study of language in its historical, sociological, textual context).
Our students pursue research on topics as varied as synchronic and
historical syntax, Slavic dialectology, cognitive linguistics, and
language acquisition. Requirements include a series of seminars
in language history and structure, courses in Old Church Slavonic
and Slavic, and other languages, Masters examination, independent
research project, PhD qualifying examination, and dissertation.
The program encourages work in general linguistics and in language
pedagogy. Graduate Admissions: The cycle involves application (including application for fellowship) by the beginning of January, departmental and university decisions on admission and fellowships in February, students' decisions by April 15 (for matriculation in August of the subsequent academic year). Admission is occasionally possible for spring semester. On-line application is available in early September. To request an application booklet (available in late September) email issag@berkeley.edu. Please refer to the DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ON THE APPLICATION PROCESS for detailed departmental application information and guidelines. Graduate Application Deadline for Fall 2008 Admission is January 2, 2008. This year the deadline follows a week of holiday closure at the University, so applicants are urged to plan accordingly. Our department office will be closed December 22-January 1. There will be no mail, phone, or email service during this time. Support: In recent years the Department has been successful at supporting all graduate students for six years, and, when necessary, for an additional year or two. Support comes from a variety of sources: competitive university fellowships; department funds; teaching and research assistantships. Teaching: Graduate students regularly teach (as "graduate student instructors," or "GSIs"). In our Department, GSIs teach Russian and other Slavic languages and individually-designed courses in literature through the University's Reading and Composition program. Students receive ongoing training in pedagogy. Slavic students have taught in the departments of Comparative Literature and Linguistics and in Film Studies program. Living in Berkeley: Housing is tight, but by no means as dire as has been portrayed. The university has started a special program to help incoming graduate students find housing. Berkeley is a uniquely agreeable and, at the same time, interesting place to live in. It is close to mountains and ocean; the view of the San Francisco Bay from the campus is breathtaking. There is music of all kinds, for listeners and performers. A new museum of modern art has opened in San Francisco. Life on and off the campus is intellectually exciting. Travel: Students have the opportunity to travel to Russia, Eastern and Central Europe and to the Caucasus and Central Asia to study in language programs and do research in the summer, and, with Fulbright, IREX or ACLS grants, for year-long study and research projects. The Department and the University fund students' travel to participate in professional conferences and travel for research projects and language study. Contact information: For information about the graduate program or to request an application packet, please contact the Graduate Assistant. If you have specific questions about the academic program, please contact Graduate Adviser Harsha Ram (literature) and Alan Timberlake (linguistics). Prospective students are also encouraged to contact any of our current or former students (see "Meet our Students".) |
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Other graduate resources: External Resources:
Graduate Division |