Russian Studies Program
at the University of Alberta

Russian Studies at the University of Alberta began shortly after WWII with the introduction of Russian language courses taught by both Canadian instructors and recent emigres from the Soviet Union and elsewhere. While the initial enrollments were small, the interest in Russian language and literature dramatically increased in the late 1950's with Soviet success in launching the first man-made satellite (sputnik) and the spectacular achievements of the Soviet space program.

In addition to undergraduate courses in the Russian language, literature and linguistics were successfully added in both the undergraduate and graduate levels. These programs grew in the late 1960's and 1970's with programs offering Bachelor's in Russian language and literature, as well as M.A. and PhD degrees in Russian and Slavic linguistics and Russian literature. While these programs continued through the 1980's, dramatic political and economic changes in the 1990's lead to a reconfiguration of both the Department of Slavic and East European Studies and its programs. These programs and their staff were incorporated into the new Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, while changes and shifts of focus from traditional linguistics and translations studies changed the nature of the program in Russian linguistics. The program in Russian literature has also experienced some modification.

In spite of changes and reorientation necessitated by the sweeping changes experienced in the last decades the Russian Studies program, buttressed by one of the best library collections of Russian language and literature available, has continued to attract students from every part of Canada, and from abroad as well.