About

The Russian and East European Studies department at Penn is a tight-knit community dedicated to advancing knowledge of a vast and unique region of the world. Our faculty’s interests and expertise span many centuries, countries, languages, and disciplines. Here, you can study medieval Czech manuscripts, population and health in Eastern Europe, 19th century Russian literature, nationalism and film in the Balkans, Russian and East European foreign policy, Byzantine art, gender and sexuality, and Putin’s Russia. We teach an array of East European languages, including Hungarian, and Russian to the advanced level. Students have access to unforgettable intensive language and study abroad opportunities. We encourage you to learn more about our department and our community at Penn through our events, our social media, our courses, and our faculty. We are one program offering a world of possibilities.

We publish "Sputnik", a freshmen-oriented publication that recaps the year before, student activities, interesting events, relevant publications, and more. We believe this publication provides a great insight into our department and what we do for our students. 

Our student life is vibrant, both academically and culturally. We organize talent shows, parody shows, moving screenings, museum visits, cultural events, performances, lectures, and research conferences. Slavic Bazaar is our annual undergraduate research conference students present their research at. There is the Best Research Paper Prize for the best paper presented at the conference, and that goes on the student transcript.

We also have social media channels where we share news articles, cultural insights, and departmental events.