The University of Illinois has long been a center for Russian Studies and the Department of History offers a comprehensive and innovative graduate program in the study of Russian and Soviet history.

Courses offered in recent years cover the full range of Russian and Soviet history, often in a comparative perspective, and have emphasized the examination of major historiographical controversies, new methodological and theoretical approaches, and such key themes as the exercise and legitimation of power, industrialization and urban life, rural society, social conflict and cohesion, reform and revolution, intellectual and cultural movements, ideologies, gender and family, everyday life, popular culture, religion, ideas of nation and empire, and visions of the future. Graduate students in Russian history are also trained to ensure a strong grounding in comparative history and in historical methodologies and theory and to gain teaching and field research experience.

Students preparing preliminary examination fields in Russian history are encouraged to construct individual reading lists based on the preliminary exam reading list in consultation with the faculty.

Campus Resources

Graduate education in Russian history at the University of Illinois is further enriched through contacts with programs in other disciplines and at other Universities, participation of students and faculty in the biannual Midwest Russian History Workshop, by the diverse activities of interdisciplinary Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center (a Title VI National Resource Center), involvement in varied departmental and university colloquia and workshop (including the faculty-graduate Russian Studies Circle, or simply the Kruzhok), and by the presence of one of the premier Slavic Library collections in the country (and which also cosponsors a national Slavic Reference Service, summer national workshops, and series of lectures and conferences). Other important campus resources include The Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory and the Humanities Research Institute.