About Our Graduate Program
Our department offers multiple ways of completing the Ph.D. degree, but all of these require demonstrating proficiency in a minimum of two foreign languages (at least one of which must be taught in the Slavic Department). Some students write their dissertations on a single national literature (while also demonstrating a working proficiency in a second language), while others do comparative study and research in two East European literatures, as well as interdisciplinary work, as the following examples demonstrate:
- The primary focus can be on any Slavic literature: Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian, Czech, Polish, Russian or Ukrainian.
- Comparative work may be done combining the primary focus with one or more of the above, or another East or Central European literature taught within the university (e.g., Yiddish or German).
- The interdisciplinary component of a students' program can comprise relevant work in another discipline (e.g., History of Art or Architecture, Film, Comparative Literature, Philosophy, Anthropology, History, or Sociology).
During their first year of graduate study, students will develop an individual plan of study, in consultation with faculty mentors, integrating the three components noted above into a coherent intellectual plan for working with the selected literatures in their cross-cultural contexts.
Interdisciplinary Research and Teaching
While focusing on particular East European literatures, our faculty have strong intellectual interests in the fields of literary theory, history, philosophy, social sciences, linguistics, and language pedagogy.
Our faculty also have strong ties with their colleagues in other departments and centers working in various related disciplines including History, German, English, Film Studies, Political Science, Sociology, Women Studies, Anthropology, Economics, and Near East Studies. These scholars frequently combine their forces for research projects, symposia, brown bags, and interdisciplinary teaching.
Director of Graduate Studies
The Director of Graduate Studies is Professor Tatjana Aleksic. She may be reached via email at atatjana@umich.edu or by telephone at 734.764.5355.
The Graduate Student Coordinator may be reached at sll.student.services@umich.edu.
