Russian Speakers Association at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

If you are looking to improve your proficiency in Russian, or would like to learn more about the culture of Russia and the surrounding republics, you have come to the right place! The Center for Eastern European Studies and the Slavic Department are two of the University of Michigan's great academic resources available for students of the Russian language. Many members of the RSA have close ties to these departments, so feel free to email the board and ask for advice!

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RSA Tutoring Opportunities

We are also happy to accomodate eager members who want some one-on-one practice with their Russian speaking skills. Feel free to ask us out for coffee and we'd love to provide you with a pressure-free environment where you can speak Russian and get some good feedback about your grammar, pronunciation, and organization. All you have to do is take some initiative and seek out the native speakers within the ranks of RSA. Some members may even be able to accomodate you with private tutoring - as always email the board and don't be afraid to seek out the resources available to you!

The Center for Russian and East European Studies (CREES), a constituent unit of the University of Michigan International Institute, is one of the nation's leading institutes for interdisciplinary research and training in Russian and East European studies. First designated as a Slavic Language and Area Center in 1959, CREES is now one of twenty U.S. Department of Education-supported National Resource Centers for Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia. With an outstanding faculty of over sixty area specialists and visiting scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and professions, CREES is renowned for its regional programs in Central European (particularly Polish and Czech) studies, Russian studies, and Southeast European studies.

Over two hundred students are currently enrolled in interdisciplinary REES B.A. and M.A. degree programs, REES minors and graduate certificate programs, graduate-level joint degree programs with professional schools, and school and departmental graduate-level programs with a REES focus. CREES organizes over forty public programs each year (e.g., lectures, conferences, and film screenings) and provides instructional and informational services to midwestern schools and colleges, media, and businesses. In addition, CREES offers the Ron and Eileen Weiser Professional Development Awards which stimulate collaborations in research and teaching between higher education faculty and artists in the Slovak Republic and U-M.

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan offers a number of Russian cultural courses. These include: Russian poetry and prose, Old Russian literature, 18th/19th/20th century Russian literature, Russian for Heritage Speakers, literary theory (Formalism, Structuralism, semiotics, reception theory, and cultural studies), cultural and intellectual history, interdisciplinary studies, Polish literature, Czech literature, Slavic linguistics, and Slavic film.

If you are interested in Slavic languages to fulfill your language requirement, the University of Michigan offers: Russian, Czech, Polish, Bosnian-Serbo-Croatian, and Ukrainian. If fulfilling University credit requirements, and stimulating your cultural identity is appealing to you, please visit The Slavic Department Website at the following address: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/slavic/