Courses

All of the courses listed on this page count towards Notre Dame’s Globally Engaged Citizens Program. For more information, visit the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures website. 

Please visit Class Search for our full range of courses, which include a large assortment of offerings in both Russian and English. 

Courses offered every Fall 

RU 10101 – Beginning Russian I

Develops students’ skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing while also fostering an appreciation for Russian culture. Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of basic structures, vocabulary, and sound systems. Students will be encouraged to use their language skills to communicate and interact in a variety of situations and contexts. 4 credits; meets 3 days a week.

RU 20101 – Intermediate Russian I

This is the first half of a 2-semester review of Russian grammar designed to facilitate a near-native proficiency with the form and function of Russian nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Exceptional forms are stressed, and reading selections on contemporary Russian life and excerpts from literature are employed to improve comprehension and build conversational and writing skills. Open to students who have completed RU 10102 or have placed into the course via online placement exam. 3 credits.

RU 30101 – Advanced Russian I

The first half of a year-long course designed to significantly improve students’ comprehension and self-expression skills in Russian, serving as a preparation for Russian literature courses in the original. The course will include an intensive review of Russian grammar; Russian stylistics, syntax, and grammar at the advanced level; reading and analysis of a wide range of 19th-century Russian literary texts; writing essays in Russian; and extensive work on vocabulary building and advanced conversation skills. Open to students who have completed RU 20102. 3 credits.

Courses offered every Spring 

RU 10102 – Beginning Russian II

Continuation of Beginning Russian I. Develops students’ skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing while also fostering an appreciation for Russian culture. Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of basic structures, vocabulary, and sound systems. Students will be encouraged to use their language skills to communicate and interact in a variety of situations and contexts. Open to students who have completed RU 10101 or have placed into the course via online placement exam. 4 credits; meets 3 days a week. 

RU 20102 – Intermediate Russian II

This is the second half of a 2-semester review of Russian grammar designed to facilitate a near-native proficiency with the form and function of Russian nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Exceptional forms are stressed, and reading selections on contemporary Russian life and excerpts from literature are employed to improve comprehension and build conversational and writing skills. Open to students who have completed RU 20201 or have placed into the course via online placement exam. 3 credits.

RU 30102 – Advanced Russian II

This is the second half of a year-long course designed to significantly improve students’ comprehension and self-expression skills in Russian, serving as a preparation for Russian literature courses in the original. The course will include an intensive review of Russian grammar; Russian stylistics, syntax, and grammar at the advanced level; reading and analysis of a wide range of 20th-century Russian literary texts (including fiction, poetry, interviews, songs, and newspaper materials); writing essays in Russian; and extensive work on vocabulary building and advanced conversation skills. Open to students who have completed RU 40102. 3 credits.

Slavic language courses in languages other than Russian

RU 10505 - Introductory Ukrainian 

This is an introductory course for complete beginners in Ukrainian. The course aims to provide a solid foundation in four major communicative skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students will learn to communicate effectively across cultural and linguistic boundaries while developing knowledge of the Ukrainian language, traditions, and culture. Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of basic structures, vocabulary, and sound systems. Students will be encouraged to use their language skills to communicate and interact in a variety of situations and contexts. Cultural awareness will be enhanced with authentic audio-visual materials, literary texts, and cultural artifacts. By the end of the course, students will be able to read short original Ukrainian texts and communicate on everyday topics. No prerequisite. 3 credits. 

Fall 2025 courses taught in English

SLAV – Introduction to Ukrainian (Alina Boiko, FLTA)

This one-credit class is designed to give students an opportunity to learn the basics of Ukrainian. By the end of the semester, students will 1) use the Cyrillic alphabet with confidence, 2) understand the fundamentals of Ukrainian phonetics and grammar, and 3) be able to speak and write briefly about their personal and university biographies. The course will be scheduled to accommodate student schedules. One credit; Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.

SLAV - A Tour of Post-Soviet States (Alina Boika, FLTA)

SLAV 33202 - Dostoevsky-Shakespeare: What Shakes Dostoevsky? (Arpi Movsesian)

Dostoevsky’s fascination with Shakespeare and his inquiry into the “accursed questions” began when only a teenager. Both authors are interested in the visibility of action as a manifestation of subterranean issues, what seems and what appears, and the psychic drama reflective of political and cultural problems that their characters internalize. In this course, we will explore the complex layering that allows the two authors to explore and comment on the dialectical relationship between human beings, the self’s interaction with the self, and the role of art for the audience. Can the two authors’ works be considered life manuals where they lay out the poetics of existence? We will be looking at some of their works, including Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky), Hamlet (Shakespeare), and others, as processes where the first step is to identify societal issues as riddles, followed by the acknowledgment that a certain riddle is a worthy pursuit. 3 credits. Counts for FNAR, WKAL and LIT.

SLAV 33500 – Behind the Iron Curtain: Soviet Culture up to Stalinism (Emily Wang)

Was the Soviet Union a "workers paradise" or an "evil empire?" Nearly three decades after this country transformed into what we now call "post-Soviet space," the legacy of the USSR looms large in international politics and culture. This course will offer students an introduction to Soviet history through film, which Lenin famously called "the most important of the arts," and literature, which Soviet writers used to "engineer human souls." Since the 1917 Revolution, art has had a close relationship to the Soviet state. At the same time, writers and filmmakers with individualistic and even rebellious tendencies have created some of the twentieth century's greatest masterpieces, including Dziga Vertov's Man With a Movie Camera and Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita. In this class we will explore how this tense relationship between art and the state developed in the first half of the twentieth century. Since cultural context is an important lens for our analysis, each artistic work will be accompanied by historical readings about the period in which it was produced, as well as artistic manifestos and contemporary reviews, when relevant. All films will be shown with subtitles and all readings offered in English. 3 credits. Counts for FNAR, LIT, MESE and WKAL

Previously Offered Electives

Generally, courses with 4xxxx course numbers are taught in the target language. Courses with 3xxxx course numbers and below are taught in English. Detailed class descriptions can be accessed via the ClassSearch tool on InsideND.

Spring 2025

RU 13186 - The Anti-Empire Empire: Russia, Center, and Periphery

RU 30158 - Myth, Magic, and Eurasia

RU 30357 - Shadow of the Empire in Cinema: Contemporary Russian and Ukrainian Film

RU 33101 - Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: Politics, Media, and War in Putin’s Russia

RU 43472 - Rulers & Rebels of Russia

Fall 2024

RU 13186 - The Icon and the Axe: Introduction to Russian Civilization

RU 33102 - Armenian Literature at the Crossroads of Empires

RU 33103 - The Russian Christ: The Image of Jesus in Russian Literature and Film

RU 33201 - Dostoevsky: The Sacred and the Profane

Spring 2024

RU 13186 -  The Anti-Empire Empire: Russia, Center, and Periphery

RU 33101 - Nothing is True and Everything is Possible

RU 43620 - Russian Journalism

Fall 2023

RU 30202 - Tolstoy 

RU 30350 - Ukrainian and Russian Culture Through the Ages

RU 30355 - From Rasputin to Putin: Russia's Troubled 20th Century 

RU 33500 - Behind the Iron Curtain: Soviet Culture up to Stalinism

RU 43100 - Russian Short Stories

Spring 2023

RU 20355 – RusPutin to Putin

RU 30357 – Shadow of the Empire in Cinema

RU 33201 – Dostoevsky 

RU 43610 – Contemp Russ Culture 

Fall 2022

RU 30355 – From Rasputin to Putin

RU 30469 – Russia’s Revolutionary Century 

RU 33186 – Russian Seeks God 

RU 43620 – Russian Journalism 

Spring 2022

RU 33301 – Brothers Karamazov 

RU 43620 – Russian Journalism 

Fall 2021

RU 30113 – Russian in Revolution: Literature, Film, and the Arts, 1891-1924 

RU 30355 – From Rasputin to Putin

RU 30475 – Medieval & Early Modern Russia

RU 43102 - Twentieth-Century Russian Literature Survey