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Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies (CSEEES), UNC-Chapel Hill
Located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC CSEEES is an area studies center devoted to the study of Russia, the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. UNC CSEEES promotes research and provides instruction in this region through its Masters of Arts Program (MA RUES), public outreach, conferences, and workshops, and language studies. Background

Since 1991 the Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies (CSEEES) has promoted understand­ing of and engagement with East European and Eurasian countries and worked to enhance capacity to meet strategic U.S. needs through a variety of projects and activities: teacher training, public outreach, course development, instruction in area and language studies, conferences and workshops, and faculty and student exchanges. The CSEEES draws upon a broad base of support, with 27 core faculty and nearly 30 associated faculty members who regularly teach courses and engage in research focused on Eastern Europe, Russia, or Eurasia. In consortium with Duke University's Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies, the CSEEES is recognized by the International Education Programs Service ofﬁce of the US Department of Edu­cation as one of sixteen National Resource Centers (NRC) in Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies.

The Center serves as a resource for faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students in diverse disciplines and promotes interdisciplinary knowledge. In addition to directly supporting teaching, research, and public out­reach activities, the Center is home to the Curriculum in Russian and East European Studies (RUES). The CSEEES regularly contributes to international understanding and scholarship by hosting distinguished scholars and administrators and meeting with foreign delegations from our region of the world.

Student Support and Instruction

The Curriculum in Russian and East European Studies (RUES) is a vital part of CSEEES activities. The Cur­riculum offers B.A. and M.A. degrees in RUES, which stress multi-and inter-disciplinary approaches to the study of Eastern Europe, Russia, and Eurasia in an era of globalization and internationalization. Students work closely with the Director of the Center and other faculty members in constructing their programs. The degrees offered by the Curriculum are unique within the University, combining learning of a Slavic or East European language (Russian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Serbian-Croatian) with a substantial number of courses that focus upon the Russian, Eurasian, and East European geo-cultural area. Graduates ﬁnd em­ployment in the U.S. military and government, national and international nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector or choose to continue their education.

Through the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship Program of the US Department of Edu­cation, the CSEEES provides fellowship support for language training for graduate students. Students from all departments and professional schools are encouraged to apply. For the 2011-2012 academic year, the Cen­ter awarded nine Academic Year FLAS Fellowships and thirteen Summer Awards.

The CSEEES works closely with the Department of History, the Department of Political Science, Curriculum in Global Studies, the Carolina Institute of the Environment, and the Curriculum in Peace, War and Defense, as well as other campus programs to provide innovative learning experiences. The CSEEES Director leads a summer Burch Field Research Semi­nar program in Austria, Croatia, and Bosnia entitled, “International Organizations and the Balkans: Focus on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.” In conjunction with the UNC Study Abroad Of­ﬁce, the CSEEES helped to develop study abroad opportunities such as the Jerome College of Prague, the UNC Summer in Moscow at the Russian State University of the Humanities (RGGU), and the Institute for the Environment Summer Field Program in Siberia. Other study abroad programs are available in Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Russia.

Research and Support

The CSEEES stimulates study and research on Russia, Eurasia, and Eastern Europe by funding travel, pro­viding course development grants, and underwriting small-scale projects for UNC faculty. For example, the Center co-sponsors the “Gender, Politics, and Culture in Europe and Beyond” workshop and the related international “Gender, War, and Politics: The Wars of Revolution and Liberation, Transatlantic Compari­sons” conference. The CSEEES also supports interdisciplinary working groups on important topics such as Collective Violence and Conﬂict Resolution (CVCR). An interdisciplinary team from the CVCR working group was recently award a National Science Foundation grant for the study of political violence. CSEEES is working with the UNC Ofﬁce of Research Development to develop a comprehensive, strategic research plan, which will include innovative working groups.

The Center also enables research by providing a signiﬁcant portion of its NRC grant to the Davis Library for materials acquisition. The library's Slavic and East Europe Collection is a national leader, with over one-half million volumes. The André Savine collection was acquired in 2002 and when cataloging and processing of the materials are completed, it will provide a unique opportunity for scholarship on revolutionary and post­revolutionary émigré Russians.

Community Support

Community outreach activities and teacher training are integral to the CSEEES mission. The Center collabo­rated with the Ukrainian Association of North Carolina to host “The Ukrainian Famine-Genocide: Reﬂec­tions After 75 Years” Conference at the UNC FedEx Global Education Center. CSEEES collaborates with World View and North Carolina in the World to provide training and resources to North Carolina K-12 and community college instructors seeking to internationalize classrooms. As part of the Kyrgyz Connect project, CSEEES-afﬁliated visiting scholars from Kyrgyzstan met with students from Clayton Middle School’s Global Connection class and helped link classrooms in North Carolina and Kyrgyzstan. In addition, the Center funds teacher scholarships for UNC's Program in the Humanities and Human Values seminars. As part of the UNC Area Studies Collaborative, the Center provides content for the UNC Global Music and UNC Global TV initiatives. CSEEES staff and afﬁliated faculty regularly provide timely and valuable information to local media outlets. The CSEEES sponsors speakers and musical and theatrical programming for the broader com­munity. More than 700 individuals subscribe to Connections, our Center's quarterly publication; close to 300 individuals receive announcements on our Center's events listserv.

Masters in Russian and Eastern European Studies (MA RUES)

Started in 1999, the Master of Arts in Russian and East European Studies (MA RUES) is administered by the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies (CSEEES) at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The MA RUES is primarily a pre-professional degree for career advancement of persons in international trade, cultural exchange, nongovernmental organizations, foreign policy, government service and the military. The degree is designed to train professionals to handle the multi-dimensional tasks of our complex global society. The Curriculum has provided thorough training for almost 60 successful MA students who have entered since the MA degree program began.

Staff

Robert M. Jenkins, Director; Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science

Jacqueline M. Olich Associate Director, FLAS Coordinator; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of History

Karla Nagy, Department Manager

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS)

CSEEES offers FLAS Fellowships for summer and academic year in six languages and others in consultation with the UNC CSEEES FLAS Coordinator. Languages: Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian, Czech, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, and Turkish.

Links

http://cseees.unc.edu/

http://twitter.com/UNC_CSEEES

http://www.facebook.com/CSEEES