Russia: Courses and Seminars
All entering graduate students are required to take a two-quarter research
seminar in their first year of study; second-year students are likewise
required to take a seminar, unless they petition for credit for previous
graduate work. The purpose of the seminar is to introduce students to
the relevant scholarly literature and primary sources necessary to pursue
professional
research in their field. At the end of the Winter quarter, students in
the seminar are expected to have produced a research paper of significant
length and high historiographical standards. In Russian history, a seminar
is offered in alternate years by Professors Hellie and Fitzpatrick. Prof.
Hellie's seminar is devoted entirely to the production of a long research
paper in any aspect of Russian history (though students are encouraged
to choose a topic outside the Soviet period). Prof. Fitzpatrick's seminar
is on Soviet history; the Fall Quarter is spent on historiography (English-
and Russian-language) and sources, while the Winter Quarter is devoted
to production of the research paper. In Fall 2003/Winter 2004, the seminar
will be taught by Prof. Fitzpatrick.
While graduate students in Russian history are expected to take both Russian history seminars, it is quite common for them also to take the year's seminar in Modern European or International history as a Colloquium (one quarter only, usually with a shorter research or historiographical term paper). Other graduate courses often offered in Russian/Soviet history are on Empire; Ethnicity and Nationality; and Sovietology (Prof. Suny), and Sources for Soviet Social and Political Historians; Postwar Politics and Society; and Identity and Subjectivity (Prof. Fitzpatrick). In Fall 2003, Prof. Fitzpatrick and Prof. Leora Auslander will offer a comparative course on Everyday Life in Modern Europe (Western and Eastern) for graduate students and upper-level undergraduates.