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COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

RUSSIAN AREA STUDIES

Two students and their professor look at a Russian exhibit in the library.

Russian Area Studies is a multidisciplinary, integrated study of the largest country in the world—pursued alongside quality peers and faculty—for students with ambitious professional and personal aspirations.

The Russian Area Studies Program is wide and deep, offering the opportunity to graduate with a minor, concentration or major. Our students are enthusiastic and dedicated to commanding “inside and out” knowledge of the world’s largest country and major player in global geopolitical relations. Students in the program are taught and guided by Villanova’s finest faculty members who are recognized and celebrated in their own professional areas such as political science, history, linguistics, Russian language, literature, religion, economics and the arts. 

WHY RUSSIAN AREA STUDIES?

Our graduates are equipped to enter and excel in such sectors as foreign policy advising, diplomatic assistance, national and state security, energy management, business, NGOs, journalism, academia or the arts.

Every year, we invite motivated and accomplished students to be inducted into the Dobro Slovo National Slavic Honor Society (Epsilon Nu Chapter) and honor a student with the Jeffrey Hahn Memorial Book Award for academic excellence. The Olga Foltz Memorial Scholarship for Russian Language Summer Study is also offered as a competitive prize.

Our Russian Culture Club organizes fun, cultural and educational activities and events.

Russia is an inexhaustibly fascinating country and culture worthy of deep contextual knowledge and respect. In addition to being the largest country in the world, Russia:

  • has been ruled by grand princes, czars, empresses, commissioners and presidents
  • is a nuclear superpower commanding vast natural resources
  • has strategic and geopolitical significance on the world stage
  • has a rich cultural heritage and a linguistic locus of one the United Nation’s six official languages
  • is a realm of extremes: anarchy and totalitarianism, super growth and stagnation, stability and dramatic volatility

Winston Churchill described the USSR as "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

  

Mark Schrad, PhD
Director, Russian Area Studies
Professor, Political Science

Jessica Schwartz
Program Coordinator
Political Science
jessica.schwartz@villanova.edu
(610) 519-7717

NEWS & EVENTS

"SMASHING THE LIQUOR MACHINE"

Mark Schrad, PhD, Russian Area Studies Director and associate professor of Political Science, authored "Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibition" (Oxford University Press, 2021). His new book offers an international history of alcohol prohibition—redefining it as a progressive, global, pro-justice movement that affected virtually every significant world leader from the 18th through the early 20th centuries. MORE...

COMPLEMENTARY COURSES

Villanova NROTC Midshipman First Class Niko Woltman ’21 CLAS began studying Russian on a whim as a sophomore in high school. “Seven years of language study and seven semesters with Dr. Boris Briker later, I have found that my Russian Area Studies concentration has complemented my international relations-focused Political Science major nicely,” he says. “I have yet to take a class at Villanova that I didn’t enjoy, and in my major, I’ve especially enjoyed Dr. Lowell Gustafson’s classes.” MORE...

INTERNATIONAL INTRODUCTIONS

Simonas Bingelis ’19 CLAS, ’21 MBA graduated with a concentration in Russian Area Studies. In June 2021, he had the opportunity to meet with Lithuanian President, Gitanas Nausėda, when in Lithuania for a summer internship. During his internship, he obtained first-hand experience from political and business leaders about the most pressing geopolitical and economic issues in the region and learned about the US-Lithuanian strategic relations through visits to the US embassy and with NATO representatives. MORE...

INTERNATIONAL INTRODUCTIONS

Lynne Hartnett, PhD, Russian Area Studies faculty member and associate professor of History, published “The Great Revolutions of Modern History” videos and course book for The Great Courses, an online platform offering college-level audio and video courses. Dr. Hartnett, PhD, was selected to write and film this 24-lecture course, covering the political and cultural history of Russia over the last millennium—from the world of Ivan the Terrible, to the dawn of the Soviet Union, to the post-Cold War tensions of Putin’s Russia.