Boston College

Department of Slavic & Eastern Languages & Literatures
            Кафедра славяноведения и востоковедения

U n i t y   i n   d i v e r s i t y

• Contact information
   
• Incoming students: Placement and proficiency exams
   
• Departmental overview
   
• Faculty
   
•      Recent faculty research and publication
   
• Graduate program (MA)
   
• Undergraduate program (BA, minors)
   
• Course listings
   
• Study-abroad programs
   
• Events
   

Department contacts

Department of Slavic & Eastern Languages & Literatures
Boston College
Lyons Hall 210
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill MA 02467-3804 (USA)
tel +1-617/552.3910 fax +1-617/552.3913
web: http://fmwww.bc.edu/SL/SL.html (this page)

Chair of the Department
Prof Maxim D. Shrayer
tel +1-617/552.3910
eMail shrayerm@bc.edu

Graduate Program Director; Faculty Tech Contact (FTC)
Prof M. J. Connolly
tel +1-617/552.3912
eMail cnnmj@bc.edu

Undergraduate Program Director
Prof Cynthia Simmons
tel +1-617/552.3914
eMail simmonsc@bc.edu

Administrative Secretary
Ms Demetra Parasirakis
tel +1-617/552.3910
eMail parasira@bc.edu

Departmental overview

The Department of Slavic & Eastern Languages & Literatures provides graduate- and undergraduate-level courses of study through its three overlapping component programs:

The Program in Asian Studies

The Program in Linguistics

The Program in Slavic Studies

The Department offers

degrees at the AB and MA levels in Linguistics, in Russian, and in Slavic Studies,

a dual five-year AB-MA program for Boston College undergraduates,

departmental undergraduate minors in Linguistics in Russian, in Arabic, and in Chinese.
 

SELL also coordinates the interdepartmental undergraduate minor in Slavic Studies.

The Department offers a program at St. Petersburg, administered through the Dostoevsky Museum.
Details are available at http://fmwww.bc.edu/SL/KP-Pbg.html

Graduate joint programs with Law or Management are also possible.

The Department co-administers the undergraduate interdisciplinary minors in Asian Studies and Jewish Studies.

For information concerning the interdisciplinary undergraduate minor in Asian Studies, contact Prof Prasannan Parthasarathi (Department of History), Director, Asian Studies minor, parthasa@bc.edu

For information concerning the interdisciplinary undergraduate minor in East European Studies, contact Prof Cynthia Simmons (Department of Slavic & Eastern Languages & Literatures), Director, East European Studies minor, simmonsc@bc.edu

For information concerning the interdisciplinary undergraduate minor in Jewish Studies, contact Prof Dwayne Carpenter (Department of Romance Languages & Literatures), Co-Director, Jewish Studies minor, carpendw@bc.edu

Faculty

Full-time faculty

 

Sing-Chen Lydia Chiang, Assistant Professor (East Asian Studies) Coordinator, East Asian Studies BA, National Taiwan University MA, University of Washington PhD, Stanford University tel +1-617/552.0128 chiangs@bc.edu

 

M. J. Connolly, Associate Professor (Linguistics, Slavic) Graduate Program Director; Faculty Tech Coordinator (FTC) Moderator, Faculty Micro Resource Center (FMRC) AB, Boston College PhD, Harvard University tel +1-617/552.3912 cnnmj@bc.edu

 

Lawrence G. Jones, Professor emeritus (Linguistics, Slavic Studies) AB, Lafayette College MA, Columbia University PhD, Harvard University tel +1-617/876.6325 joneslg@bc.edu

 

Franck Salameh, Assistant Professor (Arabic) Coordinator, Arabic & Hebrew BA, University of Central Florida MA, Boston University PhD, Brandeis University tel +1-617/552.3915 salameh@bc.edu

 

Maxim D. Shrayer, Department Chair Professor (Russian, English, Jewish Studies) BA, Brown University MA, Rutgers University MA, MPhil, PhD, Yale University tel +1-617/552.3910 shrayerm@bc.edu

 

Cynthia Simmons, Professor (Slavic Studies) Undergraduate Program Director Director, East European Studies minor AB, Indiana University AM, PhD, Brown University tel +1-617/552.3914 simmonsc@bc.edu

 

Margaret Thomas, Professor (Linguistics) Undergraduate Fulbright Program Advisor BA, Yale University MEd, Boston University AM, PhD, Harvard University tel +1-617/552.3697 thomasm@bc.edu

Some recent full-time faculty research & publications

For detailed information visit the webpages of the individual faculty member

Graduate Program (MA) Descriptions

Linguistics

Russian

Slavic Studies

Each semester and each summer the Department offers a program of high-level graduate courses in St Petersburg, administered through the Dostoevsky Museum. Details on this BC/IRL study/research program are available from the Department or at http://fmwww.bc.edu/SL/KP-Pbg.html.

Graduate Admission

Slavic Studies and Linguistics programs involve a significant proportion of work in other departments of the university, and candidates in these areas are be expected to meet all prerequisites for such courses and seminars.

Students must also be prepared, in the course of studies, to deal with materials in various languages as required.

Students with an undergraduate degree who require preparation for admission to the MA may apply as special students. This mode of application is suited to those who are looking for post-undergraduate courses without enrolling in a formal degree program and for guests from other universities who are enrolling in the BC St Petersburg program.

Graduate degree requirements

The grades for the qualifying examinations, special-field examinations, and the research paper are reported to the Office of Student Services as a single comprehensive-examination grade. Comprehensive examination sectors are in written or oral format, depending on the nature of the subject matter.

The Department has exemption procedures to allow limited substitution of requirements. A student may apply up to two courses (6 credits) of advanced work from other universities or research institutes toward program require ments, provided this work has not been previously applied to an awarded degree.

Further graduate-student links:

  The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

  Graduate applications and financial-aid forms

  Murray Graduate Center

   

Undergraduate Program (AB) Descriptions

• Major in Linguistics
  
• Major in Russian
  
• Major in Slavic Studies
   
• Minor in Linguistics
  
• Minor in Russian
   
• Minor in Arabic
  
• Minor in Chinese
   
• Minor in East European Studies (interdisciplinary)
  

Major in Linguistics

Major in Russian

Major in Slavic Studies

Minor in East European Studies (interdisciplinary)

Minor in Linguistics (departmental)

Minor in Russian (departmental)

Minor in Arabic (departmental)

Minor in Chinese (departmental)

Study-abroad programs

Sankt-Peterburg / Санкт Петербург

The Department of Slavic & Eastern Languages & Literatures conducts several St Petersburg / Dostoevsky Museum Programs, including a summer language program for all levels of Russian, a graduate-level Dostoevskij summer seminar, and full academic-semester programs for undergraduates or graduates with knowledge of Russian.

Veliko Turnovo (Bulgaria)

Center for International Partnerships and Programs (CIPP)

Placement and proficiency examinations

For information on placement and proficiency examinations in our various languages, read the document at http://fmwww.bc.edu/SL/PPExams.pdf.
 
East Asian languages placement exams (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) for entering students will take place on Tuesday 04 September from 4.30 to 5.20pm:

• Chinese: Carney 305
• Japanese: Carney 206
• Korean: Carney 104

English for Foreign Students

The Department of English offers elective and core-level courses of English language and literature for foreign students enrolled at Boston College (EN 117-120).