$400,000 grant awarded to Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Sixty years after its establishment in 1947, the IU Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures recently received an honor in the form of a two-year, $400,000 federal grant given by the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. \nRonald Feldstein, department chair and principal investigator for the grant, said every university in the U.S. was eligible to compete for this first-year competitive grant program, which was initially discussed between President Bush and Vladmir Putin, president of the Russian Federation. \n“The large size and great importance of both countries led to a desire to increase and strengthen contacts,” Feldstein said. \nIU has already been noted for its diversity in cultural studies and courses. The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures offers courses designed to meet a wide range of interests from Russian to Romanian, and it will now be expanding on the number of programs affiliated with the Russian language. \nWhile teaming up with the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures will also collaborate with Rostov-on-Don, Russia’s Southern Federal University. The school is the largest education, science and cultural center in southern Russia, according to the Southern Federal University Web site. The goal is to create a project to develop language-learning and the study of public health and health policy. \n“These grants provide a unique opportunity for the U.S. and Russia to collaborate on research in language, energy, health sciences and advanced energy technologies,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in a recent news release.\nSpellings signed the agreement back in 2006 with Russian Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko. \nFeldstein said new programs will prepare students who are studying Russian at IU.\n“Beginners will learn more about speaking the Russian language while advanced courses will focus more on health care,” Feldstein said. \nNew Slavic department courses related to the study of health care have been added, as well as intelligent computer-assisted language learning materials.\nTo further strengthen the partnership, students in Bloomington, Indianapolis and Russia may take courses via distance learning and video conferences. \nThe impact of the grant will not cease when the school year comes to an end. The grant will also help pay the cost for some IU students to travel to Rostov-on-Don for a two-week summer study-abroad program. Similarly, students from Southern Federal University will travel to Indiana to visit and study. \nFor more information on the program and courses, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~iuslavic/USRussiaHCProgram.shtml.