Every semester, we offer our student various events and programs. We collaborate with other Slavic programs in the department and organize annual Koleda Slavic Winter Holiday celebration in December and Slavic Mardi Gras in the spring.
Every spring, our students participate in two major national Russian language competitions: The ACTR National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest (NPSREC) and The ACTR Olympiada of Spoken Russian. These contests provide students with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate their linguistic skills, cultural knowledge, and personal expression in Russian. Every year, students from our Russian program distinguish themselves by earning numerous awards, including gold, silver, and bronze medals in both competitions. Their success is a testament to their dedication, hard work, and the strength of our curriculum and instruction. These achievements not only recognize individual excellence but also bring national visibility to our program.
In addition to rigorous classroom instruction, students in our Russian program enjoy numerous opportunities to engage with the diverse cultures of Russian-speaking countries through a variety of co-curricular activities. Each semester, we offer hands-on cultural experiences such as cooking classes featuring traditional recipes, arts and crafts workshops inspired by folk traditions, yoga sessions, themed tea parties, field trips to Slavic grocery stores, visits to the Pittsburgh Symphony and local theatrical performances, guest lectures, film screenings, and more.
Our students also regularly participate in collaborative cultural events with Carnegie Mellon University’s Russian program, creating a broader sense of community among learners in the Pittsburgh area. Recurring highlights include conversation tables, talent shows, holiday celebrations, undergraduate research symposia, and interdisciplinary cultural evenings that integrate history, language, and the arts.
These events are designed to support language acquisition in informal settings, deepen students’ cultural understanding, and build connections among peers, instructors, and the larger Slavic studies community.