Mission
Since 1991 the UNC Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies (CSEEES) has promoted understanding of and engagement with East European and Eurasian countries. It has worked to enhance capacity to meet strategic U.S. needs through a variety of projects and activities: course development, instruction in area and language studies, faculty and student exchanges, public outreach, conferences, and workshops. The Center draws upon a broad base of support with over 40 affiliate faculty members who regularly teach courses and engage in research focused on Russia, East Europe, and Eurasia.
Student Support And Instruction
The Center serves as a resource for faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students in diverse disciplines and promotes interdisciplinary knowledge. In addition to directly supporting teaching, research, and public outreach activities, the Center is home to the Russian, Eurasian and East European Track in Global Studies MA Program. The MA degree combines learning of Slavic/East European languages (Russian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, BCS) with a substantial number of courses that focus on the Russian, Eurasian, and East European geo-cultural area. Students work closely with the CSEEES director, associate director, and affiliate faculty in designing a course of study that best fits their academic interest and career goals. Graduates find employment in the U.S. military and government, national and international nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector, or choose to continue their education.
The Center works closely with the Department of History, the Department of Political Science, the Curriculum in Global Studies, the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages, and the Curriculum in Peace, War and Defense, as well as other units on campus to provide innovative learning experiences. In conjunction with the UNC Study Abroad Office, CSEEES has helped develop and supports study abroad programs in Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Russia.
Research Support
The CSEEES stimulates study and research on Russia, Eurasia, and Eastern Europe by funding travel, providing course development grants, and underwriting small-scale projects for UNC faculty. The Center co-sponsors the Carolina Seminar: “Russia and its Empires, East and West,” the Czech Studies workshop, and “Gender, War, and Culture” workshop series.
The Center also enables research by providing resources to the Davis Library for materials acquisition. The library’s Slavic and East European Collection is one of the best in the nation with over 800,000 print volumes. The André Savine collection (acquired in 2002) provides a unique opportunity for scholarship on revolutionary and post-revolutionary émigré culture and history, and documents from the Trans-Caspian Provisional Government (1918-1919).
To support an active, collaborative, scholarly community, the Center organizes conferences, workshops, and seminars to which both foreign and domestic scholars, diplomats, civic activists, and political leaders are invited as speakers on a variety of Slavic, Eurasian, and East European topics. Please visit our Events calendar for details.
Diversity Statement
Diversity is a critical element of Carolina’s pursuit of academic excellence, and CSEEES is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive community. In all of our activities, we strive to enhance U.S. national security and global competitiveness by promoting international service and awareness among a broad cross-section of the American citizenry.