Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies

Harvard University's status as a National Resource Center (NRC) for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies ensures its continued commitment to excellence and innovation in the teaching and study of this rapidly transforming region. While the NRC is administratively based at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, it coordinates the training and outreach efforts of various relevant Harvard departments to promote National Resource Center priorities and goals.

Harvard undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees with a regional focus may select from a broad array of courses, concentrations, and degree options in nine departments and at the professional schools. In addition, Harvard's two year interdisciplinary Master's program in Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies was established in 1947 and it continues to evolve in order to meet the geopolitical, cultural, and linguistic challenges that the region presents. NRC status enhances Harvard s support of language training, which is a central component in undergraduate and graduate area studies programs. Six area languages are regularly offered through third year: Armenian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, and Yiddish. Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships and numerous other grants offer vital funding to undergraduates and graduate students to study these languages at Harvard, at other U.S. institutions, or abroad. Harvard is fortunate to have a distinguished and talented faculty whose research and teaching interests lie in this region. These faculty members are distributed amongst the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, Division of Continuing Education, and the Departments of Anthropology, Comparative Literatures, Economics, Government, History, History of Art and Architecture, Near East Languages and Literatures, Slavic Languages and Literatures, and Social Studies.

Harvard supports several research and policy programs which foster intensive practitioner-scholar interaction on critical issues. The Harvard Project on Cold War Studies promotes archival research in former Eastern bloc countries, and supports research on historical and contemporary issues by publishing The Journal of Cold War Studies. The Program on Central Asia and the Caucasus focuses on developing research and graduate training in Central Asian and Caucasian studies at Harvard. The program takes a multi-disciplinary approach in addressing a wide variety of relevant issues facing this diverse region of the world.

Substantial University resources have been devoted to the acquisition of library materials related to the region. This support has ensured the continued strength of Harvard's Slavic, Baltic, and Central Asian collections. These library resources are an indispensable component of the academic and scholarly undertakings at Harvard and in the United States.

Outreach is integral to the NRC program at Harvard, making University resources available to pre-college educators and the general public. NRC teacher workshops attract teachers from the five New England states and New York.

NRC funds have enhanced opportunities for advanced language training, especially in the less-commonly-taught languages, and promoted interest and expertise in area studies through new courses, conferences, outreach, and teacher training.