Fall Quarter 2025

For day, time, room, and TA information, see our PDF Schedule or the class search tool https://registrar-apps.ucdavis.edu/courses/search/index.cfm.
For all courses not described here, please refer to the General Catalog course descriptions: https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/courses-subject-code/rus

Lower Division

RUS 001 Elementary Russian
Liliana Avramenko

RUS 004 Intermediate Russian
Jekaterina Galmant

Russian 4 is designed as a continuation of Russian 3 and promotes pronunciation and grammar, as well as the development of listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, with an emphasis on communicative skills, through compelling conversation topics, creative presentations and engaging discussions. The course integrates new vocabulary and syntax into previously acquired language. The purpose of the course is facilitate a maximum exposure to the language and culture and to give the student the opportunity to use Russian as much as possible.

Prerequisites: RUS 003 or Language Placement Test
Textbooks: OER, no required materials for purchase

A flyer for RUS 004, colorful drawings of letters.

Upper Division

RUS 101A Advanced Russian
Liliana Avramenko

RUS 139 Pushkin
Valeriia Mutc

Alexander Pushkin is one of the most read and studied writers of Russian literature. Yet, his fiction is as rich in new meanings today as it was 200 years ago. What can Pushkin’s poetry, prose, and drama teach us about the twenty-first century? In this course, we will revisit Pushkin with fresh eyes, paying attention not only to the elegance of his language, but also how he grappled with profoundly modern concerns: the loss of core meaning, the inaccessibility of feeling, distraction, individualism, a severed bond with nature, and a prevailing sense of alienation.

Pre-requisites: RUS 101C; or consent of instructor. Taught in Russian.

RUS 150 Russian Culture
Valeriia Mutc

This course will examine how Russian culture, from the 18th century to the revolution of 1917, engaged with central questions of modern existence. Examining literature, art, and theater, we will ask: What sources of meaning are still available to us, and which have been irretrievably lost? How did our lives become politicized and automatized—and should that concern us? What is the origin and meaning of political tendencies we observe today: radical and conservative thinking, anarchism and technocracy, humanism and scientism—and are these truly opposites? Ultimately, we will consider what we can do to retain authenticity in a world that is increasingly distracted and precarious. The course will be organized thematically and will cover such topics as: revolutions, dissent, techno-pessimism, conservatism, science, environment, and artificial intelligence.

Readings will include works by Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, and others. Taught in English.