The Russian Program at UCD stands with you in condemning Russia’s illegal and immoral attack on Ukraine. We offer our heartfelt sympathies to those of you who have familial and other ties to Ukraine. As a native of Ukraine myself, I am profoundly and personally affected by the horrific images we have all seen on our screens in the last days.
The following article was originally published by The California Aggie and can be read in its entirety here
By RACHEL GAUER — features@theaggie.org In the bustling academic landscape of UC Davis, where sustainability, agriculture and STEM often dominate the university’s spotlight, a handful of small humanities departments quietly flourish and foster passion and community amongst students and faculty.
The University of California, Davis, is third in the nation among public universities and 12th among all universities for how well it sets its graduates up for financial success in the WSJ/College Pulse rankings released today (Sept. 5).
Valeria Mutc (Ph.D., Slavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University) has joined the Russian Program as an Assistant Professor of Russian. She is a scholar of nineteenth-century literature, theater, and the history of science and technology. In her first book project, The Dramatic Turn: Science, Theater, and Russian Literature, she examines how theater became the optimal medium for Russian writers to respond to the challenges and promises of industrial and technological modernity.
What were your major and minor? I was a triple major in Russian, linguistics, and statistics with a minor in computer science.
What are you up to now? I just got accepted into a Natural Language Processing (NLP) M.S. program at UC Santa Cruz! I plan to concentrate my research on machine translation and multilingual NLP.
If asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.”
The above is a quote from Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy was one of Russia’s — and the world’s — greatest novelists. His words are a timely reminder even centuries later. We often become too wrapped up in our work to notice the world around us.
Meet Marina Shatskikh ('18), a third-year medical student and former UC Davis Russian major! Marina started her Russian degree for personal reasons, but is now using it in her clinical rotations to help Ukrainian refugees in Ireland receive proper medical care.
What was your major? Why did you choose it?
I got my B.S. in pharmaceutical chemistry to pursue a career in medicine, and my B.A. in Russian to develop my native Russian and engage with the Slavic community on campus and in the greater Sacramento community.
In response to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s recent death, Navalny, a documentary focused on his 2020 poisoning and life thereafter, will be screened at 1002 Cruess Hall at UC Davis on Feb. 26 at 5:30 p.m. The screening is free and open to the public. No registration is necessary.
The film, which was released in 2022, won last year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
What Can I Do with My Major? The Languages and Literatures Edition
Watch our recorded presentation from the Internship and Career Center of career exploration and planning while enjoying your major and courses in Languages and Literatures! See how our humanities majors give you transferable, technical and personal traits to help you in your future career!
