Partnerships on Moscow Study-Abroad

[Katherine Lahti]

Dear Fellow Slavists,

This is an appeal for partnerships!

We at Trinity College have a wonderful study-abroad
program in Moscow that really gives students the
opportunity to study in Moscow in a way appropriate to
the new global age. “Trinity in Moscow,” is a part of
Trinity College’s exciting Global Learning Sites
initiative in which students study themes abroad
rather than learning about different little corners of
the world: for instance, human rights in Santiago
Chile, national identity in Barcelona, and the
development of civil society in Moscow (a question
getting more interesting by the minute).

The problem is Trinity College can’t go it alone
anymore, and we are looking for partners. Our Office
of International Programs (OIP) has sent a mailing out
to study abroad offices at twelve schools suggesting
partnerships, but of course it works better for such
agreements to be made through academic channels
(between us, in other words).

Our Moscow students do readings on civil society
(interesting key texts on Russian history and
society), become familiar with the terms and concepts,
and use this framework to interpret what they see and
experience, be it a trip to an orphanage or an AIDS
organization or a visit to the Kremlin or Gorky’s
mansion. What is the Russian need for a center? Was
Riabushinsky participating in a civil society before
1917? What happens naturally is the students come back
with a better understanding of Russia as a corner of
the world because the civil-society framework
facilitates all learning.

Our On-Site Director is just wonderful: Valentina
Apresjan, a linguist with a Ph.D. from USC. Besides
lovingly managing everything, she sets up relaxing
activities including ice-skating, swimming, taking
part in Maslenitsa, going to an authentic folk
concert, camping out in the forest with Russian
students and singing by the fire to somebody’s guitar,
and even playing word games with a group of Russian
high school students.

Katherine designed the program to be cheap, and this
is one of its more attractive features. After initial
costs of about $40,000 (director’s salary, fees paid
to different institutions, honoraria to the core
course speakers, etc.), the per student cost is only
$6,300. We start making money after 4-5 students, and
our program has made over $100,000 for Trinity College
over it’s 5-year existence.

The reasons we need to partner are on the elaborate
side. Give Katherine a call, and she’ll be glad to
explain.

Additional notes about the curriculum (5 credits): 

1. Students take tutorials in Russian or English with
top scholars at the Gorky Institute of World
Literature (IMLI) on any number of topics such as
“Russian History from Perestroika On,” “Russian Folk
Art,” “Middle East,” “Shakespeare,” 
anything. It’s
nice for the students because they get to interact
with top international scholars of the Academy instead
of the little instructor-types that other programs
use. These are usually the students’ favorite courses.


2. Students also take Russian language classes at RSUH
(RGGU). 

3. Students with fluent Russian take regular courses
at RSUH. 

4. All students do a for-credit internship. 

5. All students take a core course together titled
“Tsars, Communists, and Civil Society” which consists
of educational visits to sites in Moscow and
Petersburg (with reading and writing assignments, not
tourist trips) and a lecture series featuring a broad
cross-section of people: IMLI scholars, a newspaper
editor, important writers and artists, and even a Duma
deputy!

We also have an agreement with the “Math in Moscow”
program that allows students to study advanced
mathematics.

So let us know if you want to join us. It’s a great
opportunity for your Russian program, we think. We
know we would never dream of sending our students on
any other program now.

Yours truly,

Katherine Lahti
Carol Any

Associate Professors of Modern Languages and
Literature, Trinity College (Hartford)

katherine.lahti at trincoll.edu, carol.any at trincoll.edu

P.S. Katherine put her heart and soul into designing
this program, and she mainly wants to see it thrive
and continue to offer American students a stunning
introduction to Russia. To that end, we am very open
to the possibility of it’s entirely moving to another
institution.

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