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MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR These are difficult times for the relationship between the US and Russia. Our foreign and economic policies are in conflict, our regional interests collide. Nevertheless, we continue to have more in common than what divides us: climate change, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and world health issues impact us equally, and we are stronger in cooperation than in conflict. As world opinion and policy continues to isolate Russia and its institutions, there is a tremendous opportunity, indeed a serious imperative, that we continue to work as closely together with our Russian colleagues as ever. And we can. The Russian government is investing in internationalization in research and education, even as institutions are losing long-standing partnerships. Reception of our initiatives is at a high point. RPN is ideally situated to be at the forefront of the all-important relationships with Russian educational institutions in the future, as we develop new student and faculty programs, dual degrees, joint research and innovative curricular activities. John Frederick Bailyn Professor of Linguistics, Stony Brook UniversityDirector, Russia Programs Network

RPN NEWSLETTER FALL 2016

SUNY RUSSIA PROGRAMS NETWORK (RPN)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FACULTY LECTURER AWARD PROGRAM (2 - 4)

CONFERENCES (4)

SUPPORT FORSUNY CAMPUSES (5)

SUNY STUDENT PROGRAMS TO RUSSIA (6)

NEW YORK - ST. PETERSBURG SUMMER INSTITUTE (7)

SPRING TRAVEL AWARD/CONTACT US (8)

16 SUNY CAMPUSES ENGAGED WITH RUSSIAN PARTNERS IN 2016

Ulises Mejias Associate ProfessorCommunicationSUNY Oswego Prof. Ulises Mejias taught Digital Media Studies through the RPN award at the SUNY-St. Petersburg summer Institute in 2013, returning voluntarily on three subsequent occasions in the summers of 2014-2016, and is now developing a Study Abroad opportunity to Russia for Oswego students.

Steven M. Schneider Chair, Humanities and Communication SUNY Institute of TechnologyProf. Steven Schneider’s Spring 2014 RPN award brought him to the Schools of Philology, I n t e r n a t i o n a l R e l a t i o n s , Journalism, and Sociology at St. Petersburg State University and to the Higher School of Economics, where he lectured on hypertextual reading and writing in the 21st century.

Derek Craig MausAssociate ProfessorEnglish and CommunicationSUNY Potsdam Prof. Derek Maus gave RPN Award lectures on comparative aspects of satirical literature at the Dept. of Foreign Literature a t S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e University in spring 2014, as well as at the Higher School of Economics and the European University. He taught twice at the NYI summer Institute.

Kathleen O’Connor-BaterChair, Modern LanguagesSUNY Old Westbury During her RPN Award visit, Prof. Kathleen O’Connor-Bater created a highly popular interdisciplinary seminar at the 2014 summer Institute on the nature of cognitive processing o f m e t a p h o r i n t h e communication of ideas. She also explored roles the sound of words play in sensory p e r c e p t i o n a n d p o e t i c language.

Barbara LeSavoyDirectorWomen and Gender StudiesSUNY Brockport Using examples from history, art, film, and literature, Le Savoy’s RPN sponsored 2014 summer Institute seminar cross-culturally examined social construct ions of sex and gender. She later brought eight Women’s and Gender Studies majors from Brockport to interact with Russian peers.

Michaela PorubanovaAssistant Professor, PsychologySUNY Farmingdale Prof. Michaela Porubanova lectured in spring 2015 at an international conference and at t h e St . Pe t e r s b u rg St at e University Department of Psychology through RPN, discussing the effects of short and long term deprivation on visual cognition. She then launched a series of visual cognition experiments with her new-found Russian colleagues.

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RPN NEWSLETTER FALL 2016

RPN SENDS 13 SUNY FACULTY FROM 12 SUNY CAMPUSES TO LECTURE AT 5 RUSSIAN PARTNER INSTITUTIONS

MAUS LECTURES ON COLD WAR SATIRICAL LITERATURE

LESAVOY EXAMINES GENDER EQUALITY ACROSS CULTURES

SCHNEIDER LECTURES ON THE AGE OF HYPERTEXT IN LITERATURE

MEJJIAS BRINGS CRITICAL MEDIA STUDIES TO NYI SUMMER INSTITUTE

O’CONNOR-BATER DISCUSSES COGNITION AND SOUND PERCEPTION

PORUBANOVA CONDUCTS STUDY REGARDING VISUAL COGNITION

James CastracaneProfessorNanobioscience ConstellationSUNY Polytechnic InstituteProf. James Castracane’s spring 2015 RPN Award focused on t h e e m e r g e n c e o f nanotechnology as a major engine driving global research, education, and economic development. Dr. Castracane lectured at St. Petersburg State U n i v e r s i t y a n d m e t w i t h students and colleagues at the St. Petersburg Nanotechnology Research Center.

Heather DeHaanAssociate Professor, History Binghamton UniversityIn addition to the “Modern Cities, Modern Selves” seminar offered through an RPN Award at the 2015 summer Institute, Professor Heather De Haan continues her research on Russian and Soviet cities. She has recently published a monograph about the politics of urban planning in Stalin’s Russia and has conducted a study of neighborhood life in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the Soviet period.

Jonathan TitusProfessor, BiologySUNY FredoniaProf. Jonathan Titus spent 10 days on an RPN Visiting Scholar Award at new RPN partner institution, Astrakhan State U n i v e r s i t y i n Fa l l , 2 0 1 5 , lecturing on Botany in both University and public forums, meeting with students and colleagues, and being featured in local media. SUNY and ASU are pursuing continued joint programs.

Thomas GrafAssistant Professor, LinguisticsStony Brook UniversityProf. Thomas Graf went to the Mathematical Linguistics Dept. at St. Petersburg State as well as the Theoretical Linguistics Dept. at Moscow State, where he lectured on his recent Computational Linguistics research. He also launched discussions of a joint degree in Computational Linguistics between Stony Brook and St. Petersburg universities.

Robert MuhlnickelAssociate Professor, PhilosophyMonroe Community CollegeProf. Robert Muhlnickel’s RPN Award was the first to bring a SUNY scholar to the School of Philosophy at St. Petersburg State University. Muhlnickel gave three open lectures at the Department of Ethics and discussed development of joint SUNY – St. Petersburg courses in the future.

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RPN NEWSLETTER FALL 2016

TITUS FORMS PARTNERSHIP WITH ASTRAKHAN UNIVERSITY

DEHANN BRINGS URBAN STUDIES TO RUSSIAN STUDENTS

POSSIBLE JOINT DEGREE IN COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS

MUHLNICKEL DISCUSSES PHILOSOPHY IN ST. PETERSBURG

CASTRACANE EXPLORES USES OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

“I RETURNED WITH A

GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW OUR WORDS CAN

STIMULATE CURIOSITY BETWEEN OUR COUNTRIES

AND FOSTER GENUINE COMPASSION IN THE

PROCESS.”

- DR. DEREK CRAIG MAUS

“MY TRIP WAS ONE OF THE MOST STIMULATING AND EXCITING WEEKS OF MY

ACADEMIC CAREER.” - DR. STEVEN SCHNEIDER

Nikolay Karkov Assistant Professor, PhilosophySUNY Cortland Prof. Nikolay Karkov, a member of New Left Perspectives, a group of radical intellectuals and activists in Eastern Europe, taught Decolonial Theory in the 2016 summer Institute through an RPN Award. His current work is at the intersection of radical European Marxism and decolonial thought.

John HartsockProfessor of CommunicationSUNY CortlandThe most recent RPN Visiting Scholar Award brought Prof. John Hartsock to the School of Journalism at St. Petersburg State University, with a focus on Literary Journalism and themes of international journalism.

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RPN NEWSLETTER FALL 2016

RPN co-sponsored a two day Colloquium April 17-18, 2015, with Stony Brook's Post-Socialism Research Institute, “The Future(s) of Post-Socialism”, that brought together scholars in anthropology, sociology, literary studies, cultural and cinema studies, economics, political science and history, to engage in a series of conversations on the future(s) of Post-Socialist

societies and of Post-Socialism as a paradigm of scholarly inquiry. RPN sponsored the participation in the Symposium of Prof. Heather DeHaan of Binghamton University (“Baku’s Spatial Imaginaries: The Many Futures of a Contested Past”) and Prof. Robert Saunders of SUNY Farmingdale ('Brand' New States: Post-Socialist Europe/Eurasia, Country Branding, and the Challenges of National Differentiation”). A volume of papers emerging from the symposium will be published in 2017-18.

Together with our partner institution, the St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation (SUAI), RPN co-sponsored the first international Workshop on Music, Language and Computing in April, 2015. The workshop encouraged interdisciplinary

communication and collaboration of linguists, musicians and IT-specialists. It did so with research emphasis

on such problems such as language and music acquisition, understanding language and music connections, and information retrieval. The collected papers have already

been published with Springer. The Second Workshop will take place in April, 2017.

KARKOV LECTURES ON DECOLONIAL THEORY

CONFERENCES SUPPORTED BY THE RPN

HARTSOCK CONNECTS SUNY AND ST. PETERSBURG SCHOOLS OF

JOURNALISM

RPN sponsored participation of two keynote speakers at the bi-annual Anglistika Conference held at the School of Philology and Arts in St Petersburg in January, 2016. Prof. John Payne, from the University of Manchester (UK), and Prof. David Fertig, Professor of Linguistics of the University of Buffalo. Prof. Fertig’s key note address was entitled “Spreading like Wildfire: Morphological Variation and the Dynamics of the Great English Verb Regularization”

“I enjoyed the St. Petersburg project tremendously. The students and professors were delightful.... My

grandmother attended St. Petersburg State--before the Revolution, So for me

it was a pleasure to see the modern version of this lost world I had always

heard about."- Dr. John Hartsock

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RPN SUPPORT FOR SUNY CAMPUSES

RPN NEWSLETTER FALL 2016

RPN has collaborated with the Stony Brook Russian Studies Program to create a SUNY-wide offering of Russian for Heritage Speakers. This course, developed by Dr. Anna Geisherik, is a specialized language class for students from Russian-speaking families who were either born in America or came to the country at a young age and grew up speaking the language. When the Russian language program realized that only a few SUNY campuses offered a Russian heritage course, RPN helped Stony Brook develop the distance-learning component of the class to offer it to other campuses. That is how SUNY New Paltz student Jessica Gubankova became a part of Geisherik’s class in Spring 2014. With parents who were born in Russia, Gubankova grew up speaking the language, and when her previous Russian professor suggested she further her skills with this course she jumped at the opportunity. The course is now available every year, and is running in in 2016-17 with a distance student from SUNY Geneseo.

Professor Sue Books spent her Sabbatical working with students and colleagues in the English Dept at St. Petersburg State University in Fall 2015. New Paltz is also d e v e l o p i n g s t u d e n t exchange initiatives with RANEPO, Russia's largest business school, based in Moscow.

Fredonia's May 2015 travel program to Russia consisted of 18 students and two f a c u l t y, w i t h l o g i s t i c a l support on the ground from RPN.. Professor John Staples, the trip leader, commented “"The difference it makes to have SUNY representatives o n t h e g r o u n d i n S t . Petersburg is immense. One of the greatest challenges of organizing a study abroad program is the on-the-ground logistics. RPN made things happen, quickly and effectively. The success of our trip owes much to the RPN."

Professor Barbara Savoy led eight Brockport students on the Women and Gender Studies Study Abroad trip in July 2016.

Coming Fall 2017!HUR 249

"Russia Today" Introductory Russian culture course to be

made available SUNY-wide!

Brockport Women's and Gender Studies students in St. Petersburg

“Although I do know how to speak [Russian] pretty well, I wanted to become proficient in the language so I can better communicate with

my grandmother.”- Jessica Gubankova, Distance Learner

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SUNY STUDENT PROGRAMS TO RUSSIA, 2017

RPN NEWSLETTER FALL 2016

Summer Intensive Russian Language and Culture Studies Program at Moscow State University Tentative Dates: TBA Application deadline: March 15, 2017 Russian language courses at all levels as well as a Russian Studies seminar taught in English with incorporated excursions. LINKSummer Internship Program in Russia for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Russian Language Students at the Russian Presidential Academy of Public Administration and National Economy in Moscow Dates: TBAApplication deadline: April 1, 2017Intensive Russian language courses at all levels. Students participate in a weekly seminar taught in English on topics about contemporary Russian society. Internship opportunities are available for participants with intermediate or advanced level Russian. LINK

Academic Year Exchange to Moscow State University Application Deadline: April 15 (rolling admission) Russian language at all levels. Russian Studies courses taught in English. Intended for students who are interested in developing their Russian language skills and in pursuing in-depth study of subjects related to Russia. LINK

The College at Brockport with Stony Brook UniversityInternational Summer School in St. Petersburg – Women’s International Summer School in St. Petersburg – Women’s and Gender Studies Dates: July 9-August 7 , 2017 Application Deadline: March 1, 2017 (Rolling Admission)All students participating through The College at Brockport will be taking the seminar entitled Gender on the Edge: Contested Identities and the Making of Difference. LINK

Russian History & CultureDates: May/June 2017 (exact dates TBA) Application deadline: February 20, 2017Instructor-led program where students will learn about Russian history and culture through excursions in St. Petersburg and Russia. The program is open to all majors. All instruction is in English. LINK

Advanced Critical Language Institute for Russian ImmersionDates: 4 week: July 9 – August 7, 2017 6 week: July 4 – August 19, 2017 Application Deadline: March 15, 2017Russian immersion program in St. Petersburg. Beginners through advanced. Russian-only pledge and family stays for advanced students. LINKExplore St. Petersburg!: Russia Cultural Studies with Internship; or Linguistics IntensiveDates: July 9-August 7 Application Deadline: March 15 Interdisciplinary curriculum and internship with a focus on exploring the city through excursions, films, lectures, and other participatory events. Courses in English. LINK

Academic Year and Fall Student Exchange to St. Petersburg State University Application Deadline: Feb 15 Specialization Open. Full-time local study for Russian speakers. Intensive Russian available for others. Select between dormitory housing or family homestay. LINK

Academic Year and Fall Student Exchange Program - State University of Management Application Deadline(s): March 15th; Sept. 15th Students can study in fields such as management, investment management, marketing, human resource management, state and municipal management, economics and production management in national economy. Courses are taught in English. LINK

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RPN NEWSLETTER FALL 2016

NYI MISSION: Create the genuine transnational

classroom with students in face-to-face dialogue from multiple countries (esp. the US,

Russia and other former parts of the USSR)Expose students to academic topics not

represented in their home curricula, such as Critical Cultural and Media Studies, Generative Linguistics

and Cognitive Psychology, PerformanceStudies and others. Provide a unique academic

opportunity for Russian/CIS students without the means to study abroad (NYI brings to

Russia first-tier scholars from leading US institutions, as volunteers)

Since 2003, over 1000 participants from 40 countries

and 50 Russian cities have received NYI completion Certificates. 20+ faculty from the following SUNY

campuses have taught at the Institute: Albany, Binghamton, Brockport,

Buffalo, Cortland, Morrisville, Old Westbury, Oswego, Potsdam,

Purchase, Stony Brook

14TH ANNUAL NEW YORK - ST. PETERSBURG INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS, COGNITION AND CULTURE JULY 11 - 29TH, 2016

Stony Brook Vice-Provost for Global Affairs Jun Liu and St. Petersburg State University’s

Vice-Rector for International Programs Alexander Gogolevsky at the Opening

Ceremony of NYI 14 at the St. Petersburg State University

Faculty of Liberal Arts, July 10, 2016.

The NY-St. Petersburg Institute integrates a diversity

of disciplines into a single, cohesive learning environment that offers both

sustained study of topics that are unusual in the Russian academy, and the opportunity

for students to explore parallel fields with their peers from other countries. The

intensiveness of the environment makes this institute ideal for fostering cross-

national learning and research. -Prof. Gregory Garvey, SUNY

BrockportVISIT NYI.SPB.RU

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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RPN NEWSLETTER FALL 2016

CALL FOR APPLICANTS: RPN SPRING TRAVEL AWARD The SUNY Russian Programs Network (RPN) announces our annual Spring Lecturer’s Travel Award to St. Petersburg, Russia for SUNY faculty. The 2017 Spring Award winner will spend May 19-28, 2017 in St. Petersburg, giving 2-3 lectures at St. Petersburg State University, and a conference presentation at the “On the other side” Cultural Studies conference, (sponsored by the Centre for Independent Social Research), while also engaging in discussion of future SUNY-Russia linkages. This year's themes are Sociology and Critical Cultural Studies, with focus on Sexuality, Gender and Film. Full-time SUNY Faculty in all Humanities and Social Science fields may apply, but in order to be competitive, applicants should demonstrate, explicitly, how they will contribute to this year's designated focus. Past awardees are not eligible. Lectures will be in English. The Award covers international and local travel, visa and registration expenses, accommodation in St. Petersburg, and a cultural program organized by RPN staff. Applicants should send the following materials, electronically, to: Alecia Barbour, Program CoordinatorSUNY Russia Programs Network (RPN)Russia.programs@suny.edu Application We will begin review of applications NOVEMBER 17, 2016 but position will be open until filled.Please use SUBJECT LINE: Last Name, First Name RPN 2017 Spring Travel Award

Please send the following as PDF attachments to your application: • Cover letter and CV describing relevant international experience, interest in lecturing in Russia, and proposal for possible future linkages between your SUNY campus and Russian partner institutions • Titles of 2 general lectures and 1 specialized lecture with short abstracts (proposed lecture topics should be interdisciplinary in nature and international in their scope, wherever possible. General lectures should be accessible to non-specialist audiences) • Title and short abstract of proposed Conference presentation • 2 possible pro-seminar topics with short description (pro-seminars meet twice for 80 minutes each meeting) • Support letter from Department Chair • Scanned copy of passport (and green card or work authorization if not US citizen) Please arrange to have sent separately:• 1 recommendation from a colleague familiar with applicant’s research and teaching Inquiries should be addressed to Alecia Barbour at: russia.programs@suny.edu

FIND OUT MORE http://system.suny.edu/

global/russia/

E-MAIL US

russia.programs@suny.edu

THANKS TO… - SUNY Office of Global Affairs - Office of International Academic Programs and Services, Stony Brook University- St. Petersburg State University- Astrakhan State University- Moscow State University- Dept. of Educational and Cultural Affairs, US Dept of State

Newsletter Design by Hannah Mieczkowski

STAFF Alecia Barbour (NY)Julia Vashtalova (St. P)Elena Zemtsova (St. P)