Thursday, August 13, 2015
Report on the State of Russian Studies in the US
In January 2015, ASEEES commissioned a study, with support provided by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York, to assess the state of the research and graduate training on Russia in US-based academic institutions. The study, carried out from January through April by Professor Ted Gerber at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, included the following components: an institutional survey of 36 US-based universities that provide graduate-level training in Russian studies, an individual survey of 660 researchers who have conducted work on Russia during the last five years, qualitative interviews of nine current and former US government officials and scholars who work in think tanks, foundations, and networks that focus on Russia in Washington DC, and qualitative case studies of four institutions recognized to be among the top centers for graduate training in Russia-related research.
ASEEES thanks Professor Gerber for conducting the study and authoring a thorough and insightful report. ASEEES is grateful to the Carnegie Corporation for the funding support; to Deana Arsenian at CCNY and the project’s Advisory Committee members for guidance, advice, and feedback; to ASEEES members and other individuals who participated in the institutional and individual surveys and who agreed to be interviewed for the qualitative phase of the project; and to the faculty, staff and students at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, ISEEES at UC Berkeley, the REEI at Indiana University, and the Davis Center at Harvard University for participating in the case studies.
You can also read a summary of the report in the August 2015 issues of NewsNet.