Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Doctoral Program Profile (PDF) (statistical overview of the SLL Ph.D. program)
Building on the M.A. foundational base, the KU Ph.D. degree program encourages students to develop their particular intellectual interests in collaboration with KU faculty and their areas of specialization. Ph.D. students also learn a second Slavic language and develop knowledge of a secondary field. For their second field we encourage our students to choose from philosophy, linguistics, religion, history, theatre and cinema, literary theory, comparative literature, and folklore.
Two concentrations are offered in the Ph.D. Program:
- Russian Literature
- Slavic Linguistics
Ph.D. students who focus their studies on Russian literature and Slavic linguistics have a full-service curriculum from which to choose their courses. Doctoral students who wish to pursue a Ph.D. concentration in another literature that the department offers, such as Polish, Ukrainian, or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, may develop an individualized program of study in consultation with faculty.
Ph.D. students interested in Russian culture, intellectual history, Slavic folklore, or interdisciplinary themes pursue their studies through the Russian literature PhD concentration.
Ph.D. students interested in working in the field of Slavic language pedagogy pursue their studies through the Slavic linguistics Ph.D. concentration.
For more information about the academic program or about any aspect of the application process, please consult with the Department's Director of Graduate Studies.