Welcome to the Institute's Website!

The Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies serves as the focal point at the University of California at Berkeley for students and faculty who conduct research and teaching on the geographic region of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Currently the Institute has 45 core UCB faculty members and over 150 affiliated graduate students. Read more...

50 Years of International Education at Berkeley

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the US Department of Education Title VI program, known at its inception as the National Defense Education Act. UC Berkeley has participated in Title VI since its inception and now receives nearly $3.5 million annually in support of its world area centers and language programs. In recognition of the program’s successes and its continued importance to the Berkeley campus, the eight Berkeley Institutes and Centers receiving Title VI funding hosted an event on March 6, 2009, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Title VI. George Breslauer, former director of the Cener of Slavic Studies and expert on Soviet politics, currently serving as UC Berkeley’s Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost, was interviewed for this anniversary and spoke about the importance of Title VI. Read more...
Watch the interview with Vice Chancellor Breslauer here

The New Alumni Challenge

The New Alumni Challenge invites all undergraduate and graduate alumni from the Classes of 2005 through 2010 to participate in a first-ever match that quadruples all contributions up to $1,000. A donation of $25 will equal $100, while $1,000 will increase to $4,000! Every gift you make up to $1,000 — no matter what size — will help preserve the vital programs that directly impact the Berkeley experience. Read more...

Jason Wittenberg receives the APSA's 2009 Biennial Hubert Morken Award

Jason Wittenberg (Political Science) was the recipient of the 2009 biennial Hubert Morken Award for his book, Crucibles of Political Loyalty: Church Institutions and Electoral Continuity in Hungary (Cambridge University Press, 2006).  The Hubert Morken Award is given by the Religion and Politics section of the American Political Science Association for the best publication dealing with religion and politics published in 2006 or 2007. The Institute congratulates Professor Wittenberg on his recent achievment.

Welcome to Berkeley!

We are pleased to welcome our newest visiting researchers at ISEEES. This semester, we will host several visiting student researchers, including Vahram Ter-Matevosayan, who holds a Ph.D. in History from Yerevan State University and is a doctoral student at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is also the Head of the Analytical Centre at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, Armenia. His visit is sponsored by a Fulbright grant, and during his time in Berkeley, he will conduct research on prospects of national security strategies in the South Caucasian Republics. Read more...

Professor Emeritus Simon Karlinsky dies at the age of 84

Our friend and colleague Simon Karlinsky died peacefully at home on July 5, 2009, at the age of 84. A distinguished Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, he taught in Berkeley for over thirty years. It is difficult to imagine the contemporary study of early Russian drama, Gogol', Chekhov, Tchaikovsky, Diaghilev, Russia's gay literature and culture, Stravinsky, Nabokov, Tsvetaeva, and the Russian emigration in general without Simon's pioneering efforts. Read more...