Thomas Garza
Associate Professor — Ed.D., Harvard University, 1987
University Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor and Director, Texas Language Center

Contact
- E-mail: tjgarza@austin.utexas.edu
- Phone: 512-232-9126
- Office: BUR 458
- Office Hours: Fall 2020: MON 2:00pm-3:30pm; TUE 11:00am-12:30pm; and any other times by appointment
- Campus Mail Code: F3600
Interests
Russian language teaching methodology/ Applied linguistics/ Contemporary Russian culture/ The Chechen wars / Post-Soviet youth culture/ Russian popular culture/ Contemporary Russian media/ Performing masculinity in Contemporary Russia & Mexico
Biography
Thomas Jesús Garza is UT Regents' and University Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies and the Director of the Liberal Arts Texas Language Center. He is also Affiliated Faculty in the Program in Comparative Literature, and the Center for Mexican-American Studies.
He teaches Russian language and literature at all levels, foreign language pedagogy, and courses in contemporary Russian culture. He has been traveling to and researching in Russia since 1979 and has lived in Moscow for over five years. A native Texan, Dr. Garza received his doctorate from Harvard University in 1987.
During his thirty-year tenure at the University, he has received numerous prizes for undergraduate and graduate teaching, including the Texas Excellence Award, the President's Associates Award, the Harry Ransom Award, was inducted into the University Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 2003, selected for a Regents Outstanding Teaching Award in 2009 and was named to the Texas Ten by the Texas Exes Alumni Association in 2018.
His current research is on intensive language teaching methods, and cultural portraits of machismo in contemporary Russian and Latino cultures.
Courses
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
44050 • Fall 2021
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:30PM ART 1.102
GC
(also listed as C L 305, EUS 307)
RUS 326 • Vysotsky: His Life & Works
44390 • Fall 2021
Meets MW 10:00AM-11:30AM SZB 286
RUS 380E • Vysotsky: His Life/Works
44400 • Fall 2021
Meets MW 10:00AM-11:30AM UTC 1.136
REE 325 • Bulgakov's Mastr/Margrta-Wb
43860 • Spring 2021
Meets MW 2:30PM-4:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
GCWr
UGS 303 • Russian Sci-Fi-Wb
62090-62160 • Spring 2021
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
GC
ID
RUS 326 • Russian Thru Global Debate-Wb
42805 • Fall 2020
Meets MW 11:30AM-1:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
(also listed as RUS 380E)
REE 325 • Russian/Mexican Men In Pop Cul
43020 • Spring 2020
Meets MW 4:00PM-5:30PM PAR 1
CDGC
(also listed as C L 323, MAS 374, WGS 340)
UGS 303 • Russian Sci-Fi
60045-60115 • Spring 2020
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:00PM FAC 21
GC
ID
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
42720 • Fall 2019
Meets MW 10:00AM-11:30AM BUR 216
GC
(also listed as C L 305, EUS 307)
REE 325 • Bad Lang: Race/Class/Gender
42735 • Fall 2019
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:30PM BUR 212
GC
(also listed as C L 323, MAS 363R, WGS 340)
REE 325 • Russian Fairytales
43590 • Spring 2019
Meets MW 11:30AM-1:00PM BUR 130
GC
(also listed as C L 323)
UGS 303 • Russian Sci-Fi
61920-61995 • Spring 2019
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:00PM FAC 21
GC
ID
REE 325 • Rus Youth Cul:late Sov-Pres
43930 • Fall 2018
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:30PM BUR 130
GC
RUS 326 • Vysotsky: Life And Works
44270 • Fall 2018
Meets MW 10:00AM-11:30AM GEA 127
(also listed as RUS 380E)
REE 325 • Chechnya: Pol/Power/People
44130 • Spring 2018
Meets MW 2:30PM-4:00PM MEZ 1.120
GC
UGS 303 • Russian Sci-Fi
62273-62787 • Spring 2018
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:00PM FAC 21
GCWr
ID
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
44525 • Fall 2017
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM PHR 2.108
GC
(also listed as C L 305, EUS 307)
RUS 326 • Russian Thru Global Debate
44890 • Fall 2017
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM CLA 0.124
(also listed as RUS 380E)
REE 325 • Bulgakov's Master/Margarita
44625 • Spring 2017
Meets MW 2:30PM-4:00PM BUR 112
GC
(also listed as C L 323)
UGS 303 • Russian Sci-Fi
63165-63240 • Spring 2017
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:00PM WCH 1.120
GCWr
ID
REE 325 • Bad Lang: Race, Class, Gender
44520 • Fall 2016
Meets MW 11:30AM-1:00PM CLA 0.126
CDGC
(also listed as AMS 321, C L 323, LIN 350, MAS 374, WGS 340)
REE 386 • New Macho Rus/Mex Pop Cul
44610 • Fall 2016
Meets W 2:00PM-5:00PM BUR 128
(also listed as C L 382, MAS 392, WGS 393)
REE 325 • Russian Fairytales
43720 • Spring 2016
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM UTC 3.134
GC
(also listed as C L 323)
UGS 303 • Russian Sci-Fi
62150-62225 • Spring 2016
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:00PM WCH 1.120
GCWr
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
43735 • Fall 2015
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM MEZ 1.306
GC
(also listed as C L 305, EUS 307)
REE 325 • Russian/Mexican Men In Pop Cul
43750 • Fall 2015
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM BUR 130
CDGC
(also listed as C L 323, MAS 374, WGS 340)
REE 325 • Rus Youth Cul:late Sov-Pres
44200 • Spring 2015
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM BUR 130
GC
(also listed as RUS 330)
RUS 611C • Intensive Russian II
44455 • Spring 2015
Meets MWF 12:00PM-1:00PM GEA 127
RUS 601C • Intensive Russian I
45495 • Fall 2014
Meets MWF 12:00PM-1:00PM BUR 228
REE 325 • Bulgakov's Master & Margarita
45505 • Spring 2014
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM BUR 130
(also listed as C L 323, RUS 360)
REE 345 • Chechyna: Polit/Power/People
45540 • Spring 2014
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM BUR 134
(also listed as SLA 324)
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
45235 • Fall 2013
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM CMA 2.306
Web Enhanced
GC
(also listed as C L 305, EUS 307, SLA 301)
REE 385 • Vysotsky: His Life And Works
45320 • Fall 2013
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM CLA 0.122
(also listed as RUS 326)
REE 325 • Russian Fairy Tales
44815 • Spring 2013
Meets MW 5:00PM-6:30PM MEZ 1.306
(also listed as C L 323, SLA 324)
UGS 303 • Russian Sci-Fi In Lit And Film
64810-64885 • Spring 2013
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:00PM FAC 21
Wr
ID
REE 325 • Bad Lang: Race, Class, Gender
44600 • Spring 2012
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM CAL 100
(also listed as AMS 321, C L 323, LIN 350, MAS 374, RUS 369, WGS 340)
RUS 611C • Intensive Russian II
44965 • Spring 2012
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM PAR 308
UGS 303 • Russian Sci-Fi In Lit And Film
64010-64085 • Spring 2012
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:00PM FAC 21
Wr
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
44440 • Fall 2011
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM CAL 100
GC
(also listed as C L 305, EUS 307, SLA 301)
RUS 601C • Intensive Russian I
44780 • Fall 2011
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM MEZ 1.102
REE 325 • Rus Youth Cul, Gorbachev-Pres
45175 • Spring 2011
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM MEZ 2.124
(also listed as RUS 330)
RUS 611C • Intensive Russian II
45525 • Spring 2011
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM PAR 310
UGS 303 • Russian Sci-Fi In Lit And Film
63945-64015 • Spring 2011
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:00PM FAC 21
REE 385 • Bulgakov's Master & Margarita
44625 • Fall 2010
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM MEZ 2.124
(also listed as C L 323, RUS 360)
RUS 601C • Intensive Russian I
44856 • Fall 2010
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM PAR 310
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
45595 • Fall 2009
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM CAL 100
(also listed as C L 305, EUS 307, SLA 301)
REE 385 • Russia At The Movies
45685 • Fall 2009
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM WAG 112
(also listed as RUS 326)
REE 302 • Russian Sci-Fi In Lit And Film
44695 • Spring 2009
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM CAL 100
RUS 507 • First-Year Russian II
45055 • Spring 2009
Meets MTWTHF 10:00AM-11:00AM CAL 419
REE 385 • Vysotsky: Life And Works
45765 • Fall 2008
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM CAL 422
RUS 506 • First-Year Russian I
46015 • Fall 2008
Meets MTWTHF 10:00AM-11:00AM CAL 221
REE 345 • Chechnya: Polit/Power/People-W
45620 • Spring 2008
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM GAR 0.128
C2
(also listed as REE 385)
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
46560 • Fall 2007
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM CAL 100
REE 381 • Smnr Rus/E Eur/Eurasn Civ/Cul
46670 • Fall 2007
Meets W 3:00PM-6:00PM GRG 316
REE 385 • Bulgakov's Master & Margarita
45308 • Spring 2007
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM MEZ 2.124
REE 325 • Rus Youth Cul, Gorbachev-Pres
46385 • Fall 2006
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM PAR 1
REE 385 • Russia At The Movies
46497 • Fall 2006
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM CAL 422
(also listed as RUS 326)
REE 345 • Chechnya: Polit/Power/People-W
44525 • Spring 2006
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM MEZ 2.124
C2
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
44525 • Fall 2005
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM UTC 3.124
REE 325 • Russian Fairytales
43040 • Spring 2005
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM PAR 1
REE 325 • Bad Boys/Girls In Rus Lit/Film
43985 • Fall 2004
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM PAR 1
RUS 412L • Second-Year Russian II
41775 • Spring 2004
Meets MW 11:00AM-12:00PM GAR 111
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
42580 • Fall 2003
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM UTC 3.124
REE 325 • Russian Fairytales
41745 • Spring 2003
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM PMA 6.104
REE 325 • Rus Youth Cul, Gorbachev-Pres
42420 • Fall 2002
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM PAR 1
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
41550 • Spring 2002
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM UTC 3.110
REE F325 • Contemporary Russian Culture
87605 • Summer 2001
Meets MTWTHF 11:30AM-1:00PM PAR 204
REE 325 • Post-Soviet Youth Culture-W
41245 • Spring 2001
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM BUR 116
C2
REE 302 • Vampire In Slavic Cultures
42282 • Fall 2000
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM WEL 2.312
Awards/Honors
• Liberal Arts Council Teaching Excellence Award, University of Texas (2015)
• Graduate School Diversity Mentoring Fellowship, University of Texas (2013)
• Special Faculty Assignment for Research and Writing of Book Manuscript, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas (2012)
• American Council of Teachers of Russian Service to the Profession Award, American Councils for International Education (2012)
• Service Award, Services for Students with Disabilities, University of Texas (2011)
• Texas Language Technology Center College Research Fellowship, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas (2010)
• Burnt Orange Apple Award for Pedagogy, Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment, University of Texas (2009)
• Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award recipient, inaugural cohort, University of Texas System Board of Regents (2009)
• Mortar Board Honor Society Preferred Professor Award, University of Texas (2006, 2007)
• Elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, University of Texas (2003)
• Silver Spurs Centennial Teaching Award, University of Texas (2003)
• National Award for Post Secondary Teaching, American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (2001)
• Elected to Who’s Who in America (2001)
• Harry Ransom Teaching Excellence Award, Liberal Arts, University of Texas (1999)
• Dean's Fellowship, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas (Spring 1998)
• President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award, University of Texas (1995)
• Texas Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas (1991-92)
Publications
Books
Current Book Project:
Bandits No More: Marginal Masculinities in Contemporary Mexican and Russian Popular Cultures: A cultural reading and critical response, using works from masculinity studies and gender theory, to the filmic, musical, and televised portraits of Russian and Latino men in the 1990s and 2000s, focusing on the parallel cultural shift in both Russian and Mexican cultures from traditional “macho” male roles, to an intellectualized, “feminized” new machismo of the new millennium. Examples drawn from cultural products – film, television, popular music, and press – from the last twenty years offer evidence of a palpable shift in the popular presentations and consumer perceptions of machismo in these two diverse cultural environments.
Other Books:
Russian Stage One: Live from Russia! Volume One

Thomas Garza - Contributor
D.E. Davidson, M.D. Lekic, and K. Gor, in collaboration with I. Dubinina, T. Garza, and N. Vanyushkina, Dubuque
August 2008
Kendall Hunt Publishing
Russian Stage One: Live from Russia! Volume Two
Thomas Garza - Contributor
D.E. Davidson, M.D. Lekic, and K. Gor, in collaboration with I. Dubinina, T. Garza, and N. Vanyushkina, Dubuque
2009
Kendall Hunt Publishing
Breakthrough! American English for Speakers of Russian, Level 1

Thomas Garza
with Lapidus, Barchenkov, and Tolkacheva, Russian-American Collaborative Project on the English Language, D.E. Davidson and I.I. Khaleeva
1995
American Councils for International Education
Fundamentals of Russian Verbal Conjugation for Students and Teachers: A Dictionary/Handbook of the One-Stem System with Commentaries
Growing Up in America
Thomas Garza
With Diane Warshawsk
textbook to accompany video tapes in the In America English language series
International Horizons, Inc.
1985
Rockin' in America
Thomas Garza
With Alan Turri
Textbook to accompany video tapes in the In America English language series
International Horizons, Inc.
1985
Then and Now in America
Thomas Garza
With Alan Turri, Cheryl Pavlik, and Victoria Kimbrough
Textbook to accompany video tapes in the In America English language series
International Horizons, Inc
1985
Edited Volumes
Slavic Blood: The Vampire in Russian and East European Cultures: Course Reader. Contributing editor, translator, and compiler. San Diego: University Readers Publishers, 2018, 417 pp. Second edition.
The Russian Fairy Tale: Course Reader. Contributing editor, translator, and compiler. San Diego: Cognella Publishers, San Diego, 2013. 287 pp.
The Vampire in Slavic Cultures: Course Reader. Contributing editor, translator, and compiler. San Diego: University Readers Publishers, 2009, 573 pp.Revised and expanded version with on-line supplement published by Cognella Publishers, San Diego, 2010. 584 pp.
The Russian Mosaic: An Exploratory Course in Russian Language, Culture, and Area Studies. Contributing editor, with Mark Hopkins, materials preparation.Modular course materials, PowerPoint presentations, CD, DVD and Teacher’s Guide for six-week familiarization program for secondary schools. University of Texas at Austin, 2011.
Russian for Dummies: A Reference for the Rest of Us, Technical editor for all textual materials and audio recording transcripts, New York: John Wiley & Sons Publications, 2006, 363 pp. + CD.
Тренируйте английский самостоятельно [Practice English on Your Own], Technical editor for all linguistic exercise materials, cultural information, illustrations, transcripts, and digital audio recordings, Vysshaya shkola Publishers: Moscow, 1999, 176 pp. + audio tapes.
Proficient Programs for Proficient Students: Proceedings of the UT/NEH Symposium on the Teaching of Russian Language and Culture in US Secondary Schools, volume of selected seminar participants’ contributions in teaching Russian in secondary and post-secondary education; co-edited with Michael R. Katz. University of Texas at Austin, 1996, 121 pp.
Visions for the Future: Proceedings of the First Soviet-American Symposium on Theoretical Problems of Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, contributing co-editor with A.A. Barchenkov, Rema Press, Moscow, 1992, 112 pp. Published simultaneously in a Russian-language version as Глядя в будущее: Первый советско-американский симпозиум по теоретическим проблемам преподавания иизучения иностранных языков. A. Barchenkov and T. Garza, eds., Rema Press, Moscow, 1992, 128 pp.
Serbo-Croatian: Basic Course, vols. 1 and 2, writing team project director and contributing text editor, Foreign Service Institute, School of Language Studies, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C., 1990, 443 pp. and 426 pp. + digital audio and testing/assessment supplements. Published simultaneously in Latinate variant as Croato-Serbian: \Basic Course, vols. 1 and 2, with digital audio and testing/assessment supplements.
Articles
“Славянские вампиры в Техасе: задачи и методы вампироведения [“Slavic vampires in Texas: Issues and methods of vampire studies”] with Yekaterina Cotey [50% contribution], Библиотечное дело [Library Matter], no. 4 (214), 2014, pp. 16-20.
“From Russia with blood: Imagining the vampire in contemporary Russian popular culture,” in The Universal Vampire Series Vol. 1: Origins and Evolution of a Legend. Barbara Brodman and James Doan, eds., Farleigh Dickinson University Press, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2013, pp. 195-208..
“Keeping it real: Intensive instruction and the future of Russian language and culture in the US,” Special Symposium in Traditions and Transitions: Russian Language Teaching in the United States, Special issue of Russian Language Journal, vol. 63, 2013, pp. 7-24.
“Blogging and tweeting and chat, oh my! Social networks and classroom culture, and foreign language instruction” Special Volume: Festschrift for Richard D. Brecht, Russian Language Journal, vol. 60, 2011, pp. 125-140.
“Class, please open your browser: Social networking in the language and culture classroom,” in «Мост: Язык и культура», Dobroljubov Pedagogical University, Nizhny Novgorod, Spring No. 15, 2010, pp. 103-108. Published concurrently as revised and expanded article in conference proceedings for the Russian Humanities University conference on the American cultural scene, Moscow Russia, 2010.
“(Un)Chained melodies: Russian music videos in web-based language and culture instruction,” in Mnemosynon: Studies on Language and Culture in the Russophone World, R.D. Brecht, L.A. Verbitskaya, M.D. Lekic, and W.M. Rivers, eds. Moscow: Azbukovnik, 2009, pp. 313 - 330.
“Не трожь молодёжь! [Don’t touch the youth!]: A Portrait of Urban Youthspeak and “From Aga Khan to dim sum: New Russia’s Asian appetite,” Ulbandus: The Slavic Review of Columbia University, vol. 11, 2008 pp. 1-22.
“Conservative vanguard? The politics of New Russia’s youth,” Current History, vol. 105, no. 693, October 2006 pp. 327-333.
“From Aga Khan to dim sum: New Russia’s Asian appetite,” Ulbandus: The Slavic Review of Columbia University, vol. 11, 2008 pp. 1-22.
''€Russian Music and Dance,''€ [invited book chapter] in Russian Common Knowledge, Genevra Gerhart and Eloise Boyle, eds., Bloomington: Slavica Publishers, 2001. 62 pp.
''€Getting from Gorbachev to Grunge: Constructing Ethnographic Portraits to Introduce Contemporary Russian Culture,''€ The Learning and Teaching of Slavic Languages and Cultures: Toward the 21st Century, Olga Kagan and Benjamin Rifkin, eds. Bloomington: Slavica Publishers, 2000. pp. 61 - 80.
“Какова цена овладения языком? Преподавание русского языка в заре движения за полное овладение языком” [“What price proficiency? Russian language instruction in US universities in the wake of the proficiency movement”]; published simultaneously in Russian and English versions in Преподавание русского языка и литературы в США and Teaching Russian Language and Literature in the US, vol. 2, Delbert Phillips, ed. Syntaxis Press, Moscow, 1996, pp. 52-63.
“Privilege, or noblesse oblige of the nonnative speaker of Russian? A response to Claire Kramsch's 'The privilege of the nonnative speaker'” in The Sociolinguistics of Foreign-Language Classrooms, AAUSC Annual Volume, C. Blyth, ed. Boston: Heinle and Heinle, 2003 pp. 273-276.
“Foreign language reading anxiety,” [33% contribution] with Yoshiko Saito and Elaine K. Horwitz, Modern Language Journal, vol. 83, no. 2, Summer 1999 pp. 202-218.
“Inter-level articulation: Toward a process-focused model for Russian language programs,” with John Watzke [50% contribution], Slavic and East European Journal, vol. 41, no. 2, Summer 1997, pp. 105-125.
“The imagination and CD-ROM: Multimedia language and culture instruction” in Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning, vol. 3, Coreil and Napoliello, eds. Jersey City State College, 1996, pp. 36-40.
“The message is the medium: Using video materials to facilitate foreign language performance,” Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education, The University of Texas at Austin, vol. 2, no. 2, 1996, pp. 1-18.
“Authentic contact with native speech and culture at home and abroad,” with Robert Frye [50% contribution], in Teaching Languages at College: Curriculum and Content, Wilga M. Rivers, ed., National Textbook Company, 1991, pp. 225-243. Also translated into Japanese for 1995 Tokyo edition.
“Beyond MTV: Music videos as foreign language text,” in Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning, vol. 2, Coreil and Napoliello, eds. Jersey City State College, 1994, pp. 106-111.
“Cultural literacy, video, and the foreign language classroom,” in Visions for the Future: Proceedings of the First Soviet-American Symposium on Theoretical Problems of Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, A. Barchenkov and T. Garza, eds. Rema Press, Moscow, June 1992, pp. 40-47. Author's translation published simultaneously as “Введение культурной граммотности в обучение иностранным языкам,” in Глядя в будущее: Первый советско-американский симпозиум по теоритическим проблемам преподавания и изучения иностранных языков. A. Barchenkov and T. Garza, eds. Rema Press, Moscow, June 1992, pp. 44-52.
“Evaluating the use of captioned video materials in advanced foreign language learning,” Foreign Language Annals, vol. 24, no. 3, May 1991, pp. 239-258.
“Лучше раз увидеть...? Видео в обучении иностранным языкам” [“Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Video in Foreign Language Study”] with Maria D. Lekic [50% contribution], Русский язык за рубежом [Russian Language Abroad], no. 3, 1990, pp. 71-76.
“Применение видеоматериалов с титрами на продвинутом этапе обучения русскому языку,” [“Using Captioned Video Materials in Teaching Advanced Russian”], in American Contributions to the 7th International MAPRIAL Congress, D. E. Davidson, ed. ACTR Publications, Washington, D.C., 1990, pp. 107-121.
“What you see is what you get... Or is it? Bringing cultural literacy into the foreign language classroom through video,” Georgetown University Roundtable on Languages and Linguistics, James E. Alatis, ed., Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C., 1990, pp. 285-292.
“Language and the computer,” in Language and the World of Work in the Twenty-First Century, symposium proceedings of the Bureau of Transitional Bilingual Education, Massachusetts Department of Education, 1986, pp. 38-40.
“Beyond Lozanov: The Intensive Method as a practical application of suggestopaedia in foreign language teaching,” in On TESOL '84: A Brave New World for TESOL, Washington, DC, Winter 1984, pp. 203-213.
Book Reviews
After Newspeak: Language, Culture, and Politics in Russia from Gorbachev to Putin. In Slavic and East European Journal. Fall 2014, vol. 58, no. 2. [In press].
Fangs of the Lone Wolf: Chechen Tactics in the Russian-Chechen Wars 1994-2009. In The Russian Review, October 2014. vol. 73, no. 4. [In press].
The Quest for an Ideal Youth in Putin’s Russia I: Back to Our Future! History, Modernity and Patriotism according to Nashi, 2005-2012. In The Russian Review, October 2013. vol. 72, no. 4. pp. 724-726.
The Quest for an Ideal Youth in Putin’s Russia II: The Search for Distinctive Conformism in the Political Communication of Nashi, 2005-2009. In The Russian Review, October 2013. vol. 72, no. 4. pp. 726-728.
The Monkeys Are Coming: Russian Drama of the 1920s. Michael A. Green, Jerome H. Katsell, and Stanislav A. Shvabrin, eds. and trans. In The NEP-Era: Soviet Russia 1921-1928, vol. 7, 2013, pp. 71-74.
Сетевые разговоры: культурвые коммуникации в Рунете [Web Conversations: Cultural Communication on Runet]. In The Russian Language Journal. vol. 63, 2013, pp. 311-314.
Singing the Self: Guitar Poetry, Community, and Identity in the Post-Stalin Period, Rachel S. Platonov. In Slavic and East European Journal. Winter 2013, vol. 57, no. 4. pp. 690-691.
Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost the Cultural Cold War, Kristin Roth-Ely. In History: Reviews of New Books. December 2012, vol 41, no. 1. pp. 24-25.
Vampire Nation: Violence as Cultural Imagery, Tomislav Z. Longinovic. In Slavic and East European Journal. Fall 2012, vol. 56, no. 3. pp. 489-491.
Television and Culture in Putin’s Russia. Stephen Hutchings and Natalia Rulyova, eds. In Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue canadienne des slavistes. May-June 2012, vol. 54, nos. 1-2, pp. 224-225.
New Approaches to Slavic Verbs of Motion, Victoria Hasko and Rachel Perlemutter, eds. In Slavic and East European Journal. Fall 2011, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 144-145.
From Poets to Padonki, Ingunn Lunde and Martin Paulsen, eds. In Slavonica, vol. 16, No. 2. November 2010, pp. 46-48.
Slayers and Their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead. Bruce A. McClelland. In Slavic and East European Journal. Fall 2010, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 561-562.
Vampire Lore: From the Writings of Jan Louis Perkowski. Jan L. Perkowski. In Slavic and East European Journal. Spring 2009, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 133-134.
Worlds Apart: An Anthology of Russian Fantasy and Science Fiction. Alexander Levitsky, ed. and trans. In Slavic and East European Journal, Winter 2008, v. 52, n.4, pp. 618-620.
Культурные исследования: Сборник научных работ [Cultural Studies: A Collection of Essays]. Etkind and P. Lysakov, eds., in The Russian Review, vol. 64, no. 4, October 2008, pp. 722-723.
Under the Sky of My Africa: Alexander Pushkin and Blackness. C. Nepomnyashchy, N. Svobodny, and L. Trigos, eds., in Slavic and East European Journal, Winter 2007, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 788-789.
Alien Visions: The Chechens and the Navajos in Russian and American Literature. Margaret Ziolkowski, in Slavic and East European Journal. Winter 2006, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 707-708.
Beyond the Color Line and the Iron Curtain: Reading Encounters Between Black and Red 1922-1963. Kate Baldwin, The Comparatist. May 2004, vol. XXVIII, pp. 179-181.
Up from Bondage: The Literatures of Russian and African American Soul. Dale Peterson, in The Comparatist. May 2002, vol. XXVI, pp. 152-154.
Media
The Popularity of Vampires in the 21st Century
"Dracula" and the evolution of vampires in pop culture
The Slavic Vampire
October 30, 2013
Death of Adopted Russian Toddler Puts Texas in the Middle of Russian Political Drama
Interview with Houston Chronicle
February 20, 2013
Teaching about Vampires as an Introduction to Cultural Studies
Interview on “Diary of An Amateur Vampirologist
September 2011
The Family of the Vurdalak
October 2009
In Search of the Truth: Vampires
Good Morning America, ABC television interview and subject expert
March 26, 2009
Twilight
Interview with ShelfLife@Texas,
University of Texas at Austin, College of Liberal Arts
January 2009
Shipwreck of the Black Sea
October 27, 2008
True Bloodlines: A New Type
Feature documentary for HBO Productions “True Blood” television miniseries
September 2008
True Bloodlines: Vampire Legends
Feature documentary for HBO Productions “True Blood” television miniseries
September 2008
’30 Days of Night’: First Look
Attack of the Show, G4 Network
October 2007
Vampire Featurette
For Sony/Columbia Picture’s film 30 Days of Night on Movieweb
October 2007
The Vampire on Film
For Sony/Columbia Picture’s film 30 Days of Night on Movieweb
October 2007
The Vampire and the Slavs
Take 5: Faculty Insights in Brief
2006
Web-Based Materials
“Surfing the Russian Net: Tools and Materials for Conducting Basic Internet Research in Russian,” Web-based tutorials funded through FAST-Tex, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas, 2010-2011. Available as online OER as “Café Russia: Get Ready, Get Set, Go!”
http://laits.utexas.edu/cafe-russia/
“Culture in Foreign Language Teaching: The Fifth Skill,” teacher training module for on-line methods course, funded through the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services and the Texas Language Technology Center, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas, 2008-2010.
http://www.coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/culture/
“The Language Teacher,” teacher training module for on-line methods course, funded through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services and the Texas Language Technology Center, College of Liberal
Arts, University of Texas, 2008-2010.
http://www.coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/teacher/
“Teaching with Different Orthographies,” teacher training module for on-line methods course, funded through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services and the Texas Language Technology Center, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas, 2008-2010.
http://www.coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/writing/01/orthographies.php
“Retro Russian,” a multi-level proficiency-based online program for using vintage music video to introduce Russian culture and history while practicing relevant language, in collaboration with Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services and the Texas Language Technology Center, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas, 2009-2010.
http://coerll.utexas.edu/rr/retro/
“Viewing for Proficiency: Using Video Materials in Concert with Russian language textbook project Live from Russia!” an on-line guide for teachers using authentic video in teaching Russian, in conjunction with the Russian: Stage One textbook project, 2008.
http://www.livefromrussia.org/content/teacher/docs/Video%20Guide.pdf
“Rockin’ Russian,” a multi-level proficiency-based Russian language and culture instruction program online, based on contemporary Russian rock music videos with level-relevant exercise materials, in collaboration with Liberal Arts
Instructional Technology Services and the Texas Language Technology Center, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas, 2007-2008.
http://coerll.utexas.edu/rr/index.html
“Russian History Online: The Khrushchev Years,” a collaborative multimedia cultural history project with the University of Texas at Austin, Moscow State University and Abamedia, LP, with substantial funding from the Carnegie Foundation, 2005.
http://russianarchives.com/rho/index.html
Undergraduate Courses
LANGUAGE COURSES
RUS 601C Intensive First Year Russian I
Course Description
Добро пожаловать! Welcome to the Russian 601c – an intensive and unique adventure in language acquisition! This course is designed to bring you quickly to functional proficiency in the language and culture of one of the most influential and important regions of the world. More that 200 million people in the former Soviet Union, and an additional 150 million throughout the world, speak Russian. It is the language of some of the world’s greatest literature: Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pasternak, Bulgakov, Nabokov, Gorky, and Solzhenitsyn, among others. It is the culture of some of the greatest scientists and innovators in the West: Lomonosov, Mendeleev, Pavlov, and Gagarin. And it is the country of some of most influential politicians of the Twentieth Century: Lenin, Stalin, Gorbachev, and Putin. As the most recent addition to the G8 summit meetings, Russia is fast becoming a major player of the global economy. The major cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg attract thousands of tourists, businesspeople, and students each year, including a sizeable number of summer students from UT on our program “Moscow Plus.” We hope you’ll be among them next summer!
Course Content: This course is the first semester of intensive Russian language instruction developing functional proficiency in listening, speaking, and reading. Writing will be developed primarily through workbook and computer-based home assignments. We will cover all of
Volumes One and Two of the textbooks, Units One through Unit Fourteen, spending about one week on each unit. In addition, this course aims to develop computer literacy skills – in Russian – for you to be truly functional and competitive in the language.
RUS 326 Russia at the Movies: 1936-1979
Course Description
So you know a lot of grammar and words; you’ve maybe even already been to Russia. Now what? This course is the seventh semester of Russian language instruction developing proficiency in listening and speaking through exposure to authentic Russian print, audio and video materials based on Russian cinema classics! You will have the opportunity to express yourself in a wide variety of discourse genres including persuasion (e.g., convince your friend to watch "Ирония судьбы" with you), oration (e.g., give a speech in a Russian school on your favorite American film), and explication (explain to a Russian in Moscow why Tarkovsky is a better director than Mikhalkov). The classic Russian films themselves will provide a variety of related Russia realia (print, video, audio) to supplement the themes of each film to enhance your communication skills. The films covered in the course are: "Цирк," "Золушка," "Летят журавли," "Иван Васильевич меняет профессию," "Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!" "Москва слезам не верит, and "Осенний марафон. The course is conducted entirely in Russian – of course! Итак, давайте пойдём в кино!
LOWER DIVSION COURSES
Fall 2011 SLA 301/REE 302/C L 305/EUS 307 “The Vampire in Slavic Cultures”
Eight hundred years before Bram Stoker gave us the West's most memorable vampire in Dracula (1897) and long before the exploits of Vlad "the Impaler" Tepes horrified Europe (1431-46), the Russian Primary Chronicles write of a Novgorodian priest as Upyr' Likhij, or Wicked Vampire (1047). The Slavic and Balkan worlds abound in histories, legends, myths and literary portraits of the so-called undead, creatures that literally draw life out of the living.
This course examines the vampire in the cultures of Russia and Eastern Europe, including manifestations in literature, religion, art, film and common practices from its origins to 2011. Texts – both print and non-print media – will be drawn from Russian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Serbian and Croatian sources. Participants will be asked to separate historical fact from popular fiction, and form opinions about the place of the vampire in Slavic and East European cultures.
The course is conducted in English. No knowledge of Russian required, though readings in Russian and other Slavic languages are available for majors and concentrators in these related fields.
UPPER DIVSION COURSES
RUS 330/REE 325 From Gorbachev to Grunge: Russian Youth Culture
Course Description
The social and political upheaval that shook the Soviet Union in the late 1980s has fascinated and intrigued the Western media and analysts to the present day. But how well do we understand the causes and effects of the dramatic social, political, and cultural changes that mark the landscape of the new Russia of the 1990s and the 2000s? What role did Russia’s youth play in the historic transformation of their country? And do UT's “millennials” have anything to learn from the Soviet experience of a disenfranchised generation of Young Marxists choosing to embrace Capitalism and Coldplay instead of Communism and Cold War?
This course will provide participants with the original source materials to construct an ethnographic portrait of Russia’s contemporary youth and their culture, drawing from a variety of print, audio, and video sources. In addition to reading extensively from diverse genres, including the Russian press, editorials, contemporary prose, and non-fiction, students in the course should be prepared to immerse themselves in the rich and creative non-print media coming directly out of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg in the wake of post-Soviet reforms. Using popular depictions of Russia’s own “twentysomethings” from recent films, documentaries, news sources, rock music lyrics, and art, students will try to come to understand how the youth movement affected and continues to affect the changing course of one of the world’s superpowers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Readings and media presentations in the course will focus on the current attitudes of Russian youth toward politics, music, drugs, sex, money and the military from the period of Gorbachev’s perestroika to 2015. This course will be conducted -- as much as possible – as an interactive large seminar, with student participation constituting a significant part of the usual "lecture" quotient of the course. Though all required readings for the course are in English, additional readings or original texts in Russian for majors and graduate students in Slavic studies and/or related fields will be made available by topic.
This course carries the Global Cultures flag. Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States, such as Russians. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of Russia, past and present.
RUS 360/CL 323/REE 385 Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita: A Source Study
Course Description
Stalin’s Moscow, 1936, The Devil and his gang have come to the mortal world to determine how Mankind is faring in the 20th century. He encounters a motley crew of Soviet bureaucrats, writers, politicians and arts who offer little hope for the future. Enter the “Master”, an unknown writer struggling to finish a novel about the life of Christ told from the perspective of Pontius Pilate. Can one writer and his work be reason enough to prevent the apocalypse? Enter Margarita, the Master’s selfless companion and heroine of Mikhail Bulgakov’s masterpiece, The Master and Margarita. Regarded by many readers and critics as one of the greatest novels of our time, The Master and Margarita is a fixed part of Russian culture. This course will explore not only the intricacies of the novel itself, but also its place among Bulgakov’s other literary works, and its varied sources from world literature, music and the visual arts. More importantly, it reveals the brilliance and complexities of art created under a strict totalitarian regime. This course will examine—within the Stalin-era Soviet context—the texts and philosophies that significantly influenced Bulgakov in the creation of his novel. You will examine these various texts (philosophical treatises, stories, folklore, plays, paintings, opera, and films) and discover the ways that they influenced the shape of the novel and how they appear within the dual story lines and the numerous characters. Ultimately, the course will allow you to reexamine your own philosophy of good and Evil in the 21st century.
Graduate Courses
REE 385 Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita: A Source Study
Course Description
Stalin’s Moscow, 1936, The Devil and his gang have come to the mortal world to determine how Mankind is faring in the 20th century. He encounters a motley crew of Soviet bureaucrats, writers, politicians and arts who offer little hope for the future. Enter the “Master”, an unknown writer struggling to finish a novel about the life of Christ told from the perspective of Pontius Pilate. Can one writer and his work be reason enough to prevent the apocalypse? Enter Margarita, the Master’s selfless companion and heroine of Mikhail Bulgakov’s masterpiece, The Master and Margarita. Regarded by many readers and critics as one of the greatest novels of our time, The Master and Margarita is a fixed part of Russian culture. This course will explore not only the intricacies of the novel itself, but also its place among Bulgakov’s other literary works, and its varied sources from world literature, music and the visual arts. More importantly, it reveals the brilliance and complexities of art created under a strict totalitarian regime. This course will examine—within the Stalin-era Soviet context—the texts and philosophies that significantly influenced Bulgakov in the creation of his novel. You will examine these various texts (philosophical treatises, stories, folklore, plays, paintings, opera, and films) and discover the ways that they influenced the shape of the novel and how they appear within the dual story lines and the numerous characters. Ultimately, the course will allow you to reexamine your own philosophy of good and Evil in the 21st century.
Curriculum Vitae
Profile Pages
- Home
- Courses
- Awards/Honors
- Publications
- Media
- Web-Based Materials
- Undergraduate Courses
- Graduate Courses