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Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Department of Languages & Literatures

Russian - St Basil

Programs of Study



A Russian degree can lead to careers in government, business, nonprofits, publishing, education, research and development, the arts and more. Here's why:

  • Russian is the fifth most spoken language in the world, with 277 million speakers.
  • The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. It contains much of the world's natural resources, including roughly one quarter of the world's liquid fresh water and more than one fifth of the world's forests.
  • Russia is an energy superpower, controlling the world's largest natural gas reserve, the second-largest coal reserve and the eighth-largest oil reserve.
  • Russia is one of the five officially recognized nuclear weapons states, and possesses the world's biggest store of weapons of mass destruction.
  • Russian culture is powerful, mysterious and rich in great literature, music and film, but much of it is lost in translation. Speaking Russian will enable you to explore treasures that are inaccessible to most Westerners.
  • The Russian language is recognized as a strategic language by the US government, and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.


Graduates of the University of Denver's Russian program have gone on to build successful careers in a variety of fields. Our alumni have been admitted to prestigious graduate programs, joined the Peace Corps, and received grants such as the Fulbright and the Critical Language Scholarship.

The success of our graduates can be attributed to our program philosophy:

  1. We teach the Russian language using powerful analytical and communicative methods—this will help you attain advanced knowledge of Russian by the time you graduate.
  2. We offer a broad range of interdisciplinary courses that will give you an in-depth insight into Russian culture.
  3. Study abroad opportunities are rich with variety, including partnerships with institutions in Saint Petersburg, Irkutsk, Vladivostok and Kiev (Ukraine).
  4. We cooperate with other programs at DU to help our students earn dual degrees in Russian plus another discipline, such as international studies, international business, intercultural communications, English, history or another foreign language.