Valentina Pichugin
Currently
Senior Lecturer of Russian, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago.
Degree
Russian Language Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. Ph.D. Degree in Linguistics (1990).
Professional Experience
2001-present University of Chicago, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. Senior Lecturer of Russian. Teach advanced Russian courses at undergraduate and graduate levels. Coordinate work of drill instructors and teaching assistants of Russian at upper level.
Summer 2007 - Summer 2012 University of Chicago, Graham School. Taught Consecutive and Simultaneous Interpretation course (Russian- English; English-Russian).
Summer 2006 University of Chicago. Graham School. Taught Second Year Russian course.
Summer 2004 University of Pittsburgh Summer Language Institute. Co-directed the program; coordinated work of instructors of Russian; conducted OPI (oral proficiency interviews); taught second and fourth year Russian.
1997-2000 Florida State University, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Assistant Professor of Russian. Taught courses at undergraduate and graduate levels (see chapter “Courses taught”).
1993-1997 Florida State University, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian. Taught courses at undergraduate and graduate levels (see chapter “Courses taught”).
1993-1997 Florida State University, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Coordinator of Russian Second Language Acquisition Program for Teaching Assistants. Created computer database for teaching Russian at undergraduate level (course syllabi, study guides, samples of tests, midterms and final exams for all levels); worked with teaching assistants individually and in groups.
1991-1992 Merkaz Bnos High School, Brooklyn, NY. Hebrew teacher.
Spring 1991 University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Visiting Lecturer.
1987-1990 Russian Language Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. Department of History of Russian Language. Assistant researcher. Part-time lexicographer at the Card Index Catalogue of the Dictionary of Russian Language from the Eleventh to the Seventeenth Century. Consultant at the National telephone service Sluzhba russkogo iazyka (Russian Language Service) at the Academy of Sciences, Moscow (provided general and in depth references on Russian language).
Courses Taught
Language/linguistics courses
First Year Russian, Second Year Russian, Third Year Russian, Advanced Russian; Scientific Russian; Business Russian; Third Year Russian Through Culture; Advanced Russian Through Film; Advanced Russian Through Media; Advanced Russian Through Songs;
Consecutive and Simultaneous Russian-English Interpretation;
Russian Phonetics, Word-formation, Morphology and Syntax;
History of Russian Language;
Old Russian;
Old Church Slavonic;
Historical Linguistics;
Slavic Etymology;
Russian Dialectology;
Czech for Reading Knowledge;
Polish for Reading Knowledge;
Ukrainian for Reading Knowledge;
Reading courses in Russian;
Reading Russian for Research Purposes;
Special Topics in Advanced Russian;
Supervised individualized research projects.
Literature courses
Myth, Parody and Technology in Contemporary Russia
Russian Literature in English Translation (survey course of Russian literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries);
Medieval Russian Literature;
Russian Literature of the Eighteenth Century;
Literary Discourse in Victor Pelevin's Writings
Supervised individualized research projects.
Culture courses
Slavic Culture and Civilization;
Russian Screen-Plays;
Russian (Soviet and Post-Soviet) Film;
Mit’ki as a Cultural Phenomenon.
Second Language Acquisition
Teaching Practicum for Teaching Assistants of Russian.
Conferences and Papers Delivered
2018 Discussant at the Twenty First Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago (April 2018)
2017 "Twenty Years of Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop: People and Numbers". Twentieth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago (April 2017)
2016 Monuments to Medieval Russian History. Nineteenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago (April 2016)
2016 Chaired a panel at the conference “Found in Translation: Russia and the West in Dialogue”. Frankie Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago (April 2016)
2015 “Chicago Course Connection: Experiential Learning Project”. Invited presentation at the Chicago Language Center. University of Chicago (April 2015)
2014 “Medieval Slavic Studies: State of the Field”. Seventeenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic workshop at the University of Chicago.
2013 "Medieval Slavic Studies in Today's Russia." Sixteenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic workshop at the University of Chicago.
2013 Discussant for the Russian film panel at Slavic Forum, Annual Conference on Central and East European Literature, Linguistics and Culture at the University of Chicago.
2012 "Russian Culture 101: From Medieval Times to 2012 in Two Hours" (St. Petersburg, Russia); "Russian Culture 101: Questions and Answers" (Riga, Latvia). Guest lectures at "Changing Tides of History: the Baltic Sea", organized by the University of Chicago Alumni Association.
2011 "A Unique Monument of Medieval Russian BLANK: Rewiring Cultural History through New National Atlas of Russia". Fourteenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago.
2010 "On the Ethnic History of Russia" (Moscow, Russia); "Steaming in Russia: From Apostle Andrew to Boris Yeltsin" (Kizhi, Russia). Guest lectures at the "Waterways of Russia", organized by the University of Chicago Alumni Association.
2010 "On the History of Slavs as a Geopolitical Issue" (Warsaw, Poland); "Slavic Languages at the University of Chicago" (Krakow, Poland); "Golem as a Cultural Phenomenon" (Prague, Czech Republic). Guest lectures at the "Discovering Eastern Europe", organized by University of Chicago Alumni Association.
2010 "On the Concept of Balance: Bloom's Taxonomy and Gagné's Events of Instruction". Guest lecture, "Teaching Slavic Languages" course, University of Chicago.
2010 "Designing Your Syllabus: What Not to Teach From Your Textbook". Guest lecture, "Teaching Slavic Languages" course, University of Chicago.
2010 "Medieval Russian Literature in Post-Soviet Russia". Thirteenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago (April, 2010).
2010 "Teaching Russian Through Fairy Tales: Sleeping Beauty and Beyond". University of Chicago Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies (CEERES), CPS and Office of Language and Cultural Education (OLCE). Invited lecture at the Professional Development for CPS Russian World Language Teachers.
2009 "Life of Ilya Muromets: To Be Continued". Twelfth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago (April, 2009)
2007 “Blagosaga of Happiness”. Tenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago (April, 2007)
2006 “Russian Bath House as Cultural Phenomenon”. Invited lecture at the Summer Institute on Eastern Europe at Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby, IL (May, 2006)
2006 “On the Art of Composition in Zviagintsev’s Film “Return”. Invited lecture at “Contemporary East European Film” class; University of Chicago (May, 2006)
2006 “An Unorthodox Reading of Ecclesiastes: Vanity of Vanities”. Ninth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago. (April, 2006)
2006 Discussant at the panel entitled “Camera Obscura”. Slavic Forum, Annual Conference on Central and East European Literature, Linguistics and Culture at the University of Chicago. April, 2006
2004 “To Teach or Not to Teach: The Language of Swearing in Popular Russian Films”. AAASS National Convention in Boston. December 2004
2004 Discussant at the panel entitled “Balabanov’s film ‘Brother’ and Russian Cinema”. Slavic Forum, Annual Conference on Central and East European Literature, Linguistics and Culture at the University of Chicago. April, 2004
2003 “Verbal Abuse in Russian Children’s Folklore”. AAASS National Convention in Toronto, Canada. November 2003
2003 “A Man and a Woman in Tyutchev’s Poetry” (with Ludmila Fedorova). Presented at the International Conference “Fedor Tyutchev and His Time” sponsored by The University of Chicago Center for East European, Russian & Eurasian Studies. Chicago. May 2003
2002 “Language of Russian Folk Lullabies”. AAASS National Conference in Pittsburgh. Fall 2002
2002 “On the Concept of Miracle in Kiev Crypt Patericon”. Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Conference. University of Chicago. April 2002.
2001 “On the Death of Prince Oleg: Latent Moral of the Story”. Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Conference. University of Chicago. May 2001.
1999 Discussant at the panel entitled “Perspectives on Language: Trope, Phoneme, Text, Internet”. Annual Southern Conference on Slavic Studies in Richmond, VA, March 1999.
1998 “Zhitie of Archpriest Avvacum by Himself: Semiotic Approach to Quotations”. AAASS National Conference in Boca Raton, FL, September 1998.
1998 “Communal Life Vs. Asceticism: Miracle Motifs in Old Russian Literature”. International Slavic Conference at Cambridge University, UK, April, 1998
1998 “Evolution of Russian Ethnic Anecdotes”. 23rd Annual Conference on Film and Literature, Tallahassee, January 1998.
1997 “Saints and Their Miracles in Kievan Cave Patericon”. ATSEEL National Conference in Toronto, Canada, December 1997.
1997 “When a Man Loves a Woman: Textual Analysis of Russian Love Incantations”. 35th Annual Southern Conference on Slavic Studies, Lexington, Kentucky.
1997 “Stylized Old Russian Language in Ivan the Terrible by Sergei Eisenstein”. 22nd Annual Conference on Film and Literature, Tallahassee, Florida.
1996 “Russian Love Incantations: Gender Linguistic Analysis”. AATSEEL National Conference, Washington, D.C.
1996 “On the Names of the Symbols Used in Medieval Russian Chant”. AAASS National Conference, Boston, Massachusetts.
1996 “Components of Verbal Semantics in Nominal Derivatives”. 34th Annual Southern Conference on Slavic Studies, Asheville, North Carolina.
1996 Discussant at the panel entitled “Cultural Aspects of Gender and Genre in Medieval Russia”. 21st Annual Conference on Film and Literature, Tallahassee, Florida.
1995 Discussant at the panel entitled “Old Russian Literature”, AAASS National Conference in Washington, D.C.
1995 “Deverbatives and the Category of Aspect”. Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, Kentucky.
1995 “Terminological Word-Formation in Old Russian: Neumatic Nomenclature”. Annual Southern Conference on Slavic Studies. Mobile, Alabama.
1994 “Russian Surnames of the Seventeenth Century: Sociolinguistic Aspect”. AATSEEL National Conference. San Diego, California.
1990 “The Increase in Use of the Deverbative Model Between the Eleventh and the Seventeenth Centuries”. International Conference on Russian and Slavic Studies, Riga, Latvia.
1989 “Derivational Synonymy in East Slavonic Languages”. National Conference on East Slavonic Languages, Zvenigorod, Russia.
Publications
2017 Co-editor (with Christian Raffensperger) of a special double issue of Russian History Journal 44:2-3, 2017. This is a collection of articles on Medieval Slavic Studies in memory of Norman Ingham.
2017 Twenty Years of the Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop, Russian History Journal 44:2-3, 2017 (co-authored with Christian Raffensperger)
2017 On the Institutional Base of Medieval Slavic Studies in Russia, Russian History Journal 44:2-3, 2017
2017 History of Scholarship. Publication of Norman W. Ingham's lecture at the Davis Center for Russian Studies, Harvard University, April 23, 2004: The Igor' Tale and the Origins of Conspiracy Theory. Russian History Journal 44:2-3, 2017
2011 Second Edition. Advanced Russian Through Film: A Collection of Transcripts And Exercises. Published by the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago and Hermitage Publishers, (book); 178 pp, 2011
2006 On the History of Expression "Vanity of Vanities" in Russian, Russian History Journal 33:2/3/4 (Summer/Fall-Winter 2006)
2005 Advanced Russian Through Film: A Collection of Transcripts And Exercises. Published by the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago and Hermitage Publishers, (book); 178 pp, 2005
2005 A Man and a Woman by Fedor Tyutchev. Russian Literature Journal, No.5418 (co-authored with Ludmila Fedorova)
2000 Gail Lenhoff “Early Russian Hagiography: The Lives of Prince Fedor the Black”, Weisbaden, 1997. Russian Language Journal, 54, nos. 177-179
1998 Russian Language of the End of the Twentieth Century, Russian Academy of Sciences Publisher, 1996 (this is a collective monograph by authors from Russian Academy of Sciences). Russian Language Journal, LII, Nos. 171-173 (1998)
1998 “Neumatic Designations in Old Russian Chant” Palaeoslavica, Cambridge, MA; (VI): 314-330.
1997 Russian Surnames in the Seventeenth Century: Sociolinguistic Aspect. Palaeoslavica, Cambridge, MA; (V): 347-357.
1996 Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature. Slavic Review, Vol. 55-4. 934-935.
1995 Nouns Derived From Verbs Using the Suffix -k(a) in Russian From the Eleventh to the Seventeenth Century. Hermitage Publishers, NJ, 1995, 174 pp. (in Russian). This book was reviewed in Russian Language Journal, L, Nos.165-167 (1996): 310-312; and in Rusistika Segodnia, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moskva, 1998, Nos. 3/4, ss.225-227
1995 Slovoobrazovanie kak deiatel’nost’ by E.Zemskaia. Russian Language Journal, XLIX, Nos.162- 164.
1991 Genesis of Some Homonymic Deverbatives. In Problems in Linguistic Research in the History of East Slavic Languages, Kiev. 103-121 (in Russian).
1990 Deverbatives With the Suffix -k(a) and Their Derivative Synonyms in Russian Manuscripts of the Seventeenth Century. In Research On Russian Historical Grammar and Lexicology, Moscow, Academy of Sciences. 83-94 (in Russian).
1990 Regularities of the Language Evolution. In Izvestiia Akademii Nauk SSSR, OLYA, No.6, 574-575 (in Russian).
1988 Concerning Derivative Synonyms and Variants in Russian Vernacular in the Seventeenth Century. In Actual Problems of Modern Science. Moscowand Sofia, (II):69-80 (in Russian).
Abstracts
2003 A Man and a Woman in Tyutchev’s Poetry. (co-authored with Ludmila Fedorova). In “Fedor Tyutchev (1803-1873) and His Time” International Conference Proceedings. Chicago, May 2003
2002 Language of Russian Folk Lullabies. In AAASS-2002 National Conference Proceedings. Pittsburgh, November 2002.
1997 Saints and Their Miracles in Kievan Crypt Patericon. In AATSEEL-1997 National Conference Proceedings, Toronto, Canada.
1994 Russian Surnames of the Seventeenth Century: Sociolinguistic Aspect. In AATSEEL-1994 National Conference Proceedings, San Diego, California.
1990 The Increase in Use of the Derivative Model Between the Eleventh and the Seventeenth Centuries. In Objective Laws of Linguistic Evolution, Riga, Latvian State University; (in Russian).
1989 General and Special Meanings of Russian Deverbatives With the Suffix k(a) in the Eleventh to the Seventeenth Centuries. In Word-Forms and Nominative Derivation in Slavic Languages, Grodno, Vol. I (in Russian).
1988 Concerning the Semantic Development of the Derivative Model in Old and Middle Russian. In Historical Development and Methods of Language Studying. Sverdlovsk. Vol. I (in Russian).
1988 Derivative Meanings of Abstract Nouns in Russian Business Documents of the Seventeenth Century. In Problems of Derivation and Nomination in Russian Language. Omsk State University.
Professional Service
2018-present Member of the University of Chicago the Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning (CLTL) Professional Development Funding Committee
2017-present Member of the University of Chicago Fulbright Committee
2018 Peer Reviewed a manuscript for Georgetown University Press (May 2018)
2018 Organized and Chaired Twenty-First Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago (April 2018)
2017 Organized and Chaired Twentieth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago (April 2017)
2017-present Doctoral Supervisory Committee for Natalja Czarnecki (Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago).
2016-present Committee member of the University of Chicago Area Disciplinary Committee
2016-2017 Co editor (with Christian Raffensperger) of a special double issue of Russian History Journal 44:2-3, 2017. This is a collection of articles on Medieval Slavic Studies in memory of Norman Ingham.
2016 Organized and Chaired Nineteenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago (April 2016)
2015-2016 Committee member of the University of Chicago Area Disciplinary Committee, September 2015- June 2016
2015-2016 Member of B.A. Honors Committee for Anna Tropnikova. Thesis title “Silence in Otar Iosseliani’s Falling Leaves: An Exploration of Negative Space in Soviet Film History” (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago)
2014 Organized and Chaired Seventeenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago (April 2014)
2013-present Doctoral Supervisory Committee for Erin Franklin. Dissertation title: “A Multi-Modal Account of Turn-Taking in Russian” (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago)
2014 Member of B.A. Honors Committee for Moe Nakayama. Thesis working title “Short Stories of Andrei Platonov” (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago)
2014 Member of B.A. Honors Committee for Joshua Kovensky. Thesis working title “Homo Soveticus” (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago)
2015 Organized and Chaired Eighteenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago.
2014 Organized and Chaired Seventeenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago.
2013-present Doctoral Supervisory Committee for Erin Franklin. Dissertation title: “A Multi-Modal Account of Turn-Taking in Russian” (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago).
2014 Member of B.A. Honors Committee for Moe Nakayama. Thesis title “Productive Catastrophe: Short Stories of Andrei Platonov from the 1930s” (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago).
2014 Member of B.A. Honors Committee for Joshua Kovensky. Thesis title “Trappings of a New Soviet Man” (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago).
2013 Organized and Chaired Sixteenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago.
2012-2013 Member of the Advisory Council. Center for the Study of Languages, University of Chicago.
2012 Expert Assessor for Insight Grants, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
2012 Member of the Language Program Committee, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago.
2010 MA Thesis Committee Member for Theodore Trottman (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, UofC)
2007-2013 Organized and Chaired Tenth - Sixteenth Annual Midwest Medieval Slavic Workshop at the University of Chicago
2006 Organized a panel for the Slavic Forum conference at University of Chicago (April 2006); served as a chair and discussant at the same conference
2005-2006 Thesis Advisor for The Melon Mays Undergraduate Fellow Jonathan Earling (thesis title “The Concept of US versus THEM in Contemporary Russian Film”)
2004 Committee member for Kinga Maciejewska’s M.A. Minor Field of Polish Cinema. (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, UofC)
2004 Honor B.A. Thesis Committee for Mihra Rittmann (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, UofC)
2003 Committee member for Ji Eun Song’s M.A. Minor Field of Russian and Soviet Film. (Department of Slavic languages and Literatures, UofC)
2003 Honor B.A. Thesis Committee for Rachel Purkett (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, UofC)
1999-2000 Doctoral Supervisory Committee (Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, FSU; Tamara Alagova; Degree awarded in May 2000)
1997-1998 Doctoral Supervisory Committee (English Department, FSU; Paul Shepherd; degree awarded in 1998)
1997-2000 Doctoral Supervisory Committee (Ethnomusicology, FSU; Lauri Semms)
1995-1997 Doctoral Supervisory Committee (Ethnomusicology, FSU; Lenora DeCarlo; degree awarded in 1997)
1998-2000 Major Professor and Master Thesis Advisor of the M.A. recipient (Shelbie Legg, Department of Russian and East European Studies, FSU)
1997-1998 Major Professor and Master Thesis Advisor of the M.A. recipient (Karla Etheridge, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics)
1996-1997 Major Professor and Master Thesis Advisor of the M.A. recipient (Ekaterina Popova, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics)
1995-1997 Major Professor of four M.A. recipients, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (FSU)
1998-2000 Member of four M.A. Committees (two at the Department of Modern Languages and two at the Department of Russian and East European Studies)
1994-1997 Member of seven M.A. Committees at the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (FSU)
1999-2000 International Student Committee (FSU)
1999-2000 Advisory Committee to the Vice President for Student Affairs (FSU)
1999 (spring) Merit Evaluation Committee (FSU)
1998 Ad Hoc Merit Criteria Review Committee (FSU)
1997-2000 Undergraduate Program Committee (FSU)
1995-2000 Distance Learning Committee (FSU)
1994-2000 Newsletter and Publicity Committee (FSU)
1996 (spring) Merit Evaluation Committee (FSU)
1995 (spring) Merit Evaluation Committee (FSU)
1995 Teaching Evaluation Committee (FSU)
1995 (spring) Sabbatical Replacement Committee (FSU)
1994 Pedagogy Program Committee (FSU)
1993-1994 Teaching Incentive Program Review Committee (FSU)
1993-2000 National Council of the National Slavic Honor Society “Dobro Slovo”. Chapter Advisor (Florida State University)
Awards
Chicago Course Connection Grant for project entitled “Experiential Learning in Russian Culture Course” (autumn 2014, winter 2015, autumn 2015, winter 2016, autumn 2016, autumn 2017, winter 2018, autumn 2018, winter 2019)
Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning Award (Summer and Autumn 2014).
Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning Award (Summer 2013).
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (Spring 2011).
The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning Awards (Summer 2010, Summer 2013).
College Teaching Innovation Grant, developing new course for advanced Russian. (Spring 2008, Summer 2010)
Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning Award for the project entitled “Digitizing Russian Video for Improved Pedagogical Use”. (Spring 2007; Summer 2007)
Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning Award for the project entitled “Russian Through Film: Annotated Transcripts of Film Clips for Upper Level Russian”. (Summer 2002; Fall 2002)
Florida State University Award for Excellence in Teaching (1996).
Nominated for University Award for Excellence in Teaching (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999)
Recognized as Florida State University “best professor” based on a survey of FSU honor students (1994)
Teaching/Research Merit Salary Promotion, Florida State University (1996, 1997, 1998)
College Research and Scholarship Enhancement Fund’s Grant to fund a research assistant. Book title “Russian Love Incantations: Language, Text, Ritual” (1999-2000)
First-Year Assistant Professor Research Award, Florida State University. Project title “Russian Surnames in the Seventeenth Century Business Documents” (summer 1994)
Honorary Member of the National Slavic Honor Society (April 1998)
Award for best Master degree thesis in the field of linguistics in RSFSR (Russian Federation). Thesis title “Abstract Nouns in Russian Manuscripts of the Seventeenth Century” (1985)
Russian Language Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. Research Grant to conduct scholarly work at Academy of Sciences Archives in Leningrad, Russia (1990)
Language Proficiency
Russian: native
English: fluent
Old Church Slavonic: excellent
Working knowledge of most Slavic languages (Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Slovak, Macedonian)
Classical Greek and Latin: working knowledge
Hebrew: working knowledge
German and French: reading knowledge