Awards & Honors

Department Honors and National Honors Societies

Honors program

Slavic majors with a minimum GPA of 3.3 overall and in courses for the major are invited to consult with members of the faculty and the Major Advisor in the spring of their junior year about the honors program and a thesis topic. 

Requirements for the honors program in Slavic include enrollment in the honors thesis course (Slavic H195) to write on a topic of individual interest. The student writes a thesis under the direction of a member of the Slavic Department faculty as thesis director, and one additional faculty member as secondary reader, who also reads the completed thesis (this reader can be from another department). The work on the thesis often begins in Slavic 100: Seminar in Russian/East European/Eurasian Cultures in the Fall and is then continued in H195 in the Spring semester. 

Slavic H195, Honors Thesis Writing, 4 units, does not fulfill Slavic major requirements. The honors thesis is written outside of and in addition to the completed Slavic major requirements. Theses must be submitted by the end of Finals Week of the term, unless an earlier deadline is established. 

Students who complete Slavic H195 graduate with honors in the Slavic Department, noted on their diploma and transcript. 

Slavic Department Honors thesis writers are encouraged to apply for the Townsend Center Honors Workshop for writing support and a research stipend. 

Dobro Slovo National Slavic Honors Society

We are proud to be the Alpha chapter of Dobro Slovo, the National Slavic Honor Society, founded in Berkeley in 1926, the first in North America. Our chapter of Dobro Slovo was established to recognize academic excellence among the students of Slavic, and we keep striving for this now. 

In 1963, with the help and encouragement of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL), Dobro Slovo became the National Slavic Honor Society.  Currently there are over 130 local chapters with a total membership of 6,200.

Dobro Slovo serves as a means for the recognition of academic excellence in the study of Slavic languages, literature, history and culture. The Society serves as an incentive for scholarly interest in Slavic life and culture.

Qualifications for student membership are:

  1. The student must have completed two years (or equivalent at the discretion of theChapter Advisor) of study of a Slavic or related language, with a minimum grade pointaverage of 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) or its letter or percent equivalent in those language classes.

  2. A minimum overall academic average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) or its letter or percentequivalent.

  3. The student must indicate an active and continuing interest in studying Slavic languages, literatures, cultures, and related fields of Slavic studies.

The Chapter Faculty Advisor determines the eligibility of all candidates and invites members in early Spring semesters, and members are initiated in a celebration at the end of the semester.

Members receive: 

  • National recognition for academic excellence 

  • 8 ½ x 11 Membership Certificate (suitable for framing)

  • A Society Pin

  • A black and gold honor cord

Department Citation and Distinguished Minor

Given by the department in recognition of distinguished undergraduate work.

2023: Nareh Aghakhanian
2022: Wyatt Singh
2021: Joseph Staraci
2020: Leonid Elyon
2019: Andrew Kuznetsov
2018: Zora Franicevic
2017: Devon Harris
2016: Justice Hansen
2014: Maya Garcia
2010: John Cadigan
2009: Jason Read Morton
2008: Nataliya Mikhail Rovenskaya
2007: Erin Michael Rectenwald
2005: Anna Maria Laszcz
2004: Nicholas Kotar
2003: Boris Rodin Maslov
2002: Bella Grigoryan
2000: Creelea Henderson
1999: Rebecca Simpson
1998: Maria Gutkin
1997: Irina Lina Ilić
1994: Michelle Ludmilla Pace
1993: Michael Estell
1992: Matthew Wayne Taylor
1990: Marc R. Behremdt
1987: Floyd Mike Miles
1984: Larry P. Joseph
1984: Sylvia Linner Townsend
1983: Frederick Busk Everts
1982: Patricia L. Block
1980: Helen Hyun Soo Hahn
1979: Robert Alexander Nichols
1976: Claudia Ann Waters
1975: Alannah McTighe
1973: Krista Lininger
1970: Jana Eva Rozehnal
1968: Daniel Richard Gold
1966: Christopher Kasparek-Obst
1964: Kenneth Forbes Ackerman
1963: Renate Schilk Bialy
1962: Elona Michele Schatz
1960: Hildegard J. Arnesen
1960: Simon Karlinsky
1958: Marguerite Paqui Barberat
1957: Harlan E. Marquess

Distinguished work in a Slavic Minor

2024: Sasha Chernomorsky
2023: Ruby Marshall
2022: Iman Fahmy; Raquel Kunugi
2021: Yolanda Ye