When In Russia . The more than decade-old Intensive Russian Program at UC Berkeley attracts students from all over the United States. Dr. Arkady Alexeev, the program director, is a native speaker of Russian who received a Soviet degree equivalent to the Ph.D. in Leningrad followed by an American Ph.D. at U.C. Berkeley in Slavic Linguistics. Communication is the focus of the Summer Intensive Program.
Students are prepared to communicate well in a real Russian environment.
But the Russian Summer Program does not rely on chance contacts. We invite native Russian guest speakers, organize tours of Russian points of interest in San Francisco and the vicinity, and invite students to view Russian exhibits and films. The Intensive Russian Program prepares students for further success in Russian studies. Both courses consist of small course sections supervised and taught by native Russian speakers and advanced graduate student instructors. The program offers students four hours of intensive classwork every day, including special classes in conversation and oral and written drills and grammar exercises.