University Center for International Studies Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies
University Center for International Studies Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies

 

STARTALK

  1. Outreach
  2. STARTALK

PITT STARTALK 2025: Modern Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Cybersecurity

The Pitt STARTALK Russian Program will be administered by the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (REEES), offering an intensive three-week residential Russian language summer camp from June 23 to July 12, 2025. The curriculum will be based on the theme “Modern Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Cybersecurity” through which students will be introduced to various topics related to computer studies, computer-assisted language learning, Internet culture, cybersecurity, machine learning, etc. in the target language (Russian). The language curriculum will be performance-based, content-based, and student-centered, developing language skills in all modes required for successful communication—speaking, listening, reading, and writing, with a goal of ACTFL Intermediate High proficiency for students in Group 1 and Advance Low to Advance Mid for students in Group 2.  Other anticipated outcomes include the students’ increased cultural competence and professional career readiness in a number of fields such as cybersecurity, data analysis, computational linguistics, digital humanities, and many more. The program is for 20 students entering first year in college through the senior year, both second language learners and heritage speakers, providing a total of 120 instructional hours.  Besides working closely with the School of Computing and Information at Pitt and their students, REEES will partner up with other universities which have strong focus on technology, computer sciences, and cybersecurity and offer Russian language classes and/or Russian Major/Minor to recruit participants, while also accepting applications from students at other U.S. colleges.

Requirements and eligibility
Undergraduate students from US colleges, with at least four semesters of Russian or Intermediate Mid through Intermediate High level of language proficiency, including heritage speakers, are eligible to apply.  All STARTALK participants are required to participate in all language classes and cultural activities from the beginning to the end of the program.

Dates
June 23 - July 12, 2025

Cost
The Pitt Russian STARTALK program is free of charge to accepted students (including instructions, instructional materrials, meal and board, and excursions). 

A Sample of Weekly Schedule of Classes & Cultural Activities
 

 

 

Olga Klimova, Program Director

Dr. Olga Klimova currently works as an Associate Teaching Professor and Director of the Russian Program at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Russian Literature, Language, and Culture from Pitt, an M.A. in Popular Culture from Brock University, Canada, and an MS.Ed in Instructional Technology from Duquesne University. She has been teaching Russian language, literature, and culture courses in Pitt's Slavic Department since 2005. She has also taught a variety of language, literature, and culture courses at Carnegie Mellon University, Brock University, Mercyhurst University, Chatham University, and Washington and Jefferson College. Dr. Klimova is a certified ACTFL OPI tester and WPT tester and also a regional chair for the ACTR Olympiada of Spoken Russian. She has received extensive training in second language teaching methodologies, educational technologies, and online teaching at Pitt, Duquesne University, CARLA Institute at the University of Minnesota, and the University of Hawaii, and participated in a few STARTALK teacher training summer programs. 
 

Among her interests are language curriculum development, instructional technology integration, community-based language learning, visual and popular culture of the late-Soviet and post-Soviet periods, cultural representations of Chornobyl, post-Soviet protest culture and art, and Eastern European and Central Asian cinemas.

 

Anna Zankova, Lead Instructor (Group 2) 

Anna Zankova has an extensive background in designing and teaching Russian language and culture courses from beginning to advanced levels. She has received her MA in teaching methodology and linguistics. She has been teaching Russian language for 20 years. Anna Zankova has taught intensive language courses at University of Montana and DLIFLC. She is also a certified ACTFL OPI tester. She has published 7 articles on teaching Russian language in online setting and using media content in the language classroom. She has participated in many professional workshops and trainings in using technologies and AI in language teaching, second language acquisition, pedagogical design, neurolinguistics at St. Petersburg State University, University of Hawaii, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  

 

Elena Susanna Weygandt, Instructor (Group 1)

Elena Susanna Weygandt is excited to join the STARTALK team at the University of Pittsburgh! In recent summers she taught Russian at the Intensive Language Program at Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and also at Middlebury’s Language School in Vermont. At MIIS she was trained in content-based approaches to teaching Russian and at Princeton University, where she received her PhD, she was trained in communicative approaches to teaching Russian. After her recent field work in Kazakhstan, she has become interested in teaching Russian through cultural material about Central Asia. At The University of South she has taught Russian and published her own methods for teaching Russian, such as teaching Russian through dramatic text (“Ludic Acts of Language Acquisition: Role, Dialogue, and Stage for L2 Russian Oral Proficiency,” Dynamic Teaching of Russian: Gamification of Learning, eds. Kogan and Nuss) and teaching verbs of motion through movement in an outdoor environment (“From Gesture to Coded Knowledge: Rediscovering TPR when Teaching Russian in an Outdoor Classroom,” forthcoming in Russian Language Journal). She enjoys mentoring students in translation, and some of her students have published their translations on her digital archive, transnationaldocudrama.com.

 

Dasha Prokhorova, Teaching/Resident Assistant 

Dasha is a Ph.D. Student in the Slavic Department, University of Pittsburgh.  She received a B.A. in Anthropology and Russian Language and Literature from the University of Virginia and an M.A. from New York University in Media, Culture and Communication.  She has been teaching Russian language and culture classes in the Slavic Department since 2023.  She also has experience teaching English to non-native speakers in the US and Czech Republic. 

 
 

 
 

 

 

To apply, please complete and submit this application form and ask two of your academic mentors, who are familiar with your language learning abilities, to submit two letters of recommendation at the link below.

Two letters of recommendations from two academic mentors (professor, academic advisor, language instructor, etc.), who can reflect on your academic achievements and aspirations, your experience with language learning in general (does not have to be related to Russian studies), and vouch for your academic and personal character, should be submitted here.

For any questions and inquiries about Pitt STARTALK Russian Summer Program, contact russian.startalk@pitt.edu (Olga Klimova), crees@pitt.edu, or (412) 648-7407.

Our mailing address is:

Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies
University of Pittsburgh
4200 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260