Master of Arts

Candidates for the MA degree must meet university requirements for an MA degree as described in the Graduate Degrees section of this Bulletin.

The MA program in REEES ordinarily can be completed in one academic year by a well-prepared student; more extended study periods can be permitted in consultation with the program director. The program can be pursued separately or co-terminally by Stanford undergraduate students.

To meet degree requirements, all students in the REEES MA program must complete a minimum of 48 academic credit units within the guidelines below.

Students must enroll in and complete three (3) designated core courses earning a letter grade of “B” or higher for each course to be counted towards REEES MA degree requirements:

1. Autumn quarter 2026-2027 (1 course)

   1. REES 220: Writing Modern Eastern Europe, OR

   2. REES 328: Russian Nationalism: Literature and Ideas

2. Winter quarter 2026-2027 (1 course)

   1. REES 204E: Totalitarianism, OR

   2. REES 275A: The Russian and Soviet Avant-Garde

3. Spring quarter 2026-2027 (1 course)

   1. REES 231B: Understanding Russia: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order

REES200 Current Issues in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies is required of all students in the MA program in autumn and winter quarters (two units total). This seminar series surveys current methodological and substantive issues in Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies, acquaint students with Stanford resources and faculty, and present professional development and career options. 

Interdisciplinary Elective Course Work:  All courses (other than language courses and approved activity courses) must be taken at the graduate level (200-level or higher); History courses must be taken at the 300-level or higher. Elective courses must be distributed among at least three disciplines (e.g., History, Political Science, Slavic Languages and Cultures, etc.). All coursework applied to the 48-unit minimum must deal primarily with Russian, Eurasian, or East European studies.

For a list of pre-approved courses, see the course list below. In addition, you may view the schedule for pre-approved courses on the CREEES webpage opens in a new tab, filtering for “MA Pre-approved Courses” for the current academic year. The list of pre-approved courses may be updated as relevant courses are offered. Courses that do not appear on the list may be counted toward the MA through a petition process in consultation with the CREEES associate director if it can be demonstrated that the course is relevant to the MA degree work in REEES topically or methodologically.

Coursework qualifying for the 48-unit minimum must have a letter grade of B or higher (B- does not count for degree credit, nor does CR). Students may apply a maximum of three units of coursework with a final grade of S to the 48-unit minimum. The CREEES associate director must approve S units counting toward the 48-unit minimum. All courses, counting toward the 48-unit minimum, must be approved by the CREEES associate director, who ensures that planned coursework satisfies the requirements for the degree. The CREEES director and steering committee determine the requirements.

The capstone thesis, a central component of the CREEES MA degree program, is original scholarship produced by students who work on a topic of their choice, under the guidance of a faculty advisor, in consultation with the CREEES director and associate director. Students must enroll in the MA Capstone Seminar REES 300 for one unit in spring quarter, complete a Capstone MA thesis paper, and present the paper during the Capstone Seminar. In addition, student are encouraged to upload the approved thesis to the Stanford Digital Repository opens in a new tab. 

Students are required to complete at least 1 REEE (Russia, East Europe and Eurasia) area language course per quarter (excluding summer), for a total of 3 courses. Any graduate-level course with a subject code of RUSSLANG; ARMELANG; CZECLANG; HNGRLANG; POLSHLNG; ROMALANG; or UKRNLANG will count towards the language requirement; other courses may count as well with the consent of the Associate Director or Faculty Director. Additional REEE area language courses can be found through the Stanford Language Center opens in a new tab website.

These courses must be taken for a letter grade, and students must receive a grade of B or better.

A maximum of 12 units (four units per quarter) from advanced language work is permitted toward the 48-unit degree minimum.