Kathryn Duda

Campus Closed and Classes Canceled

Due to continuing severe weather and heavy snowfall, the campus is CLOSED through Wednesday, Dec. 4. All classes are canceled for Monday, Dec. 2, and Tuesday, Dec. 3. Classes on Wednesday, Dec. 4, will be online and asynchronous.

The City of Erie remains under a shelter-in-place order due to the ongoing lake-effect snow warning, which is in effect until 7 p.m. Tuesday.

We ask that students delay returning to campus. If possible, plan to arrive late Wednesday morning or early afternoon, weather permitting.

Kathryn Duda

Assistant Professor, Russian Studies

Contact Information

OFFICE: Preston 201

EMAIL: kduda@mercyhurst.edu

PHONE: 814-824-3607

Dr. Duda is an assistant professor of Russian studies in the Department of Anthropology and World Languages. She serves as the director of Russian studies. Dr. Duda’s research focuses on the Gulag, motherhood, youth culture, and communities of dissent in the 20th century, in addition to Russian language pedagogy. She also serves as a reader for the Critical Language Scholarship. Prior to living in Erie, Dr. Duda lived in Chicago where she volunteered with Metro Achievement Center, teaching ACT prep and junior high math. Dr. Duda also taught English as a second language in Sokolov, Czechia, for two years.

About Dr. Duda

Ph.D., Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago (2014)
- Dissertation: Inherited Humanism: The Case of Evgeniia Ginzburg and Vasilii Aksenov
M.A., Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago (2008)
B.A., Liberal Arts, Thomas Aquinas College (1999)

Introduction to Russian I and II
Intermediate Russian I and II
Russian Conversation/Composition I and II
Introduction to Russian Culture
Golden Age of Russian Literature
Adventures in Soviet Imagination
Women in Russia
Russian Prisons: In and Beyond Imagination
Moscow & St. Petersburg
Scars or Traces? Nostalgia for the Communist Past

Russian Language
Soviet Culture
Cultures of Dissent
Gulag studies
Motherhood in literature & culture
Youth culture

Our students participate in research on topics in sociolinguistics, Russian literature, and culture. We strongly encourage study abroad through semester, summer or faculty-led programs.
Our students have received the prestigious Critical Language Scholarships and Gilman Scholarships for study abroad.
Our alums have gone on to serve in the Peace Corps and pursue graduate degrees at prestigious programs in the U.S. and abroad.

Association of Slavic and East European Studies
American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

Publications:

“My Son, My Self: Reevaluating a Culture of Vulnerability” in “A Mind Purified by Suffering:” Evgenia Ginzburg’s “Whirlwind” Memoirs, ed. by Olga M. Cooke, Academic Studies Press, 2023.

Presentations:

“Teaching European History When Russia has Invaded Ukraine.” Roundtable at the New York State Association of European Historians at Niagara University, NY. October 8, 2022.
“Performing Youthful Sincerity: Filming Aksenov’s Colleagues.” Presentation to the Association of Slavic East European and Eurasian Studies in Boston, MA. December 6, 2018.
“Changing Vertical Perspectives in Vasilii Aksenov’s Novels.” Presentation to the Association of Slavic East European and Eurasian Studies in Chicago, IL. November 9-12, 2017.
“Guilty by Association: The Ambiguity of Familial Relationships in the Aksenov-Ginzburg Memoirs.” Presented to at the Association of Slavic East European and Eurasian Studies in San Antonio, TX. November 21, 2014.

Special Projects:

and contributions to catalogue for the University of Chicago Special Collections exhibit Adventures in the Soviet Imaginary: Children’s Books and Graphic Arts, ed. Robert Bird (University of Chicago Library, 2011) and website entries.

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Contact Information

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