University of Georgia STARTALK Russian for Global Professionals Program

• Sponsor
  National Security Agency
  $295,345.49
• Principal investigator
  Victoria Hasko
  Associate Professor, Language and Literacy Education
• Active since
  June 2022

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Abstract

The University of Georgia STARTALK Russian for Global Professionals Program is designed to attract highly motivated undergraduate students striving for advanced proficiency in Russian and a strong interest in joining the federal workforce.

The summer 2023 Intensive Russian Language and Culture Immersion Program will recruit 20 university students into intermediate, mid, and intermediate high tracks with a content-oriented curriculum organized around the themes that integrate authentic professional communication and disciplinary content relevant to the students’ majors, exploration of the Russian-speaking culture and communities around the world, and connections with students’ global career planning.

The standards-based, 37-day long residential program will feature 218 hours of summer instruction:

• 110 hours of direct instruction
• 50 hours of assigned self-directed learning activities
• 38 hours of co-curricular cultural clubs
• 16 hours of weekend field trips
• 4 hours of career-planning events featuring workshops by federal recruiters, successful global professional mentors, and career advisors

In addition, the program will feature at least 105 hours of socialization over communal meals and 50 hours of informal nightly socials. The pre- and post-immersion outreach programming will include an additional 78 hours of individualized HyFlex tutorials over the course of three academic semesters per student and six hours of group HyFlex career workshops.