24th Annual Undergraduate Conference on Slavic & East/Central European Studies

CALL FOR PAPERS
You are invited to participate in the 24th Annual University of California Undergraduate
Conference on Slavic and East/Central European Studies. The conference will be held on
Saturday, April 24, 2021, and it will be hosted virtually over Zoom by the UCLA Department
of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures.

PURPOSE
One of the great benefits of knowing a foreign language is being able to use source materials
in that language. This conference gives students the opportunity to integrate their language
skills with research on some aspect of Slavic or East/Central European studies and to present
their work in a collegially critical and at the same time friendly and supportive environment.
Presenting a conference paper is an ideal way to strengthen graduate school applications or
add an academic component to your résumé. In addition, those interested have the opportunity
to submit their papers for peer-reviewed publication in the on-line UC Journal of Slavic and
East/Central European Studies
(https://slavic.ucla.edu/conference/uc-undergraduate-conference/undergraduate-journal/ ).

TOPICS
Your presentation may be an extension of a paper written for a course in Slavic or
East/Central European studies or a project related to your personal interests. You may work
alone or jointly with another student. Instructors from your campus Slavic, Russian or
East/Central European Studies program will serve as project advisors. Any undergraduate
enrolled in a Slavic or East/Central European language, literature, linguistics, history, political
science, music, folklore, or other relevant course may participate. Graduate students are
invited to serve as panel moderators.

REQUIREMENTS
The presentation must incorporate some materials in a Slavic or other East/Central European
or Eurasian language. Your level of proficiency will determine the extent to which foreign
language materials should be used. For example, beginning students might incorporate titles
of books or articles or place names in the original Slavic language; intermediate students
might read some passages in the original from relevant sources; advanced students might base
their paper on sources in the given language. Individual presentations should be 10-15
minutes in length; joint presentations should be 15-20 minutes in length. Please note that you
must have a faculty advisor from your campus who can commit to doing a practice run
with you.

INFORMATION
For more information, please contact a Slavic studies faculty member on your campus,
or write to the Department of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and
Cultures at UCLA: slavic@humnet.ucla.edu

IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE
If you would like to participate in the conference, please submit a proposal (a title, a threefour-sentence description, and your advisor’s name and email address) to the conference website at https://slavic.ucla.edu/conference/uc-undergraduate-conference/participate/ by
Friday, March 19, 2021.

By Friday, April 2, 2021 , you must submit the following information to the conference
website:
1) your name as you would like it to appear in the conference program
2) your email address ; unless you request otherwise, this will be included in the
conference program
3) your school and major(s)/minor(s)
4) the exact title of your presentation
5) an abstract (250 words) ; this is a paragraph describing the topic of your paper. It
will be included in the conference program.

You are required to practice your presentation with your advisor virtually by Friday, April
16, 2021 .

Furthermore, by Friday, April 16, 2021 , you must send your final presentation to the
conference website. All participants must have a visual component to their presentation such
as a Powerpoint, Keynote, or Prezi presentation. You will meet with your panel and moderator
to practice the format of your presentations on Zoom in the weeks preceding the conference.

DEADLINES
Friday, March 19, 2021 : Submission of proposal to a faculty advisor from your campus and
to the conference website.
Friday, April 2, 2021 : Submission of paper title, and short abstract to the conference website.
Friday, April 16, 2021: Presentation practice with an advisor and submission of Powerpoint,
Keynote, or Prezi slides to the conference website.
Date of the conference: Saturday, April 24, 2021, hosted virtually over Zoom.