Curriculum vitae
Yvonne H Howell
Education
Degrees
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Doctor of Philosophy in Slavic Literatures, 1990.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Master of Arts in Slavic Linguistics, 1984.
Dartmouth College, Bachelor of Arts, double major in Biology and Russian, 1981.
Additional studies
wilson center junior scholar seminar on Eastern Europe, August, 1988
Graduate research funded by IREX grant (Prague, Czechoslovakia), Aug.1985-Sept.1986. Topic: The role of science fiction in 20th century Czech literature.
Karlova univerzita letni škola, Intensive Czech Language, July 1984, 1985.
Leningrad state universitiy (St. Petersburg), Research Internship in Department of Zoology, July 1981-Sept. 1982. Topic: Changes in migration pattern of birds across the Finnish Gulf (under the direction of A.S. Mal’chevskii).
Academic positions
University of Richmond
Associate Professor of Russian, Department of Modern Literatures and Cultures, 1997-present.
Associate Professor of Russian with Joint Appointment in International Studies, 2002-present.
Assistant Professor of Russian, Department of Modern Literatures and Cultures, 1991-1996.
Visiting Positions and Academic Directorships
Visiting Associate Professor of Russian, Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Semester Abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia, June-August, 2009.
Director, University of Richmond Summer Study Abroad Program in Prague, Czech Republic, May-June 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.
Director, Language Across the Curriculum Program at University of Richmond, 2000-2004.
Visiting Instructor of Russian, Dartmouth College, 1988-1991.
Principal teaching and research interests
Russian Literature and Culture
Czech Literature and Culture
Cognitive Science and Literary Theory
History of Soviet Science
Russian and East European Science Fiction
Russian Language (all levels)
Fellowships and grants
Faculty Summer Research Fellowship, University of Richmond, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, (2009), 2010
Faculty Travel and Research Grants, University of Richmond, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008
Global Partners Funding Award for research on “The genealogy of altruism,” 2006 [external]
PETE stipend (Program for Enhancing Teaching Effectiveness) for innovative use of interactive technology in Russian language instruction, 2000, 2009.
PETE stipend to develop “Perspectives on International Studies” syllabus, 2001.
Quest Grant for MLC 260: “Nature, Nurture, Neurons: Science and Society in East European Literature,” Fall 2006
Quest Grant for Russian 322: 20th Century Russian Literature: “Why Change? Responses in the literature of Russian Modernism and Dissidence,” Spring 2001.
Mednick Fellowship, Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges; 1994 [external]
Teaching
Undergraduate courses in Slavic languages and literatures
Introduction to 19th Century Russian Literature
Introduction to 20th and 21st Century Russian Literature
Nature, Nurture, Neurons: Science and Society in Czech and Polish Literature
Why Change? Responses in Russian Modernist Literature
Boundaries of Selfhood: Soviet-Russian Literature from 1917 to the Present (Dartmouth College)
Utopias and Dystopias in Russian and East European Literature (Dartmouth College)
Advanced Russian: Reading Chekhov in the original
20th century Russian poetry (in Russian and in Translation)
Intermediate Russian Conversation and Context
Second-year Russian language course
First-year Russian language course
Interdisciplinary courses and courses in International Studies Program
Cultures in Translation, Languages in Transit (funded by NEH grant, co-taught with Julie Hayes)
Exploring Human Experience: UR’s Freshmen Core Course
Bombs, Bolsheviks, Ballet: Soviet Civilization and Culture
Perspectives on International Studies (gateway course for all IS majors)
Language Across the Curriculum
Readings and discussion in Russian for students in 19th and 20th century literature class
Readings and discussion in Russian for students in International Business and Finance classes
Readings and discussion in Russian for students in Soviet Civilization class
Readings and discussion in Russian for students in First-Year Core Course
Introduction to Czech language for students in East European literature class
Readings and discussion in French, German, and Russian for students in Perspectives on International Studies
Publications
Books
Apocalyptic Realism: The Science Fiction of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. New York: Peter Lang, 1994.
Apokalipticheskii realizm. Nauchnaia fantastika A.i B. Strugatskikh. Russian edition, trans. Alla Kuznetsova, 2006.
Articles in referred journals and book chapters
“Baring the Brain As Well As The Soul: Milan Kundera’s The Joke.” Philosophy and Literature 2010: 34: 201-217.
“The Liberal Gene: Sociobiology as Emancipatory Discourse in the late Soviet Union” Slavic Review, Summer 2010: 69: 356-376.
"The Genetics of Genius: Biosocial mechanisms of higher intellectual activity." In Madness and the Mad in Russian Culture. Ed. A. Brintlinger and I.Vinitsky. University of Toronto Press, 2007: 208-225.
“Eugenics, Rejuvenation, and Bulgakov’s Journey into the Heart of Dogness” Slavic Review, Fall 2006: 544-562.
“Where’s the Velvet? Jachym Topol’s Sestra and the Reception of Alex Zucker’s Translation of City, Sister, Silver.” Translation Review, No. 63, 2002: 45-51.
“When the Physicists are Lyricists: Translating the Strugatskys’ Ponedel’nik Nachinaetsia v Subbotu.” Essays in the Art and Theory of Translation, eds. Grenoble and Kopper. Edwin Mellen Press, 1997: 165-196.
“Science and Gnosticism in ‘Lance’.” Studies in Nabokov’s Short Fiction, eds. Barabtarlo and Nicol. New York: Garland Publ., 1993: 181-193.
“Karel Capek in 1984.” Cross Currents 3. Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Publications, 1984: 121-130.
Other articles, essays, and edited collections
“Efroimson.Vladimir Pavlovich,” Biographical essay in Supplement to the Modern Encyclopedia of Russian, Soviet, and Eurasian History, Vol. 9. Ed. Bruce F. Adams, Associated International Press, 2008: 47-50.
“Fiziki-liriki [scientist-poets]” Reference entry in Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture. Ed.s Smorodinskaya, Evans-Romaine, Goscilo, Routledge Press, 2007: 212-213.
“Berries (iagody)” Reference entry in Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture. Ed.s Smorodinskaya, Evans-Romaine, Goscilo, Routledge Press, 2007: 73
“Kasha” Reference entry in Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture. Ed.s Smorodinskaya, Evans-Romaine, Goscilo, Routledge Press, 2007: 291.
“Havel, Vaclav” Reference entry in Encyclopedia of Literature and Politics: Censorship, Revolution and Writing. Ed. M. Keith Booker, Greenwood Press, 2005: 336-337.
“WE” Reference entry in Encyclopedia of Literature and Politics: Censorship, Revolution and Writing. Ed. M. Keith Booker, Greenwood Press, 2005: 748-749.
“Zamiatin, Evgeny Ivanovich” Reference entry in Encyclopedia of Literature and Politics: Censorship, Revolution and Writing. Ed. M. Keith Booker, Greenwood Press, 2005: 779-780.
“Literature and Science in Russia and the Former Soviet Union” Reference article on disciplinary history of the ‘Two Cultures’ in Russia. Encyclopedia of Literature and Science, ed. Pamela Gossin, Greenwood Press, 2002: 392-398.
Guest Associate Editor. Configurations: A Journal of Literature, Science, and Technology. Special Issue: Communities of Science in Russia. Johns Hopkins University Press: Vol.1, No.3 (Fall 1993)
In preparation
“Dudintsev’s Belye Odezhdy and the Genetics of ‘Instinctive’ Morality: Another Mutation in the Spontaneity-Consciousness Paradigm?” for New Zealand Slavonic Journal. In preparation.
“Viktor Dol’nik and the Invention of Evolutionary Psychology in Bitov’s ‘Birds, or New Knowledge About Man’" (paper to be presented at AAASS, 2010). In preparation.
Reviews
Howell, review of Andrew Baruch Wachtel, Remaining Relevant after Communism. The Role of the Writer in Eastern Europe. Slavic and East European Journal, Summer 2008, , 51, 2: 407-408.
Howell, review of Michael Düring and Ulrike Jekutsch, eds., Stanisław Lem: Mensch, Denker, Schriftsteller. Slavic Review, Spring 2007, 66, 1: 126-128.
Howell, review of Slava Gerovitch, From Newspeak to Cyberspeak: A History of Soviet Cybernetics. Slavic and East European Journal, Fall 2004, 48, 3: 526-28.
Howell, review of Aviezer Tucker, The Philosophy of Czech Dissidence from Patočka to Havel. Slavic and East European Journal, Spring 2002, 46, 1: 214-216.
Howell, review of Jáchym Topol, City, Sister Silver. Translated from Czech by Alex Zucker. Slavic and East European Journal, Fall 2001, 45, 3: 548-550.
Howell, review of Liudmila Stern, Okhota k peremene mest: rasskazy o puteshestviiakh. Slavic and East European Journal, Spring 2001, 45, 1: 170-171.
Howell, review of Constantin V. Ponomareff, The Spiritual Geography of Modern Writing: Essays on Dehumanization, Human Isolation and Transcendence. Slavic and East European Journal, Summer 1999, 43, 2: 392-393.
Howell, double review of Michael Confino, Anarchistes en exil. Correspondance inédite de Pierre Kropotkine à Marie Goldsmith 1897-1917 and Marshall Shatz,, ed., Petr Kropotin, The Conquest of Bread and Other Writings. Slavic and East European Journal, Summer 1999, 43, 2: 396-398.
Howell, review of Peter Sekirin, ed., Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom. Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul. Written and Selected from the World's Sacred Texts. Slavic and East European Journal, Fall 1999, 43, 3: 555-556.
External manuscript reviews:South Atlantic Quarterly, Congressional Quarterly Press, Science Fiction Studies, Humanimalia
conferences
Participation in specially called conferences and seminars
Invited scholar and guest speaker, Centennial Symposium in honor of V.P. Efroimson. Institute of Developmental Biology, Moscow, Russia, November 17-23 2009.
Invited paper, “The Problem of Altruism: Solzhenitsyn and Samizdat Science.” Special Conference: From the Brain to Human Culture: Intersections Between the Humanities and Neuroscience. Bucknell University, April 20-22, 2007.
Invited Chair and Discussant, “Science and Society in the Postwar Era.” International Seminar: The Relaunch of the Soviet Project: 1945-1964. London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, Sept. 13-15, 2006.
Invited paper, “Soviet sociobiology as Emancipatory Discourse.” Presented at the Conference on Scientists and Social Conscience in honor of Boris Hessen. British Society for History of Science. London, Sept. 15-17, 2006.
Invited participant, International Congress: Russian and Soviet Science on the World Stage, 1860-1960. University of Georgia, Athens, GA October 28-30, 2004.
Keynote Speaker, Missouri Southern State University Russia Semester Series. Opening lecture and multimedia presentation “Russia: Land, Language, People,” and keynote speech “How do good scientists work in bad regimes?” Joplin, MO, September 1-2, 2004.
"Efroimson's pathographies; genius and insanity in late Soviet ideology." Ohio State University seminar on Madness in Russian Culture, Colombus, OH April, 2003.
Co-chair and co-organizer, “The Virtual Kitchen Table: Web-based encounters with native speakers based on interviews with recent Russian émigrés.” Presented in French, Russian and English at FIPLV (International Congress of Professors of Modern Languages) Paris, France.
Papers presented
“Science, Censorship and the Global Environment: Eco-Criticism As An Approach to the Strugatsky’s Za milliard let do kontsa sveta” AATSEEL, Philadelphia, December 28-30, 2009.
“Ornithologists and Ecologists: Subcultures in Soviet and post-Soviet Culture.” Paper delivered at American Assoc. for Advancement of Slavic Studies, Philadelphia, November 20-24, 2008.
“Particles Behaving Badly: Lem’s Cyberiad and the Problem of Scientific Censorship.” Society for Science, Literature and the Arts Biannual International Congress, Berlin, June 3-7, 2008.
"Making it Mean Something: Cognitive science approach to Kundera’s aesthetics in The Joke” Conference on Narrative, University of Texas, Austin, May 1-3, 2008.
“Soviet sociobiology and the dissident movement.” Society for Science, Literature, and the Arts, New York, November 9-12, 2006
“Interdisciplinary Research in Russia: New options for undergraduate study abroad” SCSS, Columbia, SC, 23-25 March 2006
“Enrollment trends in less-commonly-taught languages: Russian at the University of Richmond.” ACTFL congress, Baltimore, MD, 18-20 2005.
“Science and the chemistry of attraction in Anna Karenina,” SCSS, Nashville, April, 2005.
"Life in the Deep End of the Gene Pool" AATSEEL, San Diego, December 27-30, 2003.
“Intergrating Language Across the Curriculum into the Business School”(with Graboyes and Gronskaia). CIBER conference on Global Interdependence: Language, Culture, Business. Chapel Hill, March 13-16, 2002.
"Genius and Genetics: V.P Efroimson’s controversial study of creativity” AATSEEL, New York, December 27-30, 2002.
“Where’s the Velvet? Translating Czech Literature of Transition: Western Reception of Topol’s novel Sestra.” AATSEEL, Washington, D.C. Dec. 28-30, 2000.
“A Gene for Genius: Early Soviet Eugenics in Bulgakov’s Work.” WSA Conference in San Diego, Ca., April 29-May 1, 2000.
“Kalatozov’s Russian-Cuban production, ‘I am Cuba.’ SCSS Conference in Wilmington, N.C., March 16-18, 2000.
“Russian and Soviet Scientists as Conduits of Western Thought.” Chair, Panel at AAASS Congress in St. Louis, Mo., November 18-21, 1999.
Collaborative projects
Consulting editor and commentator, This Lamentable City, Poems of Polina Barskova. Trans. Ilya Kaminsky. Tupelo Press, 2010.
Consultant and collaborator (with author/director Larissa Harris), Toy Puppet Theater show based on the Strugatsky’s ‘Definitely Maybe.’ Produced by the Center of Advanced Visual Arts at MIT. Premiere performance at Great Small Works Festival, New York, May 23, 2008
Consultant and collaborator (with director/choreographer Starr Foster) of “The Bet.” An original choreography adapted from Chekhov’s story of the same name. Premiered performance at Theater IV by Starr Foster Dance Project, Richmond, Va., April 2002.
Service
University of Richmond
Chair, Department of Modern Literatures and Cultures, July 2010- present.
Chair of Search Committee for Provost of University of Richmond, Spring, 2001.
Other major search committees: for Director of Multimedia Language Laboratory (1998, 2004), for tenure-stream positions in German Studies (1995), Geography and International Studies (2004), Chinese Studies (2008), Arabic Studies (2009)
Tenure and Promotion Committee, 2004-5, 2006-2007
TFUGE Sub-Committee on Calendar, Credit, and Assessment, 2003-4
Founding member, Environmental Awareness Committee at University of Richmond, Fall 2000
Core Course Curriculum Committee, dates?
Other curricular planning thing dates?
International Education and Study Abroad
Member of International Studies Committee, 2004-present
Member of International Education Committee, 2004-present
LAC advisory board, 2006-present
Created, organized, and direct UR Summer Study Abroad Program in Czech Republic, 2007 - ongoing
Created and organized UR Semester Abroad Program in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, 1994-5.
Student Advisor for majors in International Studies: Modern Europe, 200? – present
Major Advisor and Study Abroad Advisor (with Joe Troncale) for Russian Studies major and minors
Fulbright Interview Committee, University of Richmond, 2007, 2008.
Additional Service: departmental committees
Undeclared major advisor
Departmental Scholarship Committee, 2009-
Departmental Steering Committee
Diversity Advocate for MLC Department
Etc etc etc
Languages
English, Russian, Czech, German, Schwyzerdütsch, French
Professional Association Affiliations
American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies; American Association of Teachers of Russian and East European Languages, Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, Southern Conference of Slavic Studies, International Association of Teachers of Czech
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