Karen L. Ryan, Interim Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, U.Va.

Karen L. Ryan is Interim Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia. A scholar of Russian language and literature, Ryan joined the University faculty as assistant professor in 1989 and became a full professor in 2002. She was Associate Dean for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at U.Va. from 2001 until she assumed the interim deanship this summer. Ryan holds a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan.

Her books include "Russian Publicistic Satire: The Contemporary Journalistic Feuilleton" (1993), "Contemporary Russian Satire: A Genre Study" (1995) and "Venedikt Erofeev's 'Moscow-Petushki': Critical Perspectives" (1997). She has recently completed a monograph on images of Stalin in Russian satire, to be published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

• BA—Cornell University, Russian and Soviet Studies, 1980
• MA—University of Michigan, Slavic Languages and Literatures, 1982
• PhD—University of Michigan, Slavic Languages and Literatures, 1986

Employment

• University of Michigan, teaching assistant in Russian and Russian literature, 1982-1984
• Williams College, assistant professor of Russian, 1986-1987
• Iowa State University, assistant professor of Russian, 1987-1989
• University of Virginia, assistant professor of Russian, 1989-1994; associate professor of Russian, 1994-2002; chair, 1998-2001; Associate Dean of Personnel and Planning, 2001-2002; professor of Russian, 2002-present; Associate Dean for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 2002-present

Books

• Russian Publicistic Satire: The Contemporary Journalistic Feuilleton (Edwin Mellen Press, 1993)
• Contemporary Russian Satire: A Genre Study (Cambridge University Press, 1995)
• Venedikt Erofeev’s Moscow-Petushki: Critical Perspectives (Peter Lang, 1997) [editor and contributor]
• Twentieth-Century Russian Literature: Proceedings of the V World Congress of Central and East European Studies (Macmillan, 2000)  [editor and contributor]
• Images of Stalin in Russian Satire: Exorcising the Cultural Other (University of Wisconsin Press, 2008) [forthcoming]

Academic Honors

• Cornell National Scholarship, Cornell University, 1976-1980
• Graduation with Distinction in All Subjects, Phi Beta Kappa, Cornell University, 1980

Grants and Fellowships

• Rackham First-Year Fellowship, University of Michigan, 1980-1981
• National Resource Fellowship, University of Michigan, 1981-1982
• Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan, 1984-1985
• Mellon Dissertation Fellowship, University of Michigan, 1985-1986
• Sciences and Humanities Research Institute Grant, Iowa State University, 1988
• U.Va. Summer Research Grant; ACTR Variable Term Research Grant; IREX Short-Term Research Grant; NEH Travel to Collections Grant, 1990
• U.Va. Summer Research Grant, 1991
• NEH Summer Stipend; ACTR Variable Term Research Grant; IREX Short-Term Research Grant, 1992
• Lilly Endowment Teaching Fellowship, 1993
• U.Va. Summer Research Grant, 1994
• ACLS Grant for Travel to International Meetings Abroad, 1995
• U.Va. Teaching and Technology Fellowship, 1997-1998
• U.Va. Faculty Senate Teaching Initiative Grant, 1998
• U.Va. Sesquicentennial Fellowship (deferred), 1998

Language Training

• IREX Summer Exchange of Language Teachers, Moscow State University (1988)
• NEH Summer Institute in Russian Language and Culture, Bryn Mawr College (1987)
• Summer Intensive Russian Workshop, University of Oregon (1986)
• Slavic Workshop, Indiana University (1982)
• Russian School, Middlebury College (1979)
• Winter Study in the Soviet Union, Cornell University (1978)

National Service and Professional Activities

• ACTR/ACCELS Undergraduate Programs Selection Committee (1992-present)
• ACTR Research Scholar Program Field Consultant (1992-present)
• Lower Division Advising, University of Virginia (2002-2007)
• Reviewer for Slavic and East European Journal and Slavic Review, External Program Review, Slavic Department, University of Michigan (2005)
• Arts & Sciences Steering Committee, University of Virginia (2000-2001)
• U.Va. Faculty Senate, University of Virginia (1999-2001)
• University Committee on Instructional Technology, University of Virginia (1998-2001)
• Slavic Department Language Committee, University of Virginia (1989-2001)
• Slavic Department Study Abroad Advisor, University of Virginia (1989-2001)
• Director, “U.Va. in Kazan” Program, University of Virginia (1994-2000)
• Slavic Department Director of Graduate Studies, University of Virginia (1996-1998)
• Program Chair, Southern Conference on Slavic Studies (1997)
• Slavic Department Undergraduate Major Advisor, University of Virginia (1989-1996)
• Program Chair for Language and Literature, Southern Conference on Slavic Studies (1994) 
• Governor's Russian Studies Academy Selection Committee (1991)
• Member of American Delegation to MAPRIAL Conference, Moscow (1990)

Articles, Essays, and Reviews

• “Laughing at the Hangman: Humorous Portraits of Stalin,” in Reflective Laughter: Aspects of Humour in Russian Culture, Anthem (2004)
• “Imagining America: Il’f and Petrov’s Odnoetazhnaia Amerika and Ideological Alterity,” Canadian Slavonic Papers 44 (2002)
• “The Devil You Know: Postmodern Reconsiderations of Stalin,” Mosaic 36 (September 2003)
• “Aksenov’s ptichii iazyk: Nonsense Reconsidered,” Slavic and East European Journal 46 (2002)
• “Sokolov’s Palisandriia: The Art of History,” in Twentieth-Century Russian Literature: Proceedings of the V World Congress of Central and East European Studies, Macmillan (2000)
• “Misreading Misogyny: The Allegorical Functions of Russian Porn,” in Eros and Pornography in Russian Culture, Ladomir (1999)
• “Destalinization and Self-Consumption in Iskander’s Kroliki i udavy: The Other Within" Zeitschrift für Slawistik, 43 (1998)
• “Erofeev’s Grief: Inconsolable and Otherwise,” in Venedikt Erofeev’s Moscow-Petushki: Critical Perspectives, Peter Lang (1997)
• “Dystopia Revisited: Voinovich and Zamiatin,” Irish Slavonic Studies 17 (1997)
• “Cooperative Learning in the Intermediate/Advanced Russian Classroom,” in Metodika prepodavaniia russkogo iazyka i literatury v Amerike, Syntaxis Press (1995)
• “Narrative Strategies in the Works of Sergei Dovlatov,” Russian Language Journal (Winter-Spring-Fall 1994)
• “Limonov's Eto ia -- Edichka and the Autobiographical Mode,” The Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East European Studies (March 1993)
• “Marina Lebedeva’s ‘Mezhdu nami, zhenshchinami’ Feuilletons,” Slavic and East European Journal (Summer 1992)
• “Voinovich’s Moskva 2042 as Literary Parody,” Russian Literature 36 (1994)
• “Decoding the Dream in the Satirical Works of Vladimir Voinovich,” Slavic and East European Journal (Fall 1990)
• “Limonov's Eto ia -- Edichka and the Failure of An American Dream,” Canadian Slavonic Papers (December 1988)
• “Psychological Characterization in Russian Satire: razgovornaia rech’ and nesobstvenno-priamaia rech’,” Russian Language Journal (Winter-Spring-Fall 1988), Republished in Topics in Colloquial Russian, ed. Margaret H. Mills (New York: Peter Lang, 1990)
• “Iskander and Tolstoi: The Parodical Implications of the Beast Narrator,” Slavic and East European Journal (Summer 1988)
• “Stylistic Devices in Post-Stalin Soviet Satire,” Proceedings of the Summer 1986 University of Oregon Intensive Workshop in Chinese and Russian (1987)
  Republished in Proceedings of the Summer 1986 University of Oregon Intensive Workshop in Chinese and Russian (New York: Peter Lang, 1990)
• “‘The Figure of Isaac Babel’ in Twentieth-Century Memoirs,” Russian Language Journal (Fall 1984)