Education
PhD, MA, BA in Russian Language and Literature, University of Chicago
Bio
Laura Shear Urbaszewski grew up in the Midwest and has made her home in Chicago for almost 30 years. Not a native Russian speaker, she was drawn into Russian studies in college, hooked by Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and a nerdy love of dictionaries. She has degrees in Russian language and literature, with a minor field in Czech literature. Her published research includes articles on Vladimir Mayakovsky, Anna Akhmatova, Soviet literary commemorations, and the Czech novelist Bohumil Hrabal. She has taught university courses in language, literature, and culture. At DePaul she regularly teaches Basic and Intermediate Russian. In her teaching, she works to combine grammar instruction with real communication practice, and always hopes to nurture student confidence. She is excited to to help students achieve their goals and gain self-confidence in speaking Russian.