Olha Tytarenko

Spring 2024 office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 1:30-2:30 p.m. or by appointment

Education:

PhD. University of Toronto, Slavic Languages and LiteraturesM.A. Pennsylvania State University, Russian and Comparative Literature

CV: Olha Tytarenko

As a Senior Lector I and Associate Research Scholar at the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, I bring with me my past experience as an Associate Professor of Practice of Russian and Russian program head at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I earned my PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Toronto in 2016.

My research interests span across second language pedagogy, nineteenth-century Russian literature, Russian religious thought, cultural history, and political mythology. Currently, I’m working on a book project that examines how nineteenth-century Russian authors interpreted folk mysticism as a reflection of the historical ideologies and political perspectives of the Russian people.

In my teaching, I blend traditional courses on Russian language, literature, and culture with innovative pedagogical approaches. I’ve developed online and blended learning courses to provide immersive, hands-on experiences for my students. Currently, I’m exploring the use of Virtual Reality (VR) and project-based instruction in my language classes, aligning immersive activities with curricular objectives. My recent pedagogical publications delve into the potential of immersive virtual reality as a tool for hands-on, experiential learning.

Beyond the realm of academia, I express my creativity through writing and translation. I compose poetry and short prose in Ukrainian and contribute to various literary projects as a co-translator and editor, translating works from Ukrainian and Russian into English.

Selected publications:

Articles:

“Immersive VR in the Development of Speaking Skills,” FLTMAG Special Issue on Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, (November 2022). 

“Integrating and Assessing the Use of a ‘Makerspace’ and Immersive Virtual Reality in a Russian Cultural Studies Course,” Elizabeth Enkin, Olha Tytarenko, & Eric Kirschling. (second author). Calico Journal 38:1 (2021): 103-127.

“The Paganism in Antonych’s Three Rings: Return or Escape?” Ukrainian Quarterly 65:3 (2009): 213-226.

Book reviews:

Hayes, Natalia. Acquiring the Major Speech Functions in Russian: For Intermediate and Advanced-Level Students. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt, 2016. The Russian Language Journal 71 (Spring 2021): 202-204.

Anindita Banerjee, ed., Russian Science Fiction Literature and Cinema: A Critical Companion. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2018. The Slavic and East European Journal 63.1 (Spring 2019): 144-146.

Marullo, Thomas G. Fyodor Dostoevsky: In the Beginning (1821-1845). A Life in Letters, Memoirs, and Criticism. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2016. The Russian Review 77:1 (January 2018): 131-132.

Mark Andryczyk. The Intellectual as Hero in 1990s Ukrainian Fiction. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. Slavic and East European Journal 58:4 (Winter 2014): 737-739.

Translations:

Alexandr Strashny’s manuscript Ukrainian Mentality (forthcoming with ibiden Press). Co-translated by Michael Naydan.

Nikolai Gogol’s novel Taras Bul’ba (original version; forthcoming). Co-translated with Michael Naydan.

Yuri Vynnychuk’s novel Tango of Death. Co-translated with Michael Naydan Spuyten Duyvill Publishers, 2019.

Maria Matios’s novel Sweet Darusya: A Tale of Two Villages. Co-translated with Michael Naydan. Spuyten Duyvill Publishing, 2019.

Andrei Sinyavsky, “A Journey to the River Black,” co-translated by Slava I. Yastremski and Michael M. Naydan, in Strolls with Pushkin, translated by Catharine Theimer Nepomnyashchy and Slava I. Yastremski. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016. Pp. 133-192.

Iren Rozdobudko’s novel The Lost Button. London: Glagoslav Publications, 2012. Co-translated with Michael M. Naydan.