This essay addresses the long-standing and much-discussed question of the intellectual silence of Rus’ culture, which was first formally posed by Georges Florovsky in a 1962 forum published in the Slavic Review. Initially viewing the issue within the context of Donald Ostrowski ‘s recent book, Europe, Byzantium, and the “Intellectual Silence” of Rus’ Culture (2018), the study contends that in contrast to the practice of theology in Byzantium and the West, Rus’ theology, as Gerhard Podskalsky maintained, is not expressed through traditional theological disciplines but assumes a decidedly pragmatic function that is best served by narration, exhortation, and admonition. The analysis leads to the conclusion that questions concerning the absence of intellectual developments of the medieval West are not helpful in the study of Rus’ culture, as they can obstruct a more productive approach that focuses on Rus’ narrative sources. A brief example illustrating the direction such an approach might take is provided.

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In recent years study-abroad experience in collegiate education has become highly valued by both academia and non-academic employers. For a variety of reasons, developing this type of program in engineering education is particularly difficult. This paper presents an innovative study-abroad program in engineering education recently developed at Michigan State University in collaboration with the Volgograd State University of Architectural and Civil Engineering in Volgograd, Russia. This program successfully addresses such academic challenges in engineering education as the inherent vertical structure of scientific curricula, courses with laboratory requirements, ABET accreditation, and accelerated summer course calendars. Engineering disciplines included are civil engineering, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, statistics, and construction management. Also featured in this program is a unique curricular collaboration between the humanities and engineering. The paper also discusses the program's treatment of such logistical issues as student safety, moving large groups of students through a cultural landscape where Russian language proficiency is a necessity, as well as ensuring the financial solvency of the program. Finally, we describe the benefit of multi-institution collaboration and technology exchange in student/faculty research and teaching, both within the Michigan region and with partner Russian academic institutions.

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