About Us

Based at the University of Kansas, the Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies (CREES) has been a national leader for the study of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe since 1959 and is the only federally-designated resource center on this crucial world area in the Great Plains.

CREES, in collaboration with the Department of Slavic, German, and Eurasian Studies, oversees undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The center is an interdisciplinary hub that helps train K-12 teachers and post-secondary educators, and shares its expertise with partners in business, media, the military, and government. 

CREES faculty carry out award-winning research and teach innovative courses covering the breadth and depth of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia: from recent European Union members in the west to the Russian Far East; from indigenous peoples of the Arctic to traditionally Islamic societies in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Students gain an inside view of the region’s history, culture, and politics and have the opportunity to study its diverse languages, including, Russian, Ukrainian, Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian, Czech, Polish, Persian (Farsi/Tajik), Slovene, Turkish, and Uyghur.

Each year, CREES hosts numerous public events both on campus and in the community, bringing leading experts on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia to Kansas and exploring the region’s crucial significance for understanding the contemporary world. 

CREES support helps make the KU Libraries unparalleled in the Great Plains, with thousands of books and electronic resources devoted to Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia in all disciplines and in multiple languages. CREES also hosts The Russian Review, the renowned journal of Russian and Eurasian studies, as well as popular digital humanities projects like the Cold War in the Heartland web resource for students and educators.