• Lynne Ikach

    Lynne Ikach

    Professor of Russian


Biographical Sketch

Lynne Ikach teaches courses in Russian language, literature, and culture, and is the advisor for Russian and Russian Studies. She incorporates culture at all levels of language instruction and uses a wide range of materials in her courses, including online media, interviews, films, music videos, and literature. Her research interests include the intersection of politics and the arts, and how autobiographies and memoirs serve various functions within a culture. Professor Ikach recently created and taught a new course called Russian Spies and Statesmen in Their Own Words, which examines the memoirs of several Soviet-era spies and leaders. 

Academic History

  • PhD in Slavic Languages and Literature, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Dissertation: "Reinventing the Self: Narrative Persona in Five Autobiographical Works of Viktor B. Shklovsky," Maurice Friedberg, Advisor
  • MA in Slavic Languages and Literature, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • BA in Russian Studies, Grand Valley State Colleges

Courses Taught

  • Beginning Russian Language I, II, II
  • Intermediate Russian Language
  • Composition and Conversation
  • Contemporary Currents
  • Language in Context
  • Russian Spies and Statesmen in Their Own Words (in English)
  • Russian Encounters with the "Other" (in English)
  • Russian Literary Misfits (in English)
  • Change and Revolution in Russian Literature (in English)
  • Film, Literature, and Politics (in English)
  • Tutorial in Russian
  • Senior Capstone

Public Presentations

  • "At Home with(out) the Tolstoys: The Role of the Diaries (and Homes) in the Struggle for Privacy, Power, and Public Perception." Presented at ASEEES Convention, San Antonio, November 23, 2014

  • "At Home with(out) the Tolstoys." Presented at Humanities and Arts Interest Group, Cornell College, December 2013.

  • "Pussy Riot: The Crime. The Trial. The Sentence. What Does It All Mean?" Presented at Cornell College, November 2012.
  • "Writing the Tolstoy Family in Letters, Diaries, and Memoirs." Presented at The Past, Present, and Future of the Book Conference, Cornell College, February 2012.
  • "An Ordinary Genre in Extraordinary Times: Remarkable Diaries from the Soviet Era." Presented at Humanities and Arts Interest Group, Cornell College, March 2008.
  • “Russian Web Tutorial,” Teaching, Learning and Technology Roundtable, Cornell College, December 9, 1999
  • “Using Web-Based Materials as Means of Maintaining Language Skills: An Example from Russian,” Integration of Technology into Teaching, Grinnell College, December 8, 1999, and Technology in the Teaching and Learning of Foreign Languages, Beloit College, October 30, 1999
  • “Reinventing the Self: The Autobiographies of Viktor Shklovsky,” Humanities and Arts Interest Group, Cornell College, September 12, 1996
  • “Contradiction and Confusion in Viktor Shklovsky’s Third Factory,” AATSEEL-Wisconsin, Madison, April 28, 1996
  • “Narrative Past, Narrator Present in V. B. Shklovsky’s Once Upon a Time,” Midwest Slavic Conference, Chicago, April 30, 1994
  • “Narrative Layering in Zoo, or Letters Not about Love,” Midwest Slavic Conference, East Lansing, Michigan, May 1, 1993
  • “The Many Voices of Shklovsky in Mayakovsky and His Circle,” Twentieth-Century Literature Conference, Louisville, Kentucky, February 26, 1993
  • “Narrator versus Character in Viktor Shklovsky’s Sentimental Journey,” AATSEEL Annual Meeting, San Francisco, December 29, 1991

Service to the Cornell Community

  • Chair, Programs Committee, 2020-
  • Chair, Faculty Council, 2017-19
  • Chair, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, 2000-03, 2013-15, 2018-19
  • Member of Reappointment, Tenure and Promotion Committee, 2015-17
  • Member of Administration Committee, 2015-17
  • English Language Support Coordinator, 1999-present
  • Program Advisor: Russian and Russian Studies Programs
  • Faculty Advisor to Russian Club
  • Chair, Regulations Subcommittee, 2014-15
  • Chair, Committee on Committees, 2003-05 and 2011-12
  • Chair, Writing Program Committee, 2010-11
  • Chair, Academic Affairs Committee, 2006-08
  • Humanities and Arts Interest Group Coordinator, 1996-2005

Memberships

  • American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL)
  • American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR)
  • Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES)
  • American Association of University Professors (AAUP)