Faculty Directory
Svetlana Nikitina
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Coordinator of Interdisciplinary First Year Humanities
Office: Alden Memorial, 215
Phone: +1-508-831-5939
Fax: +1-508-831-5932
svetlana@wpi.edu
Related Information
Educational Background
- M.A.-B.A., Moscow University, 1985
- Ph.D. in Philology & Comparative Literature, Moscow University, 1989
- Ed.M. in Human Development and Psychology, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, 1999
Research & Teaching Interests
Three major points of focus: new digital forms of narrative, comparative and environmental literature, and interdisciplinary education.
Svetlana Nikitina currently teaches a variety of English, American and Russian Literature courses and is involved in developing the new First Year Experience Program at WPI, in which she co-teaches Great Challenges Seminar (Sustainable Development for the 21st Century) with professor Diran Apelian. Before coming to WPI, she served under Howard Gardner as a senior researcher on the Harvard’s Graduate School of Education nationwide study of interdisciplinary learning at the pre-collegiate, collegiate and professional levels. She publishes and presents widely on the forms and strategies of disciplinary bridge-making and interdisciplinary humanities. She was recently invited to lead an annual workshop for faculty of the University of Wisconsin on the Applied Humanities approaches.
Nikitina also studies the emerging digital forms of narrative from the historical and creative perspectives and offers an Inquiry Seminar on Digital Literature. Her comparative literature background allows her to draw upon many literary traditions from (Anglo-American, Asian, African, French and Russian) in her teaching and research. Her courses “Moral Issues in the Modern Novel” and “American Literature and the Environment” raise important cross-cultural questions about selfhood, natural environment, science, and social responsibility.
IQP Advising Interests
Social Cost & Social Change, Science & Society Studies, Ethics & Issues, Literature, Bioethics
Research Grants
- Digital Literature Course Redesign Technology Grant – individual award ($4,330) by Committee on Teaching and Learning and Academic Technology Center, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2009
- Spencer Foundation Grants Program individual award ($35, 000) for research on interdisciplinary teaching in Harvard’s Mind-Brain-Behavior courses, 2000
Recent Publications
Honors & Awards
- Project Advisor Award, Prize Winning Major Qualifying Paper (advisee Adam Nakama, topic Interactive Narrative) – Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2007
Years of Service at WPI
- 2005-2010 - Assistant Professor of English
Professional Experience & Activities
- Invited leader of an annual Applied Humanities Summer Institute workshop for the college faculty, sponsored by the Nakatani Teaching and Learning Center of University of Wisconsin-Stout – June 10, 2010
- 2007-2008 Served on Student Awards in the Humanities and Arts Committee
- 2006-2007 Served on Class of 1879 Prize Committee
Professional Societies/Memberships
- Trustee and Member of the Board of Directors, Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, MA
- Advisory Board Member, Wellesley Public Library, Wellesley, MA
- Modern Language Association
- American Comparative Literature Association
- Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association
- Association for Integrative Studies
- Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment
