Baltic and Finnish Studies

Baltic and Finnish Studies

Indiana University is home to the oldest Baltic and Finnish Studies program in the United States. In addition to area studies coursework covering the entire region, IU offers language instruction from beginning to advanced levels in Finnish and Estonian. IU also supports BALSSI, the Baltic Studies Summer Institute, a summer language workshop funded and administered by a consortium of universities, including the University of Illinois, the University of Illinois-Chicago, Indiana University, the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, the University of Texas-Austin, and the University of Washington. One member of the supporting universities hosts this annual program each year.

The Herman B Wells Library holds one of the largest collections of Estonian and Finnish media in the United States. It also offers a wide range of Latvian books, serials and journals, with sources in German, Russian, and English, as well as Latvian. In addition, both REEI and the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center have area related films and other materials for loan.

The Baltic and Finnish Student Association gathers students together, and organizes many activities including cultural activities, language coffee hours, and Independence Day celebrations throughout the year. For more information contact BAFSA at bafsa@indiana.edu.

Visit the Department of Central Eurasian Studies website