Professor Ghervas is very kind and organized and gives everyone a chance to participate. She also organized an end-of-year field trip to the Wende Museum, which was super fascinating and a stellar way to end the course.

The course includes an oral and written report, which are manageable thanks to Professor Ghervas’s clear and precise guidelines. Additionally, a final historiographical paper challenges you to engage deeply with the readings. This class is rigorous, and Professor Ghervas has high expectations, expecting that students thoroughly engage with the course material and participate.

As a history major, one of the aspects of history that I find most compelling is how it serves as a tool for identity creation. This course delved deeply into this theme, exploring how the RUS-UKR war is also a “history war,” where certain narratives are marshaled to justify violence and militarization. I highly recommend this course if you're looking for a challenge and a great professor.

At first, I was intimidated to take a seminar course. However, Prof. Ghervas made participating easy, and I truly feel like I learned a lot about Russia and Ukraine in this course. She truly is passionate and an expert in the field; it shows in her lectures and source material. There is a lot of group work and a group presentation. The final was a 10 page historiography essay, which was surprisingly not difficult. You need to get familiar with some textbooks for your group project, and you may use those for your final later. She is a new professor at UCLA, but this was no issue at all. On our last day, she set up a museum tour, which was a very nice, fitting conclusion to the course. It was also my last class at UCLA, which I do not regret at all!

My experience in HIST: 187 taught by Dr. Ghervas was overwhelmingly positive. Dr. Ghervas spent a large amount of time focusing upon educating students regarding the Russo-Ukrainian War even though the class is technically a 3 hour discussion. Speaking of which, Dr. Ghervas is very understanding as she will dismiss the class if everything has been thoroughly covered prior to the 'official' end time. I usually really dislike 3 hour classes, but this time around I don't have any complaints! There might be a quiz regarding the geography of Eastern Europe but other than that your grade is only dependent upon a pretty graciously graded group presentation and two papers. All and all I highly recommend HIST: 187 with Dr. Ghervas!

Professor Ghervas is the best professor to teach the historiography of the Russo-Ukrainian war, and I thoroughly enjoyed her lectures, the in-class discussions, and the weekly readings. The course grade is based upon attendance/ participation, a midterm (presentation and write up), and a final paper. The final is a LONG historiographic essay on two course books... definitely don't procrastinate doing it lol. My only critique of this course is Professor Ghervas' inconsistent instructions e.g. the professor's verbal instructions sometimes contradicted her emails or assignment descriptions. Talk to her if you are confused about anything... she is really good at responding to emails.

This is one of the most interesting and currently relevant courses I have taken at UCLA. The History of the Russo-Ukrainian war is such an important topic to discuss right now, especially with the way that historical interpretations have shaped government narratives and policy decisions. Professor Ghervas has a deep knowledge of the subject matter, and the readings she selected demonstrate her personal engagement with the most recent historical debates and her attentiveness to the newest scholarly developments. While she was a very dynamic lecturer with high quality presentations, a large portion of the seminar was devoted to discussion and roundtable dialogue. Professor Ghervas always made sure there was enough time for questions. The grades for this course are mostly dependent on a final paper, which was very doable. Weekly participation and a verbal presentation during one of the weeks are also important parts of the grade. Overall, I would highly recommend taking this class or any other taught by Professor Ghervas.