Grad student activity

[Jeff Holdeman]

Dear colleagues,

My name is Jeff Holdeman and I am a graduate student at The Ohio State
University.  As with many similar departments at other universities, our
department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures is
increasingly having to show its worth to the university, both in the
present and for the future.  All too often, this responsibility has fallen
on the department administrators and does not effectively reach the "grass
roots" level for support.  A few of us graduate students have been trying
to think of ways in which we can contribute to the war effort.  The main
problem has been getting students interested in helping.  This is so very
important since it is their futures which will be affected the most, as 1)
their degrees will carry the reputation of their institutions, and 2) many
of them will be looking for jobs in the very departments which are
struggling right now.

My question: What are other grad students doing to support their
departments in this era of restructuring?

Let me share a few of our ideas so far:

This year, we have made our chapter of Dobro Slovo (the National Slavic
Honor Society) more active by providing services to the students, the
department  and the university.  We sponsor a Fall welcome party, a mentor
program for in-coming grads, a Russian conversation table, quarterly
department colloquia, and workshops on topics like the job market and
publishing.  Next quarter we will be sponsoring a Library Day, when members
will verify the proper shelving of books in the various sections related to
Slavic and East European fields in the library stacks.  We have also been
trying this year to organize all of the people at the university who are
involved in S&EE fields, so that next year we can include them in our
activities, with the hope of establishing an awareness of colleagues in
related fields and a sense of unity among scholars and scholars-to-be.  Our
departmental grad student representatives are also working to get the grad
students more interested in activity in the affairs of the department.
They are re-establishing our ties with the Council of Graduate Students and
holding meetings to discuss grad issues, such as the fate of funding and
the threatening effects of restructuring.  Our graduate teaching assistants
have helped put on sampler courses for Russian.  And this year we have a
Russian House-directed by a grad student-which sponsors a conversation
table, tutoring sessions, movies, cultural events and potluck dinners.

All of this we have been doing to increase our visibility on campus and to
encourage people to take an interest in our department.  This all sounds
good, right?  Unfortunately, progress is slow and there is still a high
rate of non-involvement among the students.

I would like to know what other _grad students_ at other universities are
doing, and also how professors and administrators think students can be
involved in the health and preservation of our departments.  All comments
and suggestions will be appreciated.

(Some thoughts at leisure, i.e., while listening to speeches at meetings.)

Jeff Holdeman
The Ohio State University
jholdema at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu