Russian Studies Majors

[Benjamin Rifkin]

Dear Jolanta:

Please, call me Ben.

We are thinking about adding a track to our major that would be in Russian
Studies.  I would be willing to write something about it for Newsnet only
after the change is made.  That would be no earlier than the end of this
calendar year.

I decided not to renew my membership in AAASS because my research and
teaching focus on language and language -- for AAASS -- seems, at best, to
be an afterthought.  Slavic Review does not publish articles on language
teaching (and I'm not arguing it should, just recognizing the fact) and the
AAASS conference has precious few panels and papers on language teaching.
The AAASS conference almost always conflicts with the ACTFL conference, so
I have never attended the AAASS conference (despite the temptation of
Hawaii).  For all these reasons, I've decided not to renew my membership in
AAASS this year, although I wholeheartedly support the organization and its
membership because the cause of area studies is dear to us all.

- Ben

PS If you want me to write something for Newsnet, please get in touch with
me in November.



At 12:27 PM 5/26/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Dear Professor Rifkin,
>This is Jolanta Davis, publications coordinator and NewsNet editor at
>AAASS. Please let me know when you are planning to start admitting students
>to this new track of studies. Would you (or anyone else from the new
>program) be willing to write some time in the future (perhaps a year after
>the program has started) an article for NewsNet about the process of
>setting up this program?
>Sincerely,
>Jolanta Davis
>p.s. If I may ask - what made you decide not to renew your membership with
>AAASS for this year? As I am fairly new in my position I have been trying
>to figure out how to serve AAASS members and NewsNet readers the best I can
>and I would appreciate any comments from you regarding this matter.
>
>At 12:50 PM 4/19/00 , you wrote:
>>Dear Colleagues:
>>
>>The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at UW-Madison is
>>considering opening up another major track, in addition to an existing
>>major in Russian language and literature.  This new track would be in
>>Russian Studies or Russian Language and Civilization, and would allow
>>students to take courses toward the major in area studies disciplines.
>>
>>If you teach in a Slavic Department, Russian Department, or Modern Language
>>Department, and have an undergraduate major or major track that allows
>>students to take area studies courses (not exclusively courses in Russian
>>literature), please write me off-list to let me know how your majors are
>>configured.
>>
>>Thank you!
>>
>>Ben Rifkin
>>
>>
>>         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>Benjamin Rifkin, Assoc. Prof. of Slavic Languages, UW-Madison
>>Coordinator of Russian-Language Instruction
>>1432 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Dr., Madison, WI  53706
>>voice:  608/262-1623; fax:  608/265-2814
>>         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>>   options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>>                 http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Jolanta M. Davis
>Publications Coordinator
>American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS)
>8 Story Street
>Cambridge, MA 021238, USA
>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~aaass/
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------

        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Benjamin Rifkin, Assoc. Prof. of Slavic Languages, UW-Madison
Coordinator of Russian-Language Instruction
1432 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Dr., Madison, WI  53706
voice:  608/262-1623; fax:  608/265-2814
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------