Norwich Russian School Closes

[Benjamin Rifkin]

I have been asked to post this to the SEELANGs list.  For all queries
about Norwich's Russian School, please contact Tom Greene (contact
information below).

*****

  For immediate release:
  February 3, 2001

  Contact information:
  Tom Greene
  802-485-2082


  Norwich University closes Russian School

NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Norwich University, citing declining interest
  in Russian studies and a desire to focus its energies more on its
  undergraduate programs, closed its prestigious Russian School last fall
  after 32 years.

During the Cold War, the program's enrollment swelled to more than
  300 people. However, since the fall of the Soviet Union, interest in the study
  of the Russian language has diminished. The final program had an
  enrollment of just 45.

The Russian School was founded in 1958 at Windham College in Putney
before moving to Norwich in 1968. The intensive, six-week program offered
  undergraduate instruction in Russian language and culture, as well as
  graduate courses in literature, culture and theory.

  In addition to five hours of classroom instruction per day, the school
  included a full theater production, a festival production, a film series,
  a study café and a lecture series. The school welcomed many special guests
  during its run, including Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

The Russian School was the second oldest and third largest language
  school  in the country.

Norwich has reached an agreement with nearby Middlebury College to
  preserve some of the finest traditions of the Russian School. Middlebury,
  which has operated a Russian School every summer since 1946, has acquired
  some of Norwich's assets, including teaching materials, theatrical
  costumes and other memorabilia.


  Thomas Greene
  Director of Public Relations
  Norwich University
  158 Harmon Drive
  Northfield, VT 05663
  802-485-2082
  www.norwich.edu


--
____________________________
Benjamin Rifkin

Associate Prof., Slavic Dept., UW-Madison
1432 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Dr.
Madison, WI  53706
voice: 608/262-1623; fax: 608/265-2814
http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/slavic/rifkin/

Director of the Russian School
Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT  05753
voice:  802/443-5533; fax: 802/443-5394
http://www.middlebury.edu/~ls/Russian/

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