Possible Russian program elimination at Portland Community College

[Olga Livshin]

Dear Prof. Shmakov,

This letter is in response to your call for letters of support on SEELANGS. I am not sure how much
a voice of a grad student counts, but I would like to help out to the extent that I can. I also
forwarded your email to the Association of Women in Slavic Studies, where I am a graduate student
representative.

Best,
Olga Livshin
Ph.D. Candidate, Northwestern University

--------
Dear Professor Shmakov,

I was disheartened to hear that the Russian program of the Portland Community College may be in
danger of being eliminated. Census figures show no place in the nation has had more of an influx
from the Soviet Union than the Northwest. Oregon is number two in the nation for Russian-speaking
newcomers. The role that your department plays in preparing professionals to speak the language and
understand the culture of those newcomers cannot be underestimated.

I have experienced a difference that a college can play in the lives of immigrants firsthand. A
Ph.D. candidate in the Slavic Ph.D. program at Northwestern University at present, I emigrated to
this country as a teenager. It was important for me to maintain and enrich certain parts of Russian
culture that were meaningful to me, and I deeply appreciated the role that the University of
California, San Diego, played in maintaining a culture-rich community life in my city. Having lived
in two other cities with large Russian communities and Slavic programs since then, I have seen that
the colleges and universities that teach its students Russian and sponsor Russian cultural events
raise the level of cultural awareness for both Russian Americans and other Americans. Colleges help
the Russian community find a place in which it can maintain its heritage harmoniously, and they
train future professionals to interact with Russian Americans--employees, consumers, and
conscientious citizens of this country. Without a connection between the Russian community and the
greater community of each city, Russians often feel isolated, particularly those in the older
generations, and the consequent stress level for them is quite significant. Your program, in
particular, is successful in attracting and educating its students in Russian. I am aware that the
Portland Community College has the largest first-year Russian enrollments in the state of Oregon,
with over 120 students taking first-year classes each year. This is an enormous number even by
university-level standards.

Closing the Russian program at your college would be very unfortunate. I would like to express my
support for your program, and hope that you can continue to foster the connection between the
Portland Russian community and the future professionals in the area.

Best wishes,
Olga Livshin

==============Original message text===============
On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 5:25:03 pm CST "Kristine L. Shmakov" wrote:

I am Kristine Shmakov, the full-time Russian instructor and Russian
Department Chair at Portland Community College in Portland, Oregon. I just
joined the list and have not had a chance to introduce myself. Now I need to
use my introduction to ask for your help in preventing elimination of the
Russian language program at Portland Community College. Oregon Community
Colleges are being forced to make huge cuts over the next two years due to
lack of state funding. PCC itself will have to cut $18 million or 8% of its
budget. We have just been notified by administration that cuts will be
narrow and deep, meaning that they are looking to eliminate entire programs.
All academic and non-academic programs are now on the table in a closed
budget process. We are very concerned that the Board and administrators will
consider it frivolous to offer five languages at PCC, and that they will not
understand the great importance of Russian to the Portland-Vancouver
community. Programs chosen for elimination will be announced at the
beginning of March, and then will have only a week to prepare a defense
before final budget decisions are made. I need to collect letters in support
of our program now, in case I should need them. In the past, programs that
have received strong levels of support from the community have been spared.
I would greatly appreciate it if each of you could write a letter in support
of the PCC Russian program and send it directly to me. If you could also
pass this information onto your colleagues not on the SEELANGS list, as well
as anyone you know connected with Russian, it would greatly help our
efforts. I hope to amass hundreds of letters to convince the Board that a
strong and affordable Russian program is important to the community and that
it must be retained.

Please send your letters of support to either my home e-mail or address:

kshmakov at pdxlink.com
or Kristine Shmakov 10810 SW 62nd Place Portland, Oregon 97219

Members of the immigrant community are welcome to write letters in Russian
if they prefer.

The PCC Russian program started sixteen years ago to meet the growing need
for affordable Russian classes in Portland. It is a two-year program that
offers college transferable first and second year courses, as well as
Russian culture classes. My students transfer to state universities and
prestigious private institutions where they continue to study Russian at
higher levels. We have the largest first-year Russian enrollments in the
state of Oregon, with over 120 students taking first year classes each year.
Our courses regularly close with 35 students in each section. Russian has
been the only language the last two falls to have every seat filled in all
courses offered. Our program has very little attrition, so we keep our high
numbers throughout the year.

Part of the reason for our brimming enrollments is that Russian has become
the second most demanded language by Oregon employers. The
Portland-Vancouver Russian-speaking immigrant community seen the largest per
capita growth anywhere in the US, with a 70% increase over the last ten
years. As a result, students are no longer taking Russian just to fulfill a
degree requirement. With such a strong program and great community need for
the language, it seems absurd to consider eliminating Russian. However, in
such dire financial times, I cannot make this assumption and not act in
defense. This is why I need your letters of support now. If you have any
further questions or suggestions, please contact me at (503) 977-4841.

Thank you so much for your help, and I¹ll keep you informed of developments.

Sincerely,

Kristine Shmakov
Russian Instructor and Russian Department Chair
Portland Community College
Portland, Oregon

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

===========End of original message text===========

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