AATSEEL listings

[David Powelstock]

Dear Ben and list,

This is extremely interesting information, and kudos to those who made the
time to put it up.  But there is some ambiguity, in the presentation, which
could probably be easily cleared up.  In the first list, by institutional
rank, one might get the impression that the ranking is in order of best
RUSSIAN programs, rather than best RESEARCH universities (overall).
(Whereupon one is surprised to learn that MIT comes in at #4, with a Russian
program characterized by "None"!  Ditto for CalTech at #5.)  It may seem a
minor matter, but when one publicly posts such a list, one ought to make
very clear what it intends to say.  One might even consider putting the
alphabetical list first, since this info is less liable to misunderstanding.


I hope my comments are not taken amiss, or as inappropriate kibbitzing.  I
worry that this valuable info might be taken the wrong way.  

Cheers,

David Powelstock

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list 
> [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Benjamin Rifkin
> Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 3:26 PM
> To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
> Subject: [SEELANGS] AATSEEL listings
> 
> Dear SEELANGers:
> 
> AATSEEL volunteers have created what we believe to be 
> comprehensive listings of programs in Russian at the top 50 
> research universities and the top 50 liberal arts colleges 
> (both as defined by US News & World Report). The purpose of 
> these listings is to provide threatened programs with 
> ammunition as to the importance of Russian in this list.
> 
> The lists can be found at
> 
> http://aatseel.org/departments/Russianuniversities.htm (for 
> 50 top research
> universities)
> 
> And
> 
> http://aatseel.org/departments/Russiancolleges.htm
> 
> It has come to our attention that a few of the listings are 
> inaccurate. If you work at an institution on this list, 
> please take a moment to look at your institution¹s listing.  
> If it needs to be edited, please send the revised version of 
> the listing to AATSEEL¹s webmaster, Dr. Marta Deyrup at this address:
> 
> deyrupma at shu.edu
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Ben Rifkin
> 
> *************
> Benjamin Rifkin
> Professor, UW-Madison Slavic Dept.
> http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/slavic
> 
> As of July 1, 2005:  NEW E-MAIL brifkin at temple.edu
> 
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