Fwd: SEELANGS Digest - 16 Mar 2008 (#2008-104)

[Paul Richardson]

Klawa:

A couple of things.

First, you are welcome to use our online article "Does Russia Matter"  
in any way you see fit (the date reads 2003, the original pub date,  
but we have supplemented and updated the information from time to  
time; if anyone has additional points worth adding, send me a note):
http://www.russianlife.com/article.cfm?Number=1672

Second, as you know (since your school is on the beneficiary list)  
Russian Life (through self-sponsorship and through donations made by  
its regular readers) has for several years been distributing copies of  
the magazine to high schools and college Russian programs, as a way to  
encourage student interest in Russian culture, history and society  
(and thus language). If anyone reading this wants to join or read  
about the program, see: http://www.russianlife.com/educpatr.cfm

As part of this "Education Patrons" program, we gather and maintain  
information on Russian language programs in the US. Here is some of  
the data we gathered in the last year:

Of the 115 schools which responded to our most recent survey of class  
size (we estimate this represents half of the total universe of  
students and classes), there were:
First year students: 3761
Second year and beyond: 3899
Total number of classes: 706
Total number of students: 8280

Schools polled which said quantity of Russian language students is:
Declining: 15.3%
Stable: 61.1%
Growing: 23.6%

Schools polled which said their Russian language program is:
Threatened 35.5%
Safe: 64.5%

Of course we are biased. Russian is extremely relevant. And our  
numbers indicate that there is still stable nationwide interest in  
taking Russian. It could of course be higher. But it seems to me that  
the numbers have been mostly steady since the drop in the mid-1990s...

Best of luck,

Paul Richardson
Publisher

On Mar 17, 2008, at 1:00 AM, SEELANGS automatic digest system wrote:

> Date:    Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:25:12 -0400
> From:    Klawa Thresher <kthresher at RANDOLPHCOLLEGE.EDU>
> Subject: Russian Program to be eliminated
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I am trying to gather some information that might help save our  
> Russian
> program, which our new president has said will be cut because he feels
> that Russian is no longer relevant.  If you know of any Russian  
> programs
> that were threatened with closing but were saved and are still
> flourishing (and that could be a relative term), I would very much
> appreciate getting information about them.
>
> I know that this happened at Ohio State, the University of Pittsburg  
> and
> Macalaster College. Since I do not know the details, if colleagues at
> those institutions could give me some information (especially
> statistics) I would be very grateful.
>
> I would appreciate getting this information as soon as possible, as I
> will be having a hearing on this on Friday (yes, Good Friday!)
>
> You can send this to me at kthresher at randolphcollege.edu
>
> Thank you in advance,
> Klawa Thresher
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 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/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------