Russian Enrollments

[Julie de Sherbinin]

Dear Seelangers,

Thanks for the Lewis & Clark information.

I¹m impressed by the high enrollments in Russian at so many
institutions.  I¹d like to speak up on behalf of liberal arts colleges
in rural locations (many of us!) who aren¹t doing so well.  We
have 1.8 FTE in Russian. College enrollment is 1800.

This year¹s enrollment is typical of the kinds of ups and downs
we experience:
1st year        7
2nd year    11
3rd year        3 (one in Russia)
4th year        5
We have five senior Russian majors and three minors,
but that won¹t be the case for the classes of Œ13 and Œ15.

What does the picture look like at other small colleges?
The factors that seem to be at play here:
* Very few heritage speakers.
* Pre-arrival registration means Œadvertising¹ doesn¹t work
* A campus culture of conformity
* Student worries that Russian will penalize their GPA

How do y¹all do it?

Julie de Sherbinin
Colby College
Waterville, Maine










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