Job Announcement - Australia

[Paul Cubberley]

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE ADVENTUROUS:

TEACH RUSSIAN IN AUSTRALIA!

LECTURESHIP IN RUSSIAN (CONTINUING):
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

A continuing position as lecturer in Russian will be available as from October
1995. The position centres on the teaching of modern Russian at all levels
from Beginners on. The successful applicant will have native or near-native
competence in Russian, experience in the teaching of Russian, preferably as
a foreign language, a higher degree, and a proven research record; preference
will be given to a research interest in the language area. The appointee will be
expected to contribute to and coordinate one or more of the three basic subject
levels (Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced), as well as be able to supervise
honours and postgraduate theses in their area of expertise. The ability to
contribute to the teaching of literature or cultural aspects would be an
advantage. The position offers the possibility of research leave and overseas
conference leave within the University's normal guidelines. Tenure is
normally confirmed after a satisfactory probationary period of three years.

Salary scale: A$42198-50111 (Lecturer B)

Applications should be received by 30 June 1995

Further information and a position description may be obtained from the Head
of Department, Associate Professor Paul Cubberley: tel. (+61 3) 9344 5188;
fax (+61 3) 9344 7821; e-mail cubbe at ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au.

SELECTION CRITERIA

a. Essential
- a postgraduate degree in an area of Russian language or
literature
- evidence of continued research activity (e.g. publications, conference
papers, seminars)
- native or near-native competence in modern Russian
- experience and demonstrated ability in teaching Russian as a foreign or
second language to adult learners

b. Desirable
- a research interest in an area of Russian language, especially pedagogy
- an interest in the application of computers to language teaching
- ability to contribute to the teaching of Russian literature

BACKGROUND: RUSSIAN AT MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY

Russian is taught within the Department of Germanic Studies and Russian,
one of several constitutent departments of the School of Languages within
the Faculty of Arts (with a total of 11 modern languages). It has been taught
at this University since 1946 and is the oldest Russian section in Australia.
There are three full-time positions including the present one, which is
becoming vacant due to retirement; the other two are specialists in Russian
linguistics and modern literature respectively. In addition there are many
sessional tutors employed mainly for practical classes in the modern
language. A full program is offered, from Beginners on, with a basic three-
year sequence followed by a fourth, honours, year; at the postgraduate level
there is a Postgraduate Diploma in Russian and Slavonic Studies, a combined
MA by Coursework and Minor Thesis in Applied Linguistics and Russian,
and an MA and PhD by Thesis only. Subjects offered include the study of
Russian Literature in English, aimed at non-language students. Students may
begin Russian from scratch at any year level of their course, and may opt to
stop at any point; for this reason the attrition rate may appear high. Typically
there are some 90 students at any one time, roughly 40-25-15-5 over the
available four years of the course, and a further 5 at postgraduate level. The
Department founded, and is still fully responsible for, the journal Australian
Slavonic and East European Studies: this journal was founded here in 1987
and is known widely throughout Europe and the US; it is the official organ of
the Australian and New Zealand Slavists Association; it replaced Melbourne
Slavonic Studies, which was also founded and produced in this department
from 1967 to 1985, being the first such journal in the southern hemisphere.
The University (Faculty of Arts) also maintains a Centre for Russian and
Euro-Asian Studies, which conducts research and consultative activities
mainly in the areas of politics, history and economics; it coordinates
various postgraduate courses, all of which have as a requirement some
knowledge of Russian. The Horwood Language Centre conducts an Intensive
Beginners Russian course and an Intermediate Business Russian course. The
Russian teaching staff of this department are encouraged, but not required, to
participate in the activities of these two centres. Finally, there are
 specialists
in other areas of Russian interest in several departments of the Faculty:
Political Science, History, Economics In a word, there is a considerable
amount of Russian-related activity in the Faculty, and the University sees this
area as an important one. The advertised position will replace the retiring
lecturer before their retirement, which occurs at the end of December 1995;
this will allow a useful amount of overlap with the incumbent during the
period of induction. The teaching period ends in late October (with
examinations until late November) and resumes in late February.

Concluding note: I came to Australia from Britain to just such a job 30 years
ago - and stayed!

Paul Cubberley cubbe at ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au