Slavic Dept to Stay, With Conditions

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS KEEPING SLAVIC DEPARTMENT, WITH CONDITIONS 

     COLUMBUS -- The Department of Slavic and East European 
Languages and Literatures (SEELL) at The Ohio State University 
should remain an independent unit within the College of 
Humanities, says a report submitted this week by a committee 
appointed to evaluate the future of the department.

     However, the report also calls for substantive changes in 
the direction and focus of the department, as well as for a 
"probationary" period under the leadership of a department 
chair appointed from outside the current faculty.

     In January, Kermit Hall, dean of the College of Humanities, 
appointed an ad hoc committee, headed by Brian Joseph, chair of 
Ohio State's Department of Linguistics, to consider the future of 
the SEELL department.  As part of the ongoing restructuring 
efforts at Ohio State, all colleges have been challenged by the 
president and provost to examine their organization carefully to 
determine if the current structure is the most appropriate use of 
resources.  SEELL has suffered declining enrollments and loss of 
faculty for several years and is one of the smallest academic 
units at the university.   

     Hall charged the 10-member committee to determine whether a 
Ohio State needed Slavic and East European studies and, if so, 
how that need could be best met: via an independent department, a 
merged department, or by dispersing the duties among several 
other units.

     The final report, presented to Hall Monday (4/15), 
recommends maintaining SEELL as an independent department, a 
decision the committee says make sense academically, 
intellectually, practically and financially.  However, it calls 
for the department to be put on "probationary" status for not 
more than three years, during which SEELL will be headed by an 
interim chair from outside the department.  The current chair, 
Charles Gribble, is to return to full-time teaching, where his 
expertise in Slavic linguistics and Bulgarian language is needed.

     The problems outlined by the report and the recommended 
solutions are:
     -- Lack of focus.  The committee found little agreement 
among the senior faculty on what the department's priorities and 
goals are or should be.  There is concern about how this affects 
the entire department, but particularly the graduate program.  
The committee recommends shoring up the graduate program, 
considering offering a terminal M.A. degree, and matching 
incoming graduate students with faculty advisors soon after 
admission. 

     -- Outdated materials.  SEELL has not kept its independent 
instruction materials up to date with current teaching methods 
and the world situation.  Russian language textbooks in use do 
not yet reflect the break-up of the Soviet Union, for example.  
The committee recommends immediate updating the Russian 
materials, and examination of all other language instruction 
materials to see which need revision.

     -- Inattentiveness to scheduling and enrollment management.
Some classes are offered too often for the demand.  Others are 
scheduled at inconvenient times for students, decreasing 
enrollment.  The committee recommends a review of the scheduling 
practices, with the aim of maximizing utility for both students 
and faculty.

     -- Division of labor in teaching assignments.  Faculty are 
not involved in basic language courses, and graduate teaching 
associates are not involved in literature and culture classes.  
The committee recommends a "more permeable boundary between the 
language and literature/culture courses and between faculty and 
GTAs in terms of teaching assignments."

     -- Language pedagogy and coordinating the language program.
Language instruction has been left primarily to graduate 
students.  The committee recommends authorizing a faculty 
position for a language coordinator/pedagogy specialist, and also
the involvement of all faculty in the language program.

     -- Development and public relations.  While historically 
well thought of and supported, SEELL has recently suffered some 
loss of fund-raising revenue and some negative perceptions among 
Ohio's Slavic communities and among academic Slavicists, 
generated in part, in the committee's opinion, by some members of 
the department's faculty "spreading misleading and occasionally 
reckless reports about various administrative actions, past and 
present."  The committee believes that the public awareness of 
the department that has come from the review itself may provide 
new opportunities for outreach and support.  It recommends that 
the department immediately begin work to neutralize any damage 
done to the university, the college and the department by the 
politicizing of the review process.

     Joseph, as chair of the review committee, is expected to 
present the report to the full faculty of the College of 
Humanities on May 9.  Dean Hall will begin implementing the 
recommended changes shortly thereafter.

                              #
 
Contacts:
Kermit Hall, dean, College of Humanities, (614) 292-1882;
Brian Joseph, chair of ad hoc review committee, (614) 292-4981.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Thu, 18 Apr 1996 16:48:21 -0400]
All documents are the responsibility of their originator.