Nominate a Student for the Post Secondary Russian Scholar Laureate Award

From the SEELANGS listserv:

It's time once again to nominate the TOP STUDENT in your program for the annual Post Secondary Russian Scholar Laureate Award--PSRSLA!

Before describing the nomination procedure, allow me to introduce myself. I am Prof. Alla Smyslova of Columbia University. I have assumed the position of Chair of the Post-Secondary Russian Scholar Laureate Award (PSRSLA) program and am delighted to be able to solicit nominations from you for the 2013 PSRSLA.

Many of you are very well familiar with this program (just scroll down to the Guidelines). But for those of you who joined the list recently, I will take a minute to describe it.

The PSRSLA is a free program offered to US Russian Departments and Programs. Organized under the auspices of ACTR (the American Council of Teachers of Russian), the PSRSLA seeks to provide national recognition for our star junior and senior students--those students who best embody an enthusiasm for and love of things Russian. ACTR provides this program as a service to the profession. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to publicly recognize your top junior or senior student. It's easy! It's free!

Last year 47 Russian language programs acknowledged and celebrated their top students. We encourage you to do it again this year. If your program did not participate in the PSRSLA before, we invite you to do it this year. Our students deserve it. We encourage you to take advantage of this program in order to let our best and brightest know that we appreciate their work and value their commitment to all things Russian. YOU decide who is worthy of this award, not ACTR.

In order to nominate a student, please follow these GUIDELINES:

1. Deadline for nominations is March 1, 2013.
2. Nominations are accepted in electronic format only, via e-mail to me at as2157 at columbia dot edu
3. Nomination letters can be in the body of the e-mail or sent as an attachment.

Nomination letters should include the following information:

--Full name of student as it should appear on the Gramota. Nominees should be juniors or seniors.

Only one student can be nominated from each institution. While larger Russian programs frequently have more than one outstanding student, in order to preserve the integrity of the award, no more than one student at a given institution can be nominated to receive the PSRSLA.

--Description of why this student most deserves this award, i.e. how the student promotes the study of Russian and models the behavior of a committed Russian student. The student need not have the top GPA, nor be a Russian major, but should demonstrate an active dedication--in course work, outside activities, attitude--to the study of Russian language and culture.

--Name and contact information of the nominator who must be a member of ACTR*. Since the nomination should reflect the consensus of the program or department, your letter should be submitted over the signature of the program chair, director, or DUS.

[*If you are not a member of ACTR and would like to join, log on to the ACTR Membership web site http://www.americancouncils.org/actrMembership.php . With your membership you receive the ACTR Newsletter as well as a subscription to the Russian Language Journal--a peer-reviewed publication that explores all aspects of the Russian language and welcomes submissions.]

3. Award certificates will be mailed to nominators during March so that they arrive prior to any departmental award ceremonies.

Questions? Contact me at as2157 at columbia dot edu
Thanks in advance for your nominations!

Alla A. Smyslova, Ph. D.
Senior Lecturer, Columbia University
Department of Slavic Languages
as2157 at columbia dot edu

Smyslova, A. [SEELANGS] Reward your BEST STUDENT. SEELANGS listserv (SEELANGS@LISTSERV.UA.EDU, 17 Jan 2013).