Post Secondary Russian Scholar
Laureate Award

The ACTR Post Secondary Russian Scholar Laureate Award (PSRSLA) is a free program offered to U.S. Russian language departments and programs.

​Organized under the auspices of the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR), the PSRSLA seeks to provide national recognition for our outstanding junior and senior university-level 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 every Russian program to take advantage of this opportunity to publicly recognize their top junior or senior students.

Since 2019 this award is open to community colleges with two years of Russian. These colleges are welcome to nominate one of their students who will be continuing on to a four-year university to major in Russian.

Participate in PSRSLA and let our best and brightest know that we appreciate their work and value their commitment to all things Russian. Individual Russian departments and programs, not ACTR, decide which of their students are most deserving of this award. All laureates receive ACTR certificates and letters.    

Nomination period: January 1st – March 1. During the nomination period there is an active link "Nomination form" on the right. No late nominations accepted. Award certificates are mailed to nominators by April 1.

History note: In 2007, Ben Rifkin and Jane Shuffelton,  members of ACTR Board of Directors, suggested expanding the ACTR Russian Scholar Laureate Award, which at that time was open only to secondary-level Russian language programs, to college and university programs. That marked the beginning of the ACTR Post-Secondary Russian Scholar Laureate Award (PSRSLA). Cynthia A. Ruder, a member of ACTR Board of Directors and PSRSLA Chair from 2007 to 2012 designed the format of this award and worked hard to reach out to as many Russian programs as possible, bringing the number of participants from twenty institutions in 2007 to fifty in 2012. John Schillinger, Chair of the Committee on College and Pre-College Russian (CCPCR), as well as the SEELANGS listserve, have continuously provided invaluable help in spreading information about this award to an ever-growing number of programs.



Questions? Suggestions? Complaints?
Contact Alla Smyslova,
 PSRSLA Chair
as2157@columbia.edu 

Notes from Nominators

 2020
 
"Many thanks for making this opportunity available to Russian students! It is a terrific way to recognize their achievements."
 
"I am a small-college Russian program nominator, and I want to thank you for such a great opportunity to recognize a hard-working, dedicated and very talented student!"
 
"Thank you for doing this, we love being able to award this every year! I appreciate what all of you do under normal circumstances, but at the present moment that goes double."  
 
"Thank you for continuing to organize this!"
 
"Thank you very much for giving us this nation-wide opportunity to recognize one of the best students in our Russian program each year."

"Thank you SO much for continuing to run this wonderful program. It is such a great motivator for our students and our program. You are fabulous!"
 
"Thank you for all that the ACTR is doing to support the field during the COVID shutdowns."
 
"Thank you so much!  We really appreciate the program and all you do to organize it every year.  I know how much work this is."

"Thank you for this valuable service!!"
 
"Thank you so much. I'm sure that was a huge amount of work, but this is so meaningful to the students."
 
"Thank you for doing this important work, despite the circumstances."
 
2019  
 
"I am a one-person program, and it means a lot to see my students get recognized by the ACTR. As I am working towards establishing a Russian studies minor, this is the best reward they could get for studying Russian at our University. Thank you so much for recognizing the best students of Russian."    
                 
"Thank you for continuing to offer this wonderful form of recognition for our students!"
 
"Thank you for arranging this!"
 
"Thank you, as always!"
 
"Thank you so much for doing this once again!"

"Thanks so much for this wonderful program!"
 
"Thank you so much for orchestrating the Laureate Award, which is always a nice thing to give out at the end of the year."   
 
"Thank you. I appreciate so much the work of the ACTR to support our programs!"
 
"Thanks so much for this opportunity. I love being able to honor the strongest student in my program each year for their hard work and dedication to learning Russian. They are always thrilled to receive this award each year."
 
2018
 
"Thank you ! for making this possibility available to students of Russian!"
 
"Thank you very much for coordinating this award! It means so much to the students and everyone in the profession!"
 
"Thank you, as always, for coordinating this program. Especially for the frequent reminders, even on the last day!"
 
"And thanks again for running the award program, it's a great program."
 
"Thanks so much for organizing this wonderful award -- we so appreciate it!"