Advising

Russian Flagship students are encouraged to attend as many co-curricular activities as possible. Russian Flagship co-curricular events and activities provide important opportunities for students to get to know other students outside of their “cohort,” meet scholars and other Russian-speaking visitors to campus and learn about their research or work, expand their cultural knowledge, and practice using their Russian in social situations. These activities are an important part of the program.

During the semester, residents of Russkii dom should also plan to attend regular ILC dinners and to sit at the Russkii dom table.

Students who are unable to attend in-person events are encouraged to utilize the program’s list of online language learning resources.

To make satisfactory progress, students must:

• Meet proficiency benchmarks and complete course requirements, as specified in their individualized study plan;
• Maintain a GPA of 3.5 in Russian courses, and cumulative GPA of 3.0;
• Enroll in at least 3 credits of Russian each semester;
• Participate in 1-4 hours of tutoring, following program policies and tutoring guidelines;
• Actively participate in Russian Flagship extracurricular activities and other programming for Russian Flagship students;
• Participate in Russian Flagship assessments;
• Create and maintain a profile in the National Security Education Program Student Certification System.

Students who are not making satisfactory progress will be notified first orally, then, if necessary, in writing. Students who receive a written notice may be placed on probation. Students on probation must meet the terms of the probation to remain a student in the Russian Flagship Program.

The Student Certification System (SCS) is a database managed by the National Security Education Program (NSEP) in the U.S. Department of Defense, which funds the Russian Flagship Program at UW-Madison. NSEP uses the SCS to track student enrollments and determine the amount of funding, including funding for Language Flagship Scholarships, to provide for the Russian Flagship Program.

It is extremely important that students keep their profiles in the Student Certification System up-to-date!

For log-in issues or other SCS questions, please contact Jacob Aehl.

Tutoring is a critical component of the Russian Flagship Program that provides students with extra practice and focused, individualized attention as they progress through the program and work to meet proficiency goals. Russian Flagship advisors determine general areas of focus for tutoring (e.g. conversation, academic writing); students decide with their tutors how best to organize their tutoring sessions, based on these general areas of focus, and on their individual interests and needs.

Students meet with their tutors for 1-3 classroom hours (50 minutes) each week, at a mutually convenient time. Depending on a student’s level in Russian, their tutoring may take place in small groups, with other Russian Flagship students, or students may have both small-group and individual tutoring. In Fall 2024, tutoring will begin the week of September 9 and will continue through the last full week of classes, the week of December 2. There will be no tutoring during the week of Thanksgiving Recess, the week of November 25.

Students are responsible for coming prepared to tutoring sessions with ideas for topics to discuss or aspects of Russian language to practice. Tutoring sessions should be primarily driven by students; they are not independent study or formalized courses for which their tutors will prepare lesson plans.

Students should give their tutor 24-hours written notice if they need to reschedule a tutoring session in a given week. In case of emergency, or on less than 24-hours notice, students should contact both their tutor and Dr. Anna Tumarkin, associate director, by e-mail. When possible, make-up sessions for missed tutoring should be rescheduled within the same week.

Please direct questions or concerns about tutoring to Dr. Tumarkin.