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Russian Language Journal

Keywords

humanities, language, traditions, Russian

Abstract

In May 2012, the University of California, Irvine’s Humanities Language Learning Program hosted a symposium entitled Traditions and Transitions: Russian Language Teaching in the United States. The primary impetus for the meeting was to celebrate the distinguished career of our colleague, Dr. Victorina Lefebvre, who taught Russian language courses at University of California, Irvine since 1984. Her retirement in June 2012 meant the symposium was an opportunity to recognize and thank her for her unflagging decades of hard work for UC Irvine’s students. Victorina Lefebvre, who trained in the USSR in mathematics and physics education (M.A.) and in psychology (Ph.D.), first began to develop teaching materials in 1975-77 for the University of California system for use in Russian language classrooms. Every year, Victorina worked hard at expanding and enhancing her classroom skills through frequent and enthusiastic participation in professional development opportunities, both at UC Irvine and through the UC system-wide Language Consortium. She also toiled tirelessly on more than one occasion to save the program in Russian Studies from being cut completely at UC Irvine. She is an outstanding teacher, superb role model for fellow instructors, and an advocate for our field. Most importantly, she has consistently connected with her students over the years and contributed to their education in many ways.

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