For over 35 years, Bruce Holl has been the professor of Russian language and literature at Trinity University. Currently, he and Masha Holl, his wife and senior lecturer, make up the entirety of the Russian program. But when the two retire in the coming year, they won’t be replaced.
The decision comes after a steady decrease in course enrollment. The decline can be clearly seen in this year’s numbers, with the Holls only having a total of 15 enrolled students across the five courses they teach this fall semester. One of Bruce Holl’s classes only has a single student. The Holls cited the more niche nature of Russian courses as a reason for lower enrollments — something Masha Holl said hasn’t always been a bad thing.
“It’s very, very rare that I have a student, much less a group of students that are not responsive, that are not fun to teach,” Masha Holl said. “I think in some ways, we’re lucky that Russian is considered a less commonly taught language, so the correlation is that students who pick Russian are usually more dedicated and more ready to put in the time because they expect it to be difficult.”
Bruce Holl said that while his enrollment numbers have naturally fluctuated over...