Stephen Tate, a senior in political science, received a Russian Scholar Laureate Award from the American Council of Teachers of Russian for his outstanding studies of the Russian language.

This is the second award that has been given by professor Alla Smyslova of Columbia University and сhair of the American Council of Teachers of Russian, to students of Russian from the University of Arkansas. Last year, Brittany Jacobson (B.A.'17) became the first student to receive this award. Only one student per year can be nominated for this award. 

The American Council of Teachers of Russian is a division of the American Councils for International Education. In her award letter, Smyslova stated that "this national honor testifies to the high esteem afforded [to Stephen Tate] by your Russian program. Russian language programs across the country were assigned the difficult task of nominating one person who embodies the best qualities of a post-secondary Russian language student: an unfailing devotion to and a passion for Russian language, literature, and culture." 

Tate said that studying Russian "gave [him] access to a new culture and people and a different perspective and it is useful in any aspect of [his] life and career. It was a very difficult process but the fruits of studying paid off."

Tate also serves as treasurer of the Russian-Eurasian Student Organization (R.S.O.), which promotes the visibility of the Russian Program by organizing campuswide lectures, concerts, and poetry readings by scholars of Imperial, Soviet, Russian, and Russian-Jewish studies. Recent events that he and his organization helped to bring to campus have included a visit by the Russian-American poet Polina Barskova of Hampshire College, the Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen, and the bard and poet Psoy Korolenko. For more on the Russian-Eurasian Student Organization, please see its Facebook page.