On the first day of class, Professor Reuven Russell often jokingly asks students how much they paid to get a seat in Speech 1010. A required course for students of all majors, Speech 1010 is notoriously known to provoke registration anxiety, as slots can fill up quickly and seniors who face scheduling conflicts are forced to take the course over the summer in order to graduate. Enrolling in speech for this upcoming spring semester was especially challenging, as the number of speech classes being offered dropped from seven to three following the retirement of Professor Peninnah Schram.
In fall 2014, seven speech classes were offered, which could accommodate a total of 125 students. Three of those classes were taught by Schram and the remaining four by Russell. This spring, only three speech courses are being offered, all taught by Russell. However, class sizes have been increased from 18 students to either 22 or 25 students, and the Sy Syms School of Business is offering two sections of business communications, which SCW students can take to fulfill their speech requirement. With the increase in class size and the new business communications option, 125 speech students can still be accommodated this spring.
However, the shortage of available speech classes was a source of consternation for students trying to get in to the already much sought-after course.
“When the seniors registered, there was the inevitable situation that some sections were closed and students needed help being placed into other open sections,” Dean Bacon noted. But, she continued, “to the best of my knowledge, everyone was accommodated.”
However, students who were closed out of speech and forced to enroll in business communications will not be getting the same experience as those in speech. Though the two courses are both being taught by Russell, the business communications course is, as its name would suggest, much more business-oriented. While speech is all verbal and presentation based, business communications is fifty-percent oral presentation and fifty-percent business writing, with students learning how to craft professional business e-mails and other business documents.
Russell, a professional actor outside of the classroom who also has a background in business, said he draws on both skill sets in teaching the business communications course.
Asked about the changes to his class size, Russell commented that he feels “probably how every teacher feels about larger classes.. it may not be optimal,” but “you got to do the best that you can do” and “not have the larger numbers diminish the classroom experience.”
However, Russell acknowledged that changes will have to be made.
“The nature of the class is that students get up and give speeches and are timed. If you do the math, things are going to have to change,” he said. Examples of changes that he gave include cutting persuasive and final speeches down to five to seven minutes, instead of the current seven to nine minutes. He also suggested that classes might need to be held during reading week, which, he noted, “students usually aren’t too thrilled about.”
However, he expressed confidence that despite the changes, the class will continue to be successful and that challenges will be ironed out.
Professor Peninnah Schram, who is retiring at the end of the fall semester, joined the Speech and Drama department at Stern College in 1969. She is the author of 12 books on Jewish folktales and has been nationally recognized for her work, having received a National Jewish Book Award and two Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Awards.
Schram described her decades-long career with the Stern Speech department as “both a blessing and an honor.”
According to Dean Bacon, there are no plans at present to recruit another full time public speaking instructor.