Lee Croft

Lee Croft

Emeritus,
School of International Letters and Cultures
Other ASU affiliations
Affiliate Emeritus, Melikian Center
Emeritus Professor, Emeritus College
  • lee.croft@asu.edu
  • LL 402D TEMPE, AZ 85287-0202
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Biography Research Teaching Public Work
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Long Bio

Lee B. Croft was born in Montana, attended Montana State University and Arizona State University (bachelor's in Math, 1968), University of Arizona (master's in Russian, 1970) and Cornell University, earning his doctorate in general and Slavic linguistics in 1973. He taught at Colgate University and at Cornell University as an assistant professor of linguistics, then accepted an assistant professorship of Russian at ASU in 1973. He was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 1978, and to full professor in 1994. He served his department as assistant chair (1976-80), as faculty senator (three times) and as coordinator (1975-to current with only sabbatical breaks) of Russian and the Slavic languages. He is the founder and former director  (1991-1997) of ASU's Critical Languages Institute, now administered through the Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies, the predecessor organization of which (REESC) he helped form. Throughout his career, he has received numerous recognitions for excellence in teaching and student mentorship and, in 2005, received a lifetime professional achievement medal (the V. I. Vernadsky "Ten Years of RAEN" silver medal with sash and diploma) from the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. In November of 2006, he was elected to be the first head of the faculty of German, Romanian, and Slavic in ASU's new School of International Letters and Cultures (SILC).

Education
  • Ph.D. General and Slavic Linguistics, Cornell University 1973
  • M.A. Russian, University of Arizona 1970
  • B.A. Math, Montana State University and Arizona State University, 1968 
Research Interests

Prof. Lee B. Croft's research interests include: Slavic linguistics (historical and structural); Linguistic iconicity, especially its use in language and literature pedagogy; Verse translation of Russian poetry; Biographies in English of Russian historical figures (George Anton Schaeffer, Nikolai Ivanovich Kibalchich, Andrei Andreevich Vlasov) and Russian biographies of American Nobel-laureate scientists (Irving Langmuir, Linus Pauling). He is co-author with four of his "capstone" students of the book RUSSIAN IN ARIZONA: A HISTORY OF ITS TEACHING (IIHS, Tempe/Perm, 2007 ISBN: 978-1-4303-2355-6), wherein he tries to detail the significant achievements of everyone who has ever taught Russian anywhere in the State of Arizona, mentioning over 1600 people: professors, teachers, and students of Russian in the state from the initiation of Russian instruction at ASU in 1946 on.

Publications
  • Lee B. Croft, Andrew W. Abbott, Alicia C. Baehr, Jeremy Ecton, Jon Harris, Patrick J. Heuer, Vadim S. Kagan, Kyle M. Kucharski, Jaime R. Nielsen, Megan Plachecki, Shane C. Sarlo, Eric D. Strachan, and Shamella Tribble. NOT TO PERISH: Articles by an American Professor of Russian. (2009).
  • Lee B. Croft. "The Magic of Alphamagic Squares". NOT TO PERISH: Articles by an American Professor of Russian (2009).
  • Lee B. Croft. Foreword (pp. 5-11) and PROLOGUE: "What Have We Learned" (pp. 296-298). NOT TO PERISH: Articles by an American Professor of Russian (2009).
  • Lee B Croft and Samuel Comi. "A Fourth-Order, Digitally Reversible, Polylingual, Bialphabetic Alphamagic Square". Journal of Recreational Mathematics (2008).
  • Lee B Croft and Samuel Comi. "Russian Alphamagic Squares". WORD WAYS: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics (2008).
  • Lee B Croft and Samuel Comi. "The Search for Russian Alphamagic Squares". ARIZONA RUSSIAN NEWS (2008).
  • Lee B Croft, Andrew T Gunn, Christopher D Johnson, Electronica Kolasa, Scott C Legler, Heather Nyhart, S. Zachary Tanner, Travis Webb (Foreword by Donald K. Jarvis). RUSSIA: The Missionaries' Tales. (2008).
  • . . Review of: "Alphamagic Squares: Adventures..." (2008).
  • . . Review of: A Call to Russia: Glimpses of Missionary Life (2008).
  • . . Review of: A Comparative Reference Grammar of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (2008).
  • . . Review of: A Dictionary of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian-English False Cognates (2008).
  • . . Review of: A Left-Handed History of the World (2008).
  • . . Review of: A Life Not Lived in Vain (in Russian, translated from Uighur) (2008).
  • . . Review of: A Train to Potevka (2008).
  • . . Review of: Fighting Ships: 1750-1850 (2008).
  • . . Review of: Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World's Undeciphered Scripts (2008).
  • . . Review of: New Interpretations in the History of French Literature: From Marie de France to Beckett and Cioran (2008).
  • . . Review of: Nuclear Non-Proliferation Retraining in Post-Soviet Russia (2008).
  • . . Review of: Page, Arizona: Hub of the Visual Universe (2008).
  • . . Review of: RUSSIA: The Missionaries' Tales (2008).
  • . . Review of: Sound-Color Associativity: Universal, National, Individual (in Russian) (2008).
  • . . Review of: STRUCTURES: The Way Things Are Built (2008).
  • . . Review of: The Illustrated History of Weaponry: From Flint Axes to Automatic Weapons (2008).
  • . . Review of: The NATIONAL ENQUIRER: Thirty Years of Unforgettable Images (2008).
  • . . Review of: The Numbers of Heaven (2008).
  • . . Review of: The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles, and Stars (2008).
  • . . Review of: Tune of the Hickory Stick (2008).
  • . . Review of: VLASOV: An Attempt at Literary Research (4 Volumes in Russian) (2008).
  • . . Review of: Wonders of Numbers: Adventures in Mathematics, Mind, and Meaning (2008).
  • Lee B Croft. INTRODUCTION. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Retraining in Post-Soviet Russia (2008).
  • Lee B. Croft. INTRODUCTION. RUSSIA: The Missionaries' Tales (2008).
  • Valentin F Olontsev and Lee B Croft. FOREWORD: "The Legacy of 'The Beard:' Igor Kurchatov and the Russian Nuclear Bombs. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Retraining in Post-Soviet Russia (2008).
  • Croft, Lee B, Boosman, Barry, Lutz, Katherine, Nielsen, James C., Raymer, Aimee M. RUSSIAN IN ARIZONA: A History of Its Teaching. (2007).
  • Lee Croft. Charlie Chaplin and Olesha's ENVY. E-NOTES "Twentieth Century Criticism" (2006).
  • Lee Croft. Thrice to Tell the Tale: People in Threes Going Up in Smoke and Other Triplicities in Russian Literature and Culture. BOOK OF THE THREES (2006).
  • Croft, Lee B. Nikolai Ivanovich Kibalchich: Terrorist Rocket Pioneer. (2006).
  • If, Mustiges, Croft, Lee B. WENDIGO. (2006).
  • Lee Croft. People in Threes Going Up in Smoke and Other Triplicities in Russian Literature and Culture. E-Journal of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association (2005).
  • Olga Vozdvizhenskaya, Lee Croft. The Copulation of Leningrad with Minneapolis, or the Overthrowing of Discordances. Mipco...internet at www.mipco.com/English/introVozd.htm (2004).
  • Lee Croft. Reprint of Autumn 1991 review from WORLD LITERATURE TODAY. MIPCO Publications (2003).
  • Lee Croft. WORLD LITERATURE TODAY review. MIPCO PUBLICATIONS (2003).
  • Lee Croft, Olga Vozdvizhenskaya. The Copulation of Leningrad with Minneapolis, or the Overcoming of Discordances (About the Writings of Mikhail Armalinsky). e-brochure MIPCO PUBLICATIONS (2003).
  • . I. Lengmjur--Master postizhenija slozhnykh mekhanizmov prostogo (Irving Langmuir--Master of making complex mechanisms seem simple) by V. F. Olontsev and Lee B. Croft. (2002).
  • . Nobelevskaja lekcija Irvinga Lengmjura. (2002).
  • Lee B. Croft, Ashleigh Albrecht, Emily Cluff, Erica Resmer. AMBASSADORS: U.S.-to-Russia/Russia-to-U.S. (0).
  • . . Review of: Many (19) (0).
Research Activity
  • Croft,Lee B*. INTENSIVE TATAR INSTRUCTION. SOCIAL SCIENCE RSRCH COUNCIL(6/4/1997 - 7/15/1997).
  • Croft,Lee B*. INTENSIVE TATAR INSTRUCTION. SOCIAL SCIENCE RSRCH COUNCIL(5/15/1996 - 8/15/1996).
  • Croft,Lee B*. INTENSIVE MACEDONIAN INSTRUCTION. AMER COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOC(5/10/1996 - 9/15/1996).
  • Croft,Lee B*. INTENSIVE MACEDONIAN INSTRUCTION. AMER COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOC(5/10/1995 - 8/15/1995).
  • Croft,Lee B*. INTENSIVE SERBO-CROATIAN INSTRUCTION. AMER COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOC(5/10/1995 - 8/15/1995).
  • Croft,Lee B*. INTENXIVE TATAR LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION. SOCIAL SCIENCE RSRCH COUNCIL(5/10/1995 - 8/30/1995).
  • Croft,Lee B*. INTENSIVE MACEDONIAN STUDY. AMER COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOC(5/30/1993 - 7/31/1993).
  • Croft,Lee B*. INTENSIVE SERBO-CROTIAN STUDY. AMER COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOC(2/13/1992 - 8/1/1992).
  • Croft,Lee B*. INTENSIVE MACEDONIAN INSTRUCTION. AMER COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOC(2/15/1991 - 8/15/1991).
Presentations
  • Lee B. Croft. "Attack of the Russian Homoglyphs". Arizona State AATSEEL Convention (May 2010).
  • Lee B. Croft. "Vladimir Nabokov's THREE Visits to Arizona". Arizona State Conference of AATSEEL (Apr 2009).
  • Lee B Croft. "Magic in the Runes: Germanic and Slavic (?)". Fall 2008 convention of the AZ chapter of AATSEEL (Am. Assoc of Teachers of Slav and EE Langs) (Nov 2008).
  • Lee B Croft. The Search for a Russian Alphamagic Square". Arizona State Convention of AATSEEL (Am. Assoc. of Teachers of Slavic and E. European Langs) (Apr 2008).
  • Croft, Lee. Publishing Ourselves--A History of Arizona AATSEEL. Arizona State conference of the Am. Assoc. of Teachers of Sl. and EE Langs (AATSEEL) (Nov 2006).
  • Croft, Lee, Tribble, Shamella. Russians and Rapa Nui Hieroglyphics. Arizona State conference of Am. Assoc. of Teachers of Sl. and EE Langs. (AATSEEL) (Apr 2006).
  • Croft, Lee. The Visit of a Soviet Spy to ASU: WHY?. Arizona State AATSEEL Convention ASU Tempe, AZ Sept. 26, 2003 (Sep 2003).
  • Croft, Lee. "Declining Diversity in Europe?--The Fate of Nine Automobile Marques". Rocky Mountain European Scholars' Consortium Convention
  • Croft, Lee. GORKO--a Russian Play by Tatyana Dhaliwal. Arizona State AATSEEL Convention
Service
  • ASU, Director of the triorganizational collaborative INSTITUTE FOR ISSUES IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE (2008 - Present)
  • ASU Melikian Center's Critical Languages Institute, Member of Liaison/Selection Committee for ROTC "CLI PLUS" DoD grant-supported project (2008 - Present)
  • ASU Melikian Center's Critical Languages Institute, Member of International Advisory Board (2008 - Present)
  • ASU School of International Letters and Cultures (SILC), Founding HEAD of the Faculty of German, Romanian, and Slavic (2008 - Present)
  • ASU School of International Letters and Cultures (SILC), Member of Executive Committee (2008 - Present)
  • ASU-BHC-Office of National Scholarship Advisement, Boren-NSEP candidate jury for Slavic and CIS candidates (2008 - Present)
  • CAPSTONE PUBLICATIONS of Phoenix, AZ, Founder and Editor-in-Chief (2008 - Present)
  • Journal of the National Committee for the Teaching of the Less Commonly Taught Languages (JNCTLCTL), Referee of submitted articles (2008 - Present)
  • SILC, Head of the Faculty of German, Romanian, and Slavic (2008 - Present)
  • SILC, Chair of Personnel Committee (2007 - Present)
  • Fulbright Jury Member, ONSA/BHC (2007 - Present)
  • Boren-NSEP Jury-Barrett Honors College (ONSA), mentor of 4 candidates/juror for 10 (2007 - Present)
  • Rhodes Scholarship Jury/Barrett Honors College (ONSA), Mentor/Juror for Candidate Diana Chu (2006 - Present)
  • School of International Lettres and Cultures (SILC), Executive Committee Member as Faculty Leader (2006 - Present)
  • Fulbright Jury/ Barrett Honors College (ONSA), Mentor/Juror (2006 - Present)
  • Institute for Issues in the History of Science, Director and Editorial Board Member (2005 - Present)
  • Department of Languages and Literatures, Coordinator of Slavic Languages and Literatures (1975 - Present)
  • Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies, Chair, Personnel Committee (2010 - 2010)
  • SILC Faculty of German, Romanian, and Slavic, Coordinator of Slavic (2010 - 2010)
  • School of International Letters and Cultures Faculty of German, Romanian, and Slavic, Head (2010 - 2010)
  • University Professional Roles, ALL university professional roles (2009 - 2010)
  • ASU-BHS-Office of National Scholarship Advisement, Selected nominator for Marshall Scholarship candidates selected by ONSA (2008 - 2008)
  • ASU School of International Letters and Cultures (SILC), Chair of Personnel Committee (2008 - 2008)
  • ASU Melikian Center's Critical Languages Institute, Evaluator of classroom instruction (2008 - 2008)
  • CLAS, member of CLAS Quality of Instruction Committee (2007 - 2008)
  • ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Chair of the Quality of Instruction Committee (2008 - 2008)
  • ASU Melikian Center, Chair of Personnel Committee (2008 - 2008)
  • School of International Lettres and Cultures (SILC, Faculty "Leader" (2006 - 2008)
  • NSEP Jury for ONSA/BHC (2008)
  • Served on Rhodes Scholarship Jury for ASU Student Diana Chu (2007)
  • SILC, Deisgn and implementation of graphic display of faculty photographs (2006 - 2007)
  • Department of Languages and Literatures, Faculty Senator (vice H. Ossipov, sab. leave) (2006 - 2007)
  • Barrett Honors College Fulbright Jury, member for Russian and East European applications (2005 - 2005)
  • DLL organization, Slavic Section Coordinator (2005 - 2005)
  • National Security Education Program jury, member for Russian and East European applicants (2005 - 2005)
  • Department of Languages and Literatures, Coordinator of Slavic Section (2004 - 2004)
  • Fulbright jury Barrett Honors College/LWFONSA, Advisor/mentor/juror (2004 - 2004)
  • NSEP Jury Barrett Honors College LWFONSA, juror/mentor (2004 - 2004)
  • Russian and East European Studies Center, Personnel Committee; Library Committee; Certificate Committee; Choncoff Fund admin (2004 - 2004)
  • Department of Languages and Literatures, Personnel Committee member (2003 - 2004)
  • Critical Languages Institute, participant on 7 search committees to hire summer instructors for 2004 (2004 - 2004)
  • Critical Languages Committee Library Committee, member 2003 (2003)
  • Critical Languages Institute Personnel Committee, Chair (2003)
  • Critical Languages Institute Search Committee--multiple searches Fall 2003, member (2003)
  • DLL Advisory Committee, member 2003-4 (2003)
  • DLL Laboratory Committee, member Spring 2003 only (2003)
  • DLL Personnel Committee, Appointed at end of 2003 as member (2003)
  • DLL Program Review Committee--Slavic, Chair-2003-- (2003)
  • DLL Search Committee-Slavic, Chair (2003)
  • DLL Slavic Section Coordinator, Coordinator (2003)
  • University Fulbright--Student Jury, member Fall 2003 (2003)
  • University NSEP Jury, member all of 2003-- (2003)
  • e-journal "Iconism in Language", Review Staff (2003)
  • Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies, Personal Committee and PC Chair (2 processes) (Present)
  • Russian Section of SILC-GRS Faculty, Attestor of Russian-language credentials (Present)
  • SILC, Member of Executive Council (Present)
  • SILC, Russian language proficiency exams--make-up and grade (Present)
Expertise Areas
Russian
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