Heads of Department

Many distinguished academics have headed the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies over the years since its founding.

The first lecturer to teach Russian at The University College, Nottingham, was Basil Slepchenko. Born in Ekaterinodar, he had studied at the Commercial Institute in Moscow, and travelled to Britain in 1914 in order to improve his English and foster exchanges for the students of the Institute. He volunteered for service after the war broke out, but was rejected on medical grounds. Unexpectedly stranded, he remained in the UK and made the country his home, embracing a new career as a teacher of Russian language.

Basil was appointed to his post in Nottingham in 1915, where he initially taught students across a range of day and evening classes. He also held part-time teaching positions in both Derby and Leicester. He left Nottingham in 1917 to take up a lectureship at the University of Liverpool. In a testimonial, an academic colleague praised his skill as a teacher, his experience and his zeal, remarking that his excellence was so great that his later departure from Liverpool was “disastrous to Russian studies”. Basil died in an accident in 1966, and was buried in Utley Cemetery in Bradford.