St. Petersburg State University
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Smolny College)
AcademicYear
2013
2014
CONTENTS
Letter from Academician Dmitry Likhachev
Letter from Alexey Kudrin, Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Welcome by Leon Botstein, President, Bard College
Welcome by Danil Khachaturov, President, Rosgosstrakh Group
Donors. Rosgosstrakh LLC
Endowed scholarships
Donors. The Calvert 22 Foundation, UK
The Liberal Education Network
Admissions Campaign, 2013
Students
Third Annual Smolny Student Conference
Education and Program Development
Faculty
Academic Mobility
Cooperation with Bard College
Student Life
Alumni/ae
Conferences. Research Centers and Laboratories
Seminars
Research Projects
Publications
Dear Mr. Filippov,
I hereby express my support for the initiative of the University of St. Petersburg in introducing a
new Bachelor’s program in Liberal Arts and Sciences, which I believe will open new, promising
opportunities to enhance university education in the liberal arts and humanities in Russia.
Students will benefit from a combined focus on specialized and interdisciplinary programs, and
from individualized learning tracks that will help them develop the skills in critical and creative
thinking they will need to operate efficiently and effectively in the post-industrial context, and
to become democratic citizens. The Bachelor’s program in Liberal Arts and Sciences will use the
latest international best practices in higher education and, most importantly, will organically
develop the best traditions of university education in Russia, including those sadly lost through
the dramatic upheavals the country suffered in the past century.
I am aware of your positive response to introducing a new educational program in Liberal Arts
and Sciences and would like to express my appreciation of your efforts in this direction. I am
convinced that the success of the proposed endeavor will demonstrate compellingly that the
higher education system in Russia has recovered its capability to implement creative reforms and
lead the way.
Board of Overseers
Contacts
Yours sincerely,
Dmitry Likhachev
July 27, 1999
Letter from Academician
Dmitry Likhachev to Russian
Minister of Education
Vladimir Filippov
photo by Steve Pyke
Dear friends,
The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences has reached the end of another academic year, the third since
it achieved the status of a full Faculty of the University. Today, we can safely state that this was not
a reward for “seniority,” in recognition of our years of service, but, rather, the logical outcome of the
successful development of an educational innovation that has met international standards and can
serve as a model for other Russian institutions.
Graduates from our program will be awarded dual degrees from St. Petersburg State University,
Russia, and Bard College, U.S., two institutions that are in the vanguard of education in their respective
countries. The world’s leading universities, such as Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford, send their students
to study at our Faculty. More than a dozen Russian higher education institutions have shown interest
in introducing similar programs to match the benchmark set by us.
All this would not have been possible without support from our friends. As early as the late 1990s,
the liberal education model was advocated by Academician Dmitry Likhachev, who emphasized its
benefits for students as a way of developing their critical and creative thinking and fostering their
transformation into citizens able “to operate efficiently and effectively in the post-industrial context.”
Today, fifteen years later, our Faculty is supported by dozens of reputable people in Russia, including
academic scientists, public figures, and business leaders.
Increasingly we hear that in the not so distant future the liberal model may become widely applicable
within the overall higher education system. This is driven by the logic of the labor market. Our
graduates are becoming more and more popular with employers not only in science and arts, but
also in business, public administration, banking, and other industries that require creative, outside-thebox thinkers. Therefore, we see the contribution to the development of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and
Sciences as a contribution to the future of our country.
Alexey Kudrin
Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences,
St. Petersburg State University
Two events stand out during the past academic year as important milestones in the history of Bard’s
partnership with St. Petersburg State University. The first is that in October 2013 the partnership’s
Board of Overseers met in New York for the first time. The meeting gave us a chance to introduce
Overseers and colleagues to some of Bard College’s programs in New York City, including the
International Center for Photography; the Bard High School Early College in Manhattan; and the
Bard Center for Graduate Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture. An
excursion to Princeton invited visitors to hear about that university’s Integrated Science curriculum.
It was our honor to host the distinguished members of the delegation, and we hope to do so again,
perhaps on the main campus in Annandale during the fall “leaf-peeper” season.
The second notable “first” was the conference in January that brought together educators from
18 Russian and 14 American institutions of higher education, all engaged in Russian-American dual
degree programs. The conference, which was co-sponsored by Bard and the State University of New
York (SUNY) Global Center, took place in Annandale and New York City. It was the first international
conference on this topic. We welcomed representatives from leading universities throughout the
Russian Federation, including St. Petersburg State University, Moscow State University, Far Eastern
Federal University, Kazan Federal University, Irkutsk State University, the Higher School of Economics,
the New Economics School, and Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology. U.S. universities that
were represented included Clark University, Columbia University, MIT, the University of California,
the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and several
SUNY branches. The gathering, which was funded by the Eurasia Foundation, underlined the robust
interest in and diverse experience of dual degree programs.
Our partnership, it turns out, is not the oldest – the first U.S.-Russian dual degree partnership seems
to have been between the University of Maryland and Far Eastern Federal University, formed in
1991. But thanks to the imagination, generosity, and long-term commitment of colleagues and
supporters, the program in Arts and Humanities is by far the most academically comprehensive
program in existence, as well as the only one to focus on the humanities, arts, and sciences. (The
majority of programs offer business, management, or technical degrees.) We are one of relatively few
partnerships to offer a dual degree that is accredited in both Russia and the U.S., and one of only two to
have graduated more than 750 students. (The other is a program in Business and Economics offered
by the Russian Academy of National
Economy and Public Administration and
California State University East Bay.) Like
the historic international conference
on Liberal Education that took place in
St. Petersburg, at Smolny, in October
2012, this latest gathering bears witness
to the novelty and success of our joint
efforts, as well as to the strong appeal
of the dual degree concept, despite
the various difficulties encountered in
mounting successful programs.
In this context, I would like to express
once again my congratulations and appreciation to our partners at St. Petersburg State University, including Rector
Kropachev, President Verbitskaya, Dean
Kudrin, and the faculty and administration of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and
Sciences for having had the foresight,
creative imagination, and persistence
to sustain our partnership. We are optimistic and excited about its value and
future development. In periods when
government ties come under stress, the
value of cooperative programs like ours
is greater than ever.
Leon Botstein
President of Bard College
DEVELOPMENT
The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences would like to thank Rosgosstrakh LLC and
Danil Khachaturov, personally, for their support provided to the Arts and Humanities
program in the academic year 2013-2014.
50,000,000
rubles
in donations for the academic year 2013-2014
Donations from Rosgosstrakh LLC were used to support faculty members, research projects,
seminars, and conferences:
full-time
professors
international
scientific
conferences
Russian
speakers
Rosgosstrakh is one of the oldest players in the insurance market. Over the ninety-three years of
its existence, it has grown into a multi-product financial institution offering its customers a wide
variety of services. Times, borders, and people have changed, but our mission has always remained
the same: to secure people’s well-being. We have always been committed to the principles of
responsibility, reliability, integrity, diligence, effectiveness, and responsiveness. Professionally, we
have achieved a lot and we really have something to be proud of.
foreign
speakers
regular
seminars
meetings
with Russian and
foreign participants
People’s well-being and business development are not the only priorities for us. As an ancient Greek
philosopher once said, “the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.”
Therefore, we are aiming at promoting a culture of insurance in the country. We have established
and are successfully operating the Center for Strategic Studies to collect, compile, and analyze data
on social and economic developments in Russia. We are not alien to research and training, or to
charitable support for science and education. We do recognize our responsibility for preserving
and enhancing human values and contributing to the future of this country. It is supporting talents,
both young and already established, that builds a sense of ownership of the future.
We acknowledge the need to correct the mistakes of the past and encourage charitable programs
to support health and educational institutions. It is very important for us to support those who can
help build a successful future. By providing support to the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences,
we are protecting our future against ignorance, backwardness, and narrow-mindedness, and thus
doing what we ought to do.
R&D
projects
44 12
5 students
59
professors
13
projects
during 2014
20
projects
during 2013
9
students
33
professors
Danil Khachaturov
President, Rosgosstrakh Group
11
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
DEVELOPMENT
What are endowed scholarships?
Endowed scholarships are awarded to talented and motivated students based on
admission tests, and between 30 and 100 percent of the annual tuition fee throughout
the period of their studies.
In 2013, earnings of the Endowment Fund for the Arts and Humanities program were
used to award RUR 23,407,552 (as of October 22, 2013) in scholarships to 132 BA
students and 59 MA students, and for professorships of excellent faculty members.
Beginning in academic year 2014-15, endowed funds will also be used to support
students participating in academic mobility programs.
At present, endowments available to the Arts and Humanities program include:
• RUR 486,160,496.48 in the Endowment Fund of St. Petersburg State University; and
• USD 10,113,574 in the Endowment Fund of Bard College.
“I am here thanks to an endowed scholarship
administered by the University. Like many of my
classmates, I was personally committed to enrolling
in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, but it
was disturbing to think that I would need to depend
on a student loan. So the Endowed Scholarship
Program was really helpful. Many of my fellow
students believe they would not be able to afford
to study here if it were not for the scholarships.
After almost a year of being a student in the Liberal
Education program, I have never once doubted my
choice. We are taught to think outside the box, with
our opinions always being valued and encouraged
and our academic interests respected — something
you rarely ever find in educational institutions.
I am sure our Faculty is one of a kind.”
Viktoria Rudenko (Sortavala), BA, 1st year student
We would like to express our gratitude to all our partners who have supported
the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Arts and Humanities program during
academic year 2013-2014:
Rosgosstrakh LLC
The Gagarin Trust
Open Society Foundations
The Calvert 22 Foundation
Firebird Management LLC
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
JTI
JSCB Evrofinance Mosnarbank OJSC
The Vladimir Potanin Charity Foundation
Rushan Nasibulin
APERTO gallery
Asteros Group
The Russian Science Foundation
The Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation
Anna Infantieva (Kemerovo). MA 2014 (Music Criticism, 2nd year). Master’s thesis title: “Contemporary Music in Contemporary
Russia: Society, Economy, and Culture” (Thesis Advisor: Vladimir Orlov). Recipient of the special Russian Government Scholarship (2013–
2014). In 2013, Anna had internships at the Mariinsky Theatre, the Diaghilev Festival in Perm, and the Bard Music Festival. She worked
as a coordinator of the international educational project “School of Music Informatics” in St. Petersburg, the international forum “New
Media Art” in Vladivostok, and the Third International Young Composers Academy in Tchaikovsky town, Perm Region. Anna is the author
of analytical and critical texts for the Bolshoi Theatre, the St. Petersburg Shostakovich Philharmonic, and Kommersant newspaper, and is
the editor of a book by Dmitry Bavilsky, Poste Restante: Conversations with Contemporary Composers (St. Petersburg, 2014).
Anastasia Zubareva (Krasnoyarsk). MA 2014 (Music Criticism, 2nd year). Master’s thesis title: “Musical Theatre Ceremonies in
Contemporary Russia: Organization, Image, and Staging” (Thesis Advisor: Olga Manulkina). Recipient of the special Russian Government
Scholarship (2013–2014). In 2013, Anastasia had internships at the Mariinsky Theatre and the Diaghilev Festival in Perm, and worked
as a PR assistant for the project “Benjamin Britten. Three Parables for Church Performance,” in St. Petersburg. In 2014, she took part in
the theatre laboratory “Outside the Theatre” in Moscow. Anastasia is the author of analytical and critical texts for the Bolshoi Theatre,
the St. Petersburg Shostakovich Philharmonic, and the Hermitage Theatre.
Anna Infantieva and Anastasia Zubareva are the authors and curators of the project “Diaghilev Festival’s Award for Young Critics in
Classical Music and Musical Theater.” The Award was co-founded by the Perm Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre. The project, which is
supported by the Ministry of Culture of Perm Region and the Liberal Education Support Foundation, will be launched in September 2014.
Olga Manulkina, Associate Professor, Department of Theory and Methodology of Teaching Arts and Humanities, and Director,
MA Music Criticism Program: “Thanks to the new program, we are lucky to be working with such talented and gifted students as Anna
Infantieva and Anastasia Zubareva. The program’s courses and internships provided them with the requisite experience in criticism,
curatorship, writing, and publishing for them to graduate from the Master’s program having developed a project that will introduce
a new Russian national award in music criticism.”
“For the Smolny Faculty, ‘liberal education’ and ‘individual approach’ are
the essence of what it does, not just fine words. Logically, it follows that it
is the only institution to offer a Master’s program in Music Criticism outside
a conservatory setting. We are proud of being among the first graduates.
The Faculty gave us an opportunity not only to learn from the best critics
and curators, but also to join the professional community and, most
importantly, to receive a real support in putting our ideas into practice.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
DEVELOPMENT
The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences would like to thank
the Calvert 22 Foundation, UK, and Nonna Materkova, personally,
for the support they provided to the Arts and Humanities program
during academic year 2013-2014.
Thanks to the support from the Foundation,
the academic year 2013-2014 saw:
• eight students in the MA programs in Art Criticism
and Music Criticism spending an internship week at
the Calvert 22 Gallery and The Calvert Journal;
• ten exhibitions and film screenings organized by
students in the MA Art Criticism program;
• three events held under the auspices of the Calvert
Forum joint project; and
• professor Ilya Kalinin spending three months of
internship at the Princess Dashkova Russian Center
at the University of Edinburgh.
“The Calvert 22 Foundation has helped
my dream become a reality. For a week
I was part of a very friendly team at the
Calvert 22 Gallery in London. I saw how an
exhibition concept was brought to life, with
every step carefully planned and every duty
clearly defined. My understanding of time
scheduling was completely transformed!
This experience has made me realize once
again how important it is to work on
accompanying texts, the exhibition guide
and catalogue. I use what I have learned in
my project, a graduation exhibition “Storage
Conditions,” which has took place at Anna
Nova Gallery on May 26 – June 7, 2014.
One would think these things are no big
deal. But perfection is in details, and every
detail is given much attention in England,
like nowhere else.
I do hope that the same can be achieved in
Russia, too.”
Anastasia Skvortsova (St. Petersburg),
MA 2014 (Art Criticism, 2nd year).
“Over the past year, The Calvert Journal has had a total
of four student visitors from Smolny, with each working
alongside the editorial team for a week. During their
stay, student visitors are taught the basics of news
gathering and news writing as well as how to pitch
comment and feature ideas to media outlets. They
are also given the chance to participate in an editorial
meeting, which provides them with valuable insight into
the commissioning process. Student visitors also have
the opportunity to spend the week working on a longer
article for publication on our website, with plenty of
feedback and advice on how to improve their interview
technique and writing.”
Jamie Rann, Editor, The Calvert Journal
“The Calvert 22-Smolny student exchange programme
provides a unique opportunity for students in the MA
Music Criticism and Curatorial Studies programme at
Smolny to travel from St Petersburg to London to spend
one week with the curatorial team at Calvert 22 Gallery.
Each student is set a range of tasks during their time
at Calvert, from carrying out research towards the
forthcoming exhibitions programme, to attending key
meetings with the curatorial team both on-site at the
gallery and around London. This ensures that they gain
insight into the practicalities involved in the preparation
and delivery of exhibitions, as well as public programming
and catalogue. The students are encouraged to become
critically engaged with the concepts underpinning the
current exhibition on display at Calvert, and in turn they
receive feedback from the curatorial team on their own
exhibition proposals, on the strength of which they
were selected for the programme. In addition, they are
expected to proactively research and independently
visit exhibitions at a range of public and private galleries
across London, and to attend private views, providing
them with an overview of the contemporary art
landscape in London.”
Lily Hall, Curator, Calvert 22 Gallery
“The Calvert Forum undertakes
research and organizes events
designed to improve public
understanding of the creative and
cultural industries, and identify
the factors that influence their
development. Taking a solutionsbased approach, the Forum aims
to inform policies and initiatives
capable of unlocking the potential
of the creative economy in
regional cities. Since the outset
of the project, the Calvert Forum
has worked in partnership with
the Faculty of Liberal Arts and
Sciences of St. Petersburg State
University, organising three events
in St. Petersburg over the last nine
months that explored various aspects
of creative industries, particularly the
role of higher education in shaping
the creative professionals of tomorrow.
Calvert Forum St Petersburg –
The Calvert Forum’s launch event
held in partnership with the Faculty
of Liberal Arts and Sciences of
St Petersburg State University and
the Hermitage Museum. The public
event, attended by 400 guests,
brought together speakers from the
UK, Germany, and Russia to discuss
the future potential of St Petersburg’s
creative economy. September 13, 2013
Creative Education - An event held in
partnership with the Faculty of Liberal
Arts and Sciences of St Petersburg
State University (Smolny College),
this event looked at the how higher
education institutions can provide
aspiring creative professionals with
the right education and opportunities
to set them up for future success.
December 3, 2013
Commercial Creativity – An event
held in partnership with the Faculty
of Liberal Arts and Sciences of
St. Petersburg State University
(Smolny College), this roundtable
discussion with professionals,
academics, and students focused on
the skills required to launch a creative
business. April 7, 2014“
Jonathan McClory, Director,
Calvert Forum
Olesya Turkina, Assistant Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and Practices in the Field of Arts, MA Curatorial Studies Program
Director, Ph.D. in Art History. Lead Researcher at the Department of Contemporary Art of the State Russian Museum. Art critic and the author
of more than two hundred publications on contemporary art, she has curated numerous exhibition projects, including “MIR: Made in the
XXth Century,” the Russian Pavilion at the forty-eighth Venice Biennale (1999); “The Evolution of an Image: Light, Sound. Material” at the State
Russian Museum (1996); “Observatory” at the Pro Arte Foundation’s Contemporary Art in Traditional Museum Festival, the Main Astronomical
Observatory, Pulkovo (2007); “Necrorealism,” a special project at the Fourth Moscow Biennale, the Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art (2011);
“The International Women’s Day. Feminism: From Avant-Garde to the Present Day” (together with M. Loshak and N. Kamenetskaya), at the
Museum and Exhibition Center “Worker and Collective Farm Girl” (2013).
Since 1999, Professor Turkina has been a fellow of the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics.
In 2014, she joined a curatorial team for several exhibition projects in the public and parallel programs of the Manifesta-10 European Biennale of
Contemporary Art, which takes place in St. Petersburg on June 28 - October 31, 2014.
“I had never thought of
teaching as a career until
the Smolny College was
opened in St. Petersburg.
Whether you are a student
or a teacher, liberal
education makes you
feel a free and thinking
person. Now we have the
opportunity to work with
the whole world in this
space of education. To
continue the comparison,
there is one international
space station with a few
different modules.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
LIBERAL EDUCATION
NETWORK DEVELOPMENT
“In the academic year 2013-2014, we continued to collaborate with those Russian
institutions that are interested in using liberal education methods. Evgenia Glazanova,
Associate Professor of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Field of Languages
and Literature and an active member of the Center for Writing and Critical Thinking,
delivered three-day master classes at the Northern (Arctic) Federal University, Arkhangelsk,
and the Yekaterinburg Academy of Contemporary Art, attracting much interest from
regional teachers. We also continued to collaborate with the Russian Academy of
National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) under the President of the Russian
Federation (Moscow), which is preparing to offer three new specializations in their
Bachelor’s degree program ‘Arts and Humanities’: Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, and
Oriental Studies.
During the year, we exchanged visits with RANEPA to discuss various aspects of teaching
and curriculum planning. On October 25-27, 2013, the Faculty hosted the Annual
Conference “Liberal Education in Russia and the World.” Our faculty members participated
in the U.S. - Russia Joint/Dual Degree Conference, which took place at Bard College and
the State University of New York on January 29 - February 1, 2013. Also, our colleagues spoke
at Bard College’s partnership network conferences in Berlin and Bishkek.
Two faculty retreat workshops were held, in Arkhangelsk on June 23-26, 2013, and in Repino on February 5-7, 2014, to discuss
issues of liberal education in the light of higher education reform in Russia and of prospects for joint educational programs with our
colleagues from Bard College and other partner institutions and organizations. The Faculty has gained two new foreign partners,
the Faculty ‘Artes Liberales’ at Warsaw University, Poland, and Marmara University, Turkey.”
Valery Monakhov, Deputy Chairman of the Academic Council,
Co-Head of the Center for Liberal Arts Education
“As a humanities professor over the past
decade, I have generally always found
humanities education to be stronger in
St. Petersburg than in Moscow. In my opinion,
it is a little more modern; it is dynamic,
flexible, and not necessarily defined in
applied terms; and it remains organically
linked with research. Even if I were not
interested in liberal education, the Faculty of
Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg
State University would still be of interest to
me, because it offers the kind of meaningful
education in humanities that I am talking
about. Moscow is dominated by a pragmatic
attitude toward humanities, which has
both its pluses and serious minuses. Liberal
education programs differ between the two
cities, but this gives us a reason to cooperate
and complement each other, both among
students and teachers.”
“It is a priority for our Foundation to involve Turkish
universities in the rapidly developing international
educational environment which actively uses innovative
methods of teaching. Therefore, it is essential for us to
cooperate with the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences
of St. Petersburg State University, which has made a
great progress in the implementation of liberal education
principles. Turkey is currently taking serious steps in this
direction. For example, Marmara University is implementing
a liberal education model at the Faculty of Arts and
Sciences. Last year, we participated in organizing a tour to
Istanbul for students and teachers of St. Petersburg State
University, which enabled them to see some outstanding
monuments of Islamic civilization and learn about the
traditions of Marmara University. I sincerely hope that
cooperation between the Faculty of Liberal Arts and
Sciences and Marmara University will lead to a successful
international academic project, providing students and
teachers with valuable interaction experiences and enriching
interdisciplinary programs of both universities.”
Evgeniy Mironov
Chair of the Department of Humanities,
Faculty of Public Administration, RANEPA
Ali Turkeli
(Turkey), MA 2011 (Intercultural Education)
General Secretary, Turkish-Russian Cultural Foundation
“Every year, several of our students go to study at the
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State
University (Smolny College), and we, in turn, employ a
graduate from Smolny College on an open competition
basis. These graduates are ambassadors of Russian
culture. They help us teach the Russian language and
organize student activities, while themselves studying,
learning about life in the U.S., and traveling around
the country during breaks. Young Russians help their
American peers get insights into some of the Russian
realities that are perhaps not so well known to our
professors of Russian Studies. At the same time, by
working and studying at one of the best colleges in
the United States, Russian program participants get
an opportunity to broaden their cultural, educational,
and human horizons. Following our example, similar
exchange programs with Smolny College have been
introduced by other leading U.S. colleges of liberal
arts and sciences, such as Amherst and Grinnell. In
my opinion, this is a wonderful example of mutually
complementing cooperation.”
Evgenii Bershtein
Professor, Department of Russian Language and Literature,
Reed College, Portland, Oregon
Elena Khodorkovskaya, Associate Professor, Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and Practices in the Field
of Arts; Director, BA Music and Theatre Program; Ph.D. in Art History. Recipient of fellowships from the German Academic Exchange
Service (DAAD, 1994) and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS, 2002). She has contributed ca. one hundred articles to
Russian and foreign scientific journals and encyclopedias.
In 2013, Dr. Khodorkovskaya was a co-organizer of the international conference “Reproduction as a Work of Art” at St. Petersburg State
University. Her article “Rubinstein’s Casus” will be published as part of a collective monograph Between Cosmopolitanism
and Nationalism by the University of Heidelberg.
“Art is an area of freedom
with ever expanding
boundaries. Our students
and teachers are being
actively integrated into
the international artistic
and intellectual contexts,
and our partnerships with
the Calvert 22 Foundation
and Bard College help
to facilitate this process.
Very soon, the Faculty will
open admission to new
and updated MA programs
(Curatorial Studies,
Music Criticism, and Art
Criticism divided into two
specializations, Film Theory
and Criticism, and Art
History). For us, this brings
both new opportunities
and new responsibilities.
Fortunately, art is a perfect
area for learning.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
ADMISSIONS CAMPAIGN 2013
Results of the Admissions
Campaign 2013: BA
applications received
including
applications for government-funded places and
including
applications for tuition-paying places
applicants
funded by the Russian Federal Budget
on a tuition-paying basis
applicants
admitted
from St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region
from 53 regions of Russia
foreign nationals
Results of the Admissions
Campaign 2013: MA
applications received
applicants
funded by the Russian Federal Budget
a tuition-paying basis
Russian nationals
applicants
admitted
foreign nationals
Maxim Yakubovsky (Zheleznovodsk, Stavropol Region), BA, 3rd year student (Sociology and Anthropology), Term paper title:
“Regional Identity: From Poetry to Oral Narrative (Kaliningrad Region Case Study)” (Academic Advisor: Marina Kalashnikova). In 2013,
he contributed to the Faculty’s interdisciplinary research project “Historical Memory and Identity of the Population of Vyborg
and Kaliningrad” (Project Leader: Valery Timofeev) with an article entitled “‘Under the East Prussian Sky’ or Experience Analyzing
the Representation of a City in Works of Contemporary Poets from Kaliningrad,” in co-authorship with his academic advisor Marina
Kalashnikova. He also participated in the research and methodology workshop “Urban Anthropology and Urban Texts” held by
the Yekaterinburg Academy of Contemporary Art in Yekaterinburg on December 5-8, 2013. In 2014, he worked as Assistant to the
Creative Producer at the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games and the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Sochi.
Marina Kalashnikova, Associate Professor, Department of Theory and Methodology for Teaching Arts and Humanities: “Maxim
Yakubovsky is someone who likes to learn and knows how to learn. He is undoubtedly a talented student and can achieve success
in any sphere. He was keen on both cognitive studies and literature before he developed his interest in cultural anthropology. In my
opinion, the Faculty provided the right environment for Maxim to focus on a specific field of knowledge, while keeping other areas
of interest on his agenda.”
“Perhaps the most
important thing about
the Faculty is that it
is completely open
to everything new,
not only knowledge.
Here you have no
boundaries or limits.
Yesterday you studied
artificial intelligence,
today you are studying
folk traditions of the
world, and tomorrow
you can find yourself
staging a drama. It is
only here, at Smolny,
that you understand
that this is really
possible.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
STUDENTS
students in total (BA and MA)
Russian nationals
foreign nationals (Belarus, China, Cuba, Germany, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Ukraine, United States)
government-funded students
tuition-paying students
In 2013, with the support
from JTI Marketing and
Sales CJSC, the Faculty
was able to launch a new
program of study tours
for students. The program
will enable them to see
how material learned
in a classroom setting
translates into real-life
situations; carry out field
studies for their research,
term, and graduation
projects; ask questions
directly to professionals
in their area of interest;
make presentations at
conferences; take part
in summer schools; and
learn about the national
and cultural diversity of
different parts of Russia
and other countries.
In academic year 2013-2014:
• sixteen students participated in a retreat workshop of the Student Council in Sortavala District,
Republic of Karelia, on August 28–30, 2013;
• five MA Art Criticism students visited the exhibition “Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde”
at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art at
the Manezh Exhibition Center, on October 3–4, 2013;
• ten students in Islamic Studies visited Istanbul, Turkey,
on November 29 – December 2, 2013;
• ten students in the course “Theory of Folklore. Fundamentals of Traditional Text Analysis”
took part in the workshop “Urban Anthropology and Urban Texts” held by the Yekaterinburg
Academy of Contemporary Art in Yekaterinburg, on December 5–9, 2013;
• seven students in International Relations, Political Sciences, and Human Rights took part in a
retreat workshop on the issues of Russia’s current regional policy, and in the summer school
at Volgograd State University in Volgograd, on May 4–11, 2014;
• ten BA and MA students took part in the international student conference “Europe 2014:
Humanities Between Past and Future” at the European Humanities University in Vilnius,
Lithuania, on May 15-19, 2014;
• nine MA Music Criticism and Art Criticism students participated in the Diaghilev Festival
as volunteers, listeners, or spectators in Perm, on June 19–30, 2014;
• Forty-one BA and MA students participated in a retreat workshop on Old Russian art in Pskov,
on April 19–20, 2014;
• five students made presentations at different international and Russian conferences
in Moscow, Chelyabinsk, Tomsk, and Mineralnye Vody.
Kristina Guschina (Kronshtadt), BA, 4th year (International Relations, Political Sciences, and Human Rights). Graduation
thesis title: “City Managers Are Not for Everyone. Structural Changes in Local Self-Governance in Regional Capitals of Russia in
2003–2013” (Thesis Advisor: Pavel Kononenko). In 2013–2014, she took part in two research projects undertaken by the Faculty:
“From Empire to Multiculturalism and Multipolarity: Harmonizing Policies of Citizenship and Sovereignty with Cultural
Diversity Challenges” (Project Leader: Alexander Semyonov), and “Regionalism and Federalism as Alternative Models of Political
Imagination in the Historical Experience of Russia” (Project Leader: Alexander Semyonov). Her essays on topical social and
political issues were published on the websites of Rosbalt Information Agency and Russkaya Fabula independent analytical
magazine. She is currently enrolled at the Central European University (Budapest, Hungary) as an MA student in Political Science.
Pavel Kononenko, Assistant Professor, Department of Problems of Interdisciplinary Synthesis in the Field of Social
Sciences and Humanities: “As Kristina’s academic advisor, I did not experience any lack of diligence or assiduity on her part.
Kristina had developed her ability to learn the necessary material and meet formal requirements long before she entered
the University. But here we were able to expand her diligent attitudes to include courage, a desire to challenge herself, and
willingness to go beyond the pretty series of excellent marks. She is still a high achiever, but now she will be driven by much
more important life goals.”
“Smolny has long become
an integral part of my life:
My brother entered it ten
years ago, and six years later
I became a student myself.
It was certainly my choice
to study at this Faculty,
but it was only closer to
the graduation date that I
began to appreciate it as a
place that gives me a strong
moral compass to guide my
development as a person.
Critical thinking, all-round
education, interesting people,
research under the guidance
of teachers passionate about
their work — these are just
a few things that I have
received from the Faculty.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
THE THIRD ANNUAL
SMOLNY STUDENT CONFERENCE
”In mid-April 2014, the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences
hosted the Third Annual Smolny Student Conference ‘New
Approaches in Social Sciences and Humanities.’The number of
participants from other Russian cities, Europe, America, and Asia
increases year after year, which certainly shows a strong and
genuine interest in the conference. In addition to the extensive
conference program, participants were offered a guided tour
of the Bobrinsky Palace and a bus tour around the city. The
proceedings of the conference will be published, including
abstracts of all presentations and full texts of the best papers.”
“New Approaches in Social Sciences and Humanities”
Participants in the Conference, April 18–19, 2014:
Inga Kitsing (St. Petersburg), BA 2005 (Music and Theatre;
Complex Systems) and MA 2007 (Music in the System of
Contemporary Culture), Deputy Chair of the Young Scholars
Council of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Deputy
Chair of the Conference Organizational Committee
Bard College, U.S.
University College Utrecht, the Netherlands
Bard College Berlin, Germany
American University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts, Slovakia
European Humanities University, Lithuania
Kazakh National University of Arts, Kazakhstan
”Over the past three years I have made several Russian friends, and
they have always encouraged me to visit Russia, and especially
Saint Petersburg. When the opportunity of the Smolny conference
presented itself I had no doubt of attending, and in a split second I
submitted my abstract. I have only very recently decided I want to
become a scholar in the field of public policy, law, and resources.
However, one of the most interesting investigations on my mind is
the process of reconciliation between Germany and Namibia, in the
context of the Namibian genocide that took place a century ago.
The ability to start my academic career being invited, as a first-year
student, to an international conference in one of the most beautiful
cities of the world, to present my research on German and Namibian
reconciliation among other passionate students who all have
different interpretations, for example of reconciliation, is an enriching
experience. During this long weekend I have been able to meet
people from places beyond the borders of Western Europe. Thus, this
Smolny conference was able to give a realistic, friendly face to all those
nations and states which are usually only heard of via the media. This
unexpected surprise is the beginning of many more wonderful visits
to Russia, and the start of my academic career. Spasibo Smolny!”
Benjamin Asante
University College Utrecht (The Netherlands)
90
8
Russian
participants
cities
121
participants
31
7
foreign
participants
countries
участники
Foreign institutions:
8
7
2
7
2
4
1
Russian institutions:
St. Petersburg State University
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Faculty of History
Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics
Faculty of Political Science
Faculty of Psychology
Faculty of Sociology
Faculty of Physics
Faculty of Philology
Faculty of Philosophy
Dostoyevsky Omsk State University
European University at St. Petersburg
Higher School of Economics, Nizhny Novgorod
Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg
Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology
Kazan (Volga Region) State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State University
Sociological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts
TISBI University of Management, Kazan
Tomsk State University
Tver State University
58
1
1
1
3
3
1
2
1
1
1
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
1
Ilya Orlov (St. Petersburg), BA 2007 (History of Civilizations) and MA 2013 (Art Criticism). A contemporary artist. One-man shows:
“Obvodny Canal” (St. Petersburg, 2009), “Country Road” (St. Petersburg, 2011), “Genevieve” (St. Petersburg, 2012), “The Song of Gentrification”
(St. Petersburg, 2012), and “Untitled” (St. Petersburg, 2013). Contributor to museum-based and collective projects in St. Petersburg,
Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, and Moscow, including a special project of the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2011. Ilya Orlov’s
installation “Untitled” was shortlisted in the Work of Visual Art category at the IXth All-Russian Competition in Contemporary Visual Art
“Innovation 2013.” In 2014, Ilya Orlov and his colleague and co-author Natalia Krayevskaya were included in the list of artists invited to
participate in the public program of the Manifesta-10 European Biennale of Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg, on June 28 –October 31, 2014.
“I had a profession and career
prospects before entering
Smolny College. Therefore, what
attracted me to studying here
was something different, namely
freedom, horizons, and the way
of thinking. Now I know that
philosophy helps you change
your thinking habits, working
in archives develops your will
power and sense of humor,
studying history provides you
with insights into everyday life,
and classical art stirs your interest
in contemporary art. Otherwise,
how could it be possible for
someone like me, who has
diligently studied political science
and history of the revolution
and has been keen on German
classical philosophy and modern
Marxism, to start doing art and
doing it in practice, literally
smearing paint on the canvas?
I really got excited about the
idea. This is real life with its
meaning and substance.
This is real work.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
EDUCATION
Student Tutors
Fully launched this year, the student tutoring program is one of our priorities. Each
of the seven sections of the First-year Seminar has its own tutor from among uppercollege students. During the academic year, tutors assist the first-year students by
discussing and reviewing the six essays they have to write. We plan to extend this
practice to courses that satisfy Smolny’s distribution area requirements.
“As a student tutor, I do my best to be a reader who is able to keep the author
interested in his or her own text. By interfering with the ‘writing–delivering’ chain, tutors
help their tutees to grasp the moment when the work is still relevant and alive, when it
has an author, not just a freshman waiting to be evaluated. The student whose work is
being reviewed has a central role in the interaction. Tutors never point out mistakes in
writing or advise their tutees how to make corrections. What they deliver is a reader’s
feedback that helps junior students to really advance in making their texts more
meaningful.”
Sofia Serebryakova (Stavropol), BA 3rd year student (Philosophy)
“In academic year 2013-2014, we did quite a
lot to upgrade the skills of our faculty members.
We launched an additional educational program
‘Interactive Methods in Modern Education.’ A
group of nine professors visited Bard College to
join a two-week program aimed at facilitating
the development of courses in English. Ten
faculty members took part in a four-day intensive
training workshop on the use of different types
of formal and informal writing assignments
in the teaching process, held at the European
Humanities Institute in Vilnius.
I am sure that students of the teachers who
have completed these courses can now feel
the difference, especially since, according to
the feedback we receive, students nowadays
have higher expectations when it comes to
teaching methodology, including the structure
of class sessions and assignments. This is a very
important point. It is even more important that
it is understood by all teachers. Therefore we are
going to continue to develop programs designed
to improve the quality of education we deliver.”
Denis Akhapkin
Deputy Dean for Education,
Chair of the Academic Committee
“Working with a tutor means ‘reading from an outside perspective,’ which you usually
cannot do yourself or ask your friend to do, because this will be biased. A tutor will
not tell you what to correct. Instead, he or she will ask questions that, when you
answer them, will gradually lead you to realize what is wrong with your text. The fact
that my work will be meticulously read by someone else, not only by the teacher, has
always inspired and encouraged me to be more mindful when writing, and to make
my work more readable and reflective. In the end, I think tutoring is not only about
assisting first-year students with writing, but also about providing space for a dialogue
to move serious academic discussions from closed classrooms to an interpersonal
environment.”
Alexandra Skochilenko (St. Petersburg), BA 1st year student
Total Number of Courses Taught
Fall Semester
Academic Year
Spring Semester
2012–2013
2013–2014
2012–2013
2013–2014
BA Program
191
211
231
213
MA Program
60
73
45
53
Total
251
284
276
266
including courses in English
11
20
14
19
Ilya Kalinin, Associate Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Field of Languages and Literature; Ph.D. in Philology.
Organizes an international annual scientific conference “Maliye Banniye Chteniia” held by the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of
St. Petersburg State University in cooperation with Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye Publishing House, Moscow. He is the author of
150 articles and essays on Russian literature, theory of literature, questions of historical memory, and contemporary cultural policy.
His works have been published in Russian and foreign journals, including Neprikosnovenny Zapas, Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye,
Seans, Etnograficheskoye Obozreniye, Ab Imperio, Baltic World, Russian Literature, Sign Systems Studies, Slavonica, Social Sciences, The Calvert
Journal, Wiener Slawistischer Almanach, and in collections of research papers published by Pittsburgh University Press and Cambridge
University Press. Dr. Kalinin is Editor-in-Chief of Neprikosnovenny Zapas journal (Emergency Ration: Debates on Politics and Culture),
Moscow, and an Editor of The Calvert Journal, London. He is a member of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
(ASEEES), resident expert at the Moscow School of Political Studies; member of the Staff and Expert Committees of the Higher School
of Economics – National Research University, Moscow; and Chairman of the Examination Committee of the Media and Communication
Department of the European Humanities University, Vilnius.
In 2013, he completed research internships at the Universities of Sheffield and Edinburgh, UK; published fifteen articles (in Russian,
English, or French); and prepared the monograph History as an Art of Articulation: Russian Formalists and the Revolution for publication
with Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye Publishing House.
“An interdisciplinary approach
and openness toward the
international academic
universe are long recognized
merits of the Faculty. But for
contemporary education,
this is more of a norm than
an exception indicating any
special achievement. What
is really worth highlighting
in the case of Smolny is
its lively intellectual spirit.
Teacher-student relationships
are characterized by a
collaborative production of
knowledge, rather than a
strictly hierarchical transfer
of knowledge from teacher
to student. Contacts with
graduates, at least, may grow
into friendship. Relations
with fellow teachers are not
confined to struggling for
resources, but are usually
embodied in joint scientific
projects and cooperative
research. Communication
with the administration is
different from the common
practice of concealing
the real state of affairs. All
this should be valued and
preserved in the future.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
FACULTY
MASTER PROGRAMS
Complex Systems
Economics
Art Criticism
Program Director:
Nina Savchenkova
Philosophy
Art History
Music Criticism
BA MAJORS
Art History
Program Director:
Ivan Chechot
History of
Civilizations
Social Communications
DEPARTMENTS
Department of
Interdisciplinary Studies and
Practices in the Field of Arts
Chaired by Elena Khodorkovskaya
Life Sciences
Cognitive Studies
Program Director:
Tatyana Chernigovskaya
Department of
Interdisciplinary Studies
in the Field of Languages
and Literature
Chaired by Vadim Kasevich
Computer Science and
Artificial Intelligence
Program Director:
Vitaly Khudobakhshov
International Relations,
Political Science,
and Human Rights
Program Director:
Artemy Magun
Curatorial Studies
Music and Theater
Department of Problems
of Interdisciplinary Synthesis
in the Field of Social Sciences
and Humanities
Chaired by Danila Raskov
Art Criticism
Intercultural Education
Literature
Cognitive Studies
Complex Systems in Nature and Society
Sociology and Anthropology
Program Director:
Alexander Panchenko
Economics
Program Director:
Danila Raskov
International Relations,
Political Science,
and Human Rights
Computer Science
and Artificial
Intelligence
Complex Systems
in Nature and Society
Program Director:
Yuri Kuperin
Social Communications
Program Director:
Vladimir Kozlovsky
Department of Theory and
Methodology for Teaching
Arts and Humanities
Chaired by Valery Monakhov
Complex Systems
Program Director:
Yuri Kuperin
Philosophy
Program Director:
Artemy Magun
Curatorial Studies
(Double Degree Program)
Program Director:
Olesya Turkina
Music Criticism
Program Director:
Olga Manulkina
Islamic Studies
Department of Problems
of Convergence of Natural
Sciences and Humanities
Chaired by Tatyana Chernigovskaya
Music and Theater
Program Director:
Elena Khodorkovskaya
Life Sciences
Program Director:
Oleg Tikhodeev
Cognitive Studies
Program Director:
Tatyana Chernigovskaya
Intercultural Education
Program Director:
Elena Kazakova
History of Civilizations
Program Director:
Boris Komissarov
Literature
Program Director:
Andrey Astvatsaturov
- Art History
Program Director:
Ivan Chechot
- Film Theory and Criticism
Program Director:
Nina Savchenkova
Sociology and
Anthropology
Islamic Studies
Program Director:
Gumer Isaev
Film and Video
Program Director:
Nina Savchenkova
Two Profiles:
Cognitive Studies
Film and Video
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
ACADEMIC MOBILITY
Outgoing
Incoming
Fall Semester 2013 (Number of Students)
Bard College, USA
Free University of Berlin, Germany
Fudan University, People’s Republic of China
Regent’s College, UK
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Seoul National University, Korea
University of Antwerp, Belgium
University of Warsaw, Poland
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Vilnius University, Lithuania
Total
7
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
18
Bard College, USA
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany
Lund University, Sweden
Regent’s College, UK
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Kyushu University, Japan
University of Vaasa, Finland
University of Tartu, Estonia
Total
8
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
18
Spring Semester 2014 (Number of Students)
Bard College, USA
Austral University, Argentina
European University Viadrina, Germany
Hamburg University, Germany
Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany
Kyushu University, Japan
Sorbonne University, France
Tallinn University, Estonia
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
University of Paderborn, Germany
University of Salzburg, Austria
Total
15
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
27
Bard College, USA
Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany
Kyushu University, Japan
Lund University, Sweden
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Regent’s College, UK
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
University of Lausanne, Switzerland
University of Tampere, Finland
University of Yonsei, Korea
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Total
Total in 2012–2013 29
Total in 2012–2013 19
Total in 2013–2014 45
Total in 2013–2014 41
12
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
23
Sergey Fokin, Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Field of Languages and Literature. Founder and one of
the moderators of the regular seminar “Literature as an Experience and as a Problem.” Doctor of Philology. Heads the Romance
Languages and Translation Chair at the Faculty of Humanities of St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finances.
Translated numerous works by G. Bataille, G. Deleuze, J. Derrida, M. Foucault and others. Published over 120 articles on the history of
French literature and philosophy in Russian and foreign journals, including Voprosy Literatury, Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye, Logos,
Russkaya Literatura, Siniy Divan, Critique, Multitude, etc. Deputy Chairman of the Committee for French Literature and Intellectual Culture
set up in 2004 by the History of the World Culture Academic Council at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Winner of the
“Second Navigation” award of the St. Petersburg Philosophical Society (for the monograph Philosopher-outside-Himself: Georges Bataille,
2002). Winner of the Leroy Beaulieu Award of the French Embassy in Russia for the best book about France (’The Russian Idea’ in French
Literature, monograph, 2003). His book Dostoevsky’s Figures in French Literature of the 20th Century, prepared with support from the Russian
Humanitarian Research Foundation, was published by the Publishing House of the Russian Christian Academy for Humanities (2013).
“I am sure that the idea and
the system of liberal education
as currently developed in
Russia by the Faculty of
Liberal Arts and Sciences
of St. Petersburg State
University provides a vital
platform for building a new
paradigm for humanities
and for the whole university.
Here traditional hierarchies,
levels, and oppositions like
“Bachelor / Master / Ph. D” or
“student / teaching assistant
/ associate professor” or
“professor / chair / dean” will
be enhanced or even replaced
by rather flexible “network
configurations” where
outstanding personalities –
both renowned scientists
and young researchers –
from a variety of universities,
faculties and educational
programs will meet.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
COOPERATION WITH BARD COLLEGE
Partnership
“The partnership between Bard and the
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of
St. Petersburg State University remains a
model of cooperation between US and
Russian institutions. The relationship
includes exchanges of faculty, students, and
administrators, joint academic conferences
and publications.
“I am happy to have been able to participate in
the English Summer Language Intensive Program
at Bard College. It was not a tourist trip to the
USA, or only a chance to learn about the country’s
educational system. We were truly immersed in
student life, which was difficult but very interesting.
Now I know first-hand about American student
life, campus, “sleeping” at the library, eating at the
canteen, and, of course, about studying. I have
significantly improved my English, discovered a
new, previously unknown country, and made new
friends.”
Aigul Annayeva
(Balkanabat, Turkmenistan), BA, 3rd year student
(Islamic Studies)
“As an American student studying International
Politics at Georgetown University, the Bard-Smolny
Program has provided me with the unique
opportunity to integrate fully into a Russian
university, with opportunities to take classes on
a wide range of subjects with Russian students
and under the guidance of Russian professors.
In addition to academics, I have been provided
opportunities to attend lectures by international
scholars and even assist in a joint-research project
with one of my professors and academic advisor for
US students. In all, Bard-Smolny has provided me
with an incredibly rewarding and enriching study
abroad experience in every aspect, and I would
highly recommend the program.“
April Gordon
Georgetown University (USA)
Academic Year 2013-2014 was a wonderful year
for student mobility: We had more students
involved in academic exchanges than ever
before. On the undergraduate level, 29 FLAS
students came to Bard’s main campus in
Annandale-on-Hudson in August for the month-long Bard English Summer Language
Intensive (BESLI), and during the academic year 22 students spent a semester at Bard,
including some at Bard’s Globalization and International Affairs Program in New York City.
At the graduate level, two students from Smolny’s MA program in Music Criticism spent
three weeks at Bard, taking classes and interning at Bard’s Summerscape, which featured
Taneyev’s Oresteia and the world-renowned Bard Music Festival, which featured Stravinsky.
FLAS also hosted more than 70 students from Bard and other American institutions with
whom Bard cooperates during the summer and academic year. These students come
from the finest colleges and universities in the United States, including Amherst, Bard,
Harvard, Princeton, Reed, and the University of Chicago. They are attracted to Smolny
because they not only learn the Russian language but study in the liberal arts manner
while also making lifelong friends and becoming familiar with Russian culture and
society.
These are some of the concrete ways in which Bard College and St. Petersburg State
University work together to make international educational collaboration a vibrant
reality. We are proud of the progress of our partnership and committed to making it
even stronger.”
Jonathan Becker, Vice President and Dean for International Affairs and Civic
Engagement
Bard-Smolny Program
The Bard-Smolny Program offers American students a choice of classes in Russian and
in English, which they attend together with Russian students.
The 2013 Fall Semester: 22 students (including participants in the exchange program
offered under the bilateral agreement between St. Petersburg State University and
Bard College).
The 2014 Spring Semester: 22 students (including participants in the exchange
program offered under the bilateral agreement between St. Petersburg State University
and Bard College).
Out of the 44 students, six spent the entire academic year studying at St. Petersburg State.
An additional 31 American students studied the Russian language at the 2013 Summer
School.
Vitaly Khudobakhshov, Senior Lecturer, Department of Problems of Convergence in Natural Sciences and Humanities.
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Program Director.
Published a number of research papers on artificial intelligence and mathematical physics, in publications including Lecture Notes
in Artificial Intelligence and Teoreticheskaya and Matematicheskaya Fisika. Served as an invited consultant for software development
at Mail.ru.
In 2014, plans to present his Ph.D dissertation “Bi-Hamiltonian Geometry and Separation of Variables” (preliminary title).
“Nowadays nobody is
impressed if you know a
programming language or
speak several languages.
The knowledge, however,
becomes useless if you
have nothing to say. It is
exactly liberal education
which makes it possible,
for instance, to see the
influence of cognitive
research on developments
in artificial intelligence, or
the link between the theory
of programming languages
and linguistics. I learn a lot
from my students because
almost every single one of
them has surpassed me
in a certain area. This is a
truly unique and perfectly
natural environment.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
STUDENT LIFE
A play, Our Small Town, was created and staged
by students of the Drama Class led by Assistant
Professor M. M. Gudkov
Student Council Retreat. Sortovala Region
of the Republic of Karelia.
August 28-30, 2013
The Student Council is a collective organ of self-governance. It supports
important initiatives, launches social initiatives, and presents the views
of the student community to the administration. The Student Council
is composed of the Academic and Social Committees. In addition to
organizing academic conferences, the Council collects and processes
applications for various scholarships. It establishes research and cultural
links with other educational bodies and organizations and holds Faculty
festivals. Representatives of the Council sit on the Faculty’s Academic and
Library Councils and on the Curriculum Development Committee and the
Transfer and Re-admittance Committee. Students submit their proposals
on how to improve the educational process.
Student Clubs:
Conversation Club
Film Club
Open Microphone
During the KVN games (Wit & Humor
Competition) of 2013-2014, the NovoYorkovo
Faculty Team came in second in the KVN League
of St. Petersburg State University, and won
silver in the city’s KVN League
Jazz Guitar Club of Leonid Levin
Umberto Eco EcoClub
Club of Intellectual Games
“We have very much enjoyed the opportunity to meet Russian students easily
and informally outside of our academic courses, through the Conversation
Club. After our introductory meeting, our worries about quickly connecting
with Smolny students disappeared and we talked easily about our hometowns,
our experiences in Russia so far, living with our host-families, and shared
interests in movies, music, and TV shows. During the following get-togethers
we spoke even more comfortably over board games or snacks, and between
club meetings we met during tutoring hours to keep speaking and interacting
throughout the week. The students we met through the Conversation Club
have been kind, helpful, and open, and the friendships we created have
extended beyond the walls of Smolny. Our Russian friends have joined us
in cafes, on walks through the city, and at concerts, showing us a side of St.
Petersburg that we would otherwise have missed. We especially look forward
to keeping in contact with our new friends after our semester at Smolny is over.”
Beryl Taylor, Bard College (USA)
“The Faculty’s Ecological Club has been in existence for three years now.
The club arranges for recycling of paper, PET-bottles, and hazardous waste
collected throughout the Faculty. Once a month the recyclable materials are
delivered to fixed recycling stations. We also participate in environmental
projects and meet with other student eco-clubs.”
Anastasiya Nedolivko, BA 2014 (Art History, 4th year student)
Alexander Pogrebnyak, Associate Professor, Department of Problems of Interdisciplinary Synthesis in the Field of Social
Sciences and Humanities. Researcher at the Center for the Study of Economic Culture. Ph.D. in Economics. Associate Professor,
Department of Social Philosophy and Philosophy of History at the Institute of Philosophy of St. Petersburg State University.
Author of more than 40 academic papers. During academic year 2013-2014, he continued his research on the “Naples School of
Political Economy: from Vico to Genovesi,” as part of the research project “Economics and Institutions: Religious and Ideological
Aspects.” Member of the steering committee of the Economics and Religion International Conference organized by the Center
for the Study of Economic Culture. Awarded the faculty prize for Pedagogical Excellence for academic year 2010-2011.
“The Faculty is a
utopia that came true
through a paradoxical
merger of the best of
Russian communism
and American
democracy. We work
in one of the most
beautiful areas of the
city. We have a real
creative collaboration
of professors and
students. Some
individuals here are
possibly a genius
and everybody, for
certain, is original. Our
administration serves
to help and protect.
The nearby harbor
and St. Petersburg
floods evoke
associations with
the Noah’s Ark. Even
the neighborhood
dogs have wise men’s
eyes…”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
ALUMNI/AE of 2013-2014
In 2013, we created the Smolny Alumni
Database, which now holds information
on 86% of people who graduated
with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.
Research showed that the majority
of our BA graduates continued their
education at leading universities of
Russia, Europe, and the USA. They find
employment in a variety of fields: arts,
banking, mass media and journalism,
science and education, galleries, civil
service, tourism, etc. Quite a number
of our graduates launched their own
business projects and startups. Our
database continues to grow.
Bachelors
Bachelors
graduated
with honors
An alumni reunion was held at the
Bobrinskiy Palace on December 7,
2013. The event was attended by more
than 200 graduates of different years,
who decided to establish an Alumni
Association.
Masters
Masters
graduated
with honors
Events organized by the Career Center
in academic year 2013-2014:
• December 7, 2013. Presentation of
Byvshiy Syn (Former Son), the first
novel by Alexander Filipenko (BA
2007, Literature; MA 2009, Modern
Art Practices. Multimedia in the
Contemporary World). Alexander
won first prize for “Long Prose” in the
2013 Russkaya Premiya International
Literature Competition;
• April 7, 2014. Round Table: “What
skills are in demand on the market for
creative industries?” (jointly with the
Calvert Forum project);
• April 22, 2014. Meeting with Martin
Elling, Board Member of Lenta
Hypermarket Chain;
• May 29, 2014. Presentation of career
opportunities with Raiffeisen Bank;
• 2014 Spring Semester. “Publishing as
a Curatorial Process,” lecture course
for students in the Art Criticism MA
Program, featuring leading curators,
translators, editors, and designers
(with the support of Manifesta
Foundation).
Our graduates work at:
ABBYY
Ancor HR Holding
Art1 Visual Daily Portal
Baltia Magazine
Be-In Portal
Citibank
Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg
Deloitte
Dozhd TV Channel
Gazpromneft
General Consulate of Israel
Heineken
Hyundai
IKEA
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co Investment Bank
KONE
К-Rauta
Mail.ru
Mariinsky Theater
Moscow Drama Theater named after K. S. Stanislavsky
The Nevskoye Vremya newspaper
Nissan
Peterhof State Museum
Raiffeisen Bank
Sberbank
Seans Magazine
SPN Ogilvy
State Russian Museum
St. Petersburg International Economic Forum
Swedbank
TimeOut Magazine
Tinkoff Credit Systems
VTB 24
Yandex
and many more.
Anastasiya Kalinina (St. Petersburg), BA 2005 (Literature). Head of the Global Shapers community of the World Economic Forum in
Eurasia. Member of the Global Leadership Fellows Partner Program between the World Economic Forum and five of the world’s leading
business schools. Master of Communication Studies/Public Relations from the University of Northern Iowa (2007) and MSc in Human
Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science (2010). Created the first Russian web-site for HIV-positive women.
In 2010-2011, worked for the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London. Has inspired the launch of several youth
initiatives, including Coaching for Development, an educational platform for project managers in India and Nepal; and Jobzippers sites
for young entrepreneurs in Switzerland and France. Frequent participant in academic programs for young professionals (John Smith
Fellowship, Palomar5, Sandbox, and others). Honorary Member of IPMA (International Project Management Association). Certified global
business professional by the National Association of Small Business International Trade Educators.
Writes poetry and prose. Published in the Anthology of Twenty-Year-Olds (Limbus Press), and in Kovcheg, Commentarii, and TextOnly
magazines, as well as a number of web-based media outlets.
“Smolny is more than just
education. It is a way of
life and a way of thinking.
It is also our family: You
can meet a Smolny
graduate literally in any
part of the world and any
business field. In terms of
professional work, Smolny
taught me the key skills
of critical thinking and
efficient learning. This
proved instrumental at
all stages of my career.
Besides, the freedom
of piloting my own
educational path allowed
me to master the subjects
I found most interesting
and useful for the future.
In terms of personal
growth, Smolny widened
my horizons and lifted
all the mental barriers
that often bar the road to
success.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
CONFERENCES
Name
Dates
Liberal Education in Russia and the World October 2-27, 2013
Reproduction as a Work of Art
November 11-13, 2013
Musical Theater in a Time of Economic Crisis: Metamorphoses of Art Policy
November 11-13, 2013
Second International Conference on Comparative Studies of National Cultures:
Albert Camus and Russia November 25-26, 2013
Known and Unknown Discoveries of the Twentieth Century
December 2, 2013
Second St. Petersburg Winter Workshop on Experimental Studies of Speech
and Language. “The Night Whites Language Workshop”
December 2-4, 2013
Third Annual Smolny Student Conference: New Approaches in Social Sciences
and Humanities
February 28-March 1, 2014
Frankenstein Today: а Monster, the Monstrous and the Enormity of the 21st century
April 18-19, 2014
Maliye Banniye Chteniya 2014. Paradoxes of Conformism:
Social Adaptation, Political Mimicry, and Creative Challenge
April 23-24, 2014
Creativity as a Factor in the Transformation of the Modern World. Conference in
memory of Professor Lev Eduardovich Varustin of St. Petersburg State University
May 14-15, 2014
Notes on and after Conceptualisms. Conceptualism and Post-conceptualism
in the Context of Contemporary Art
May 26-27, 2014
Decadence in Europe: Words and Things. Third International Conference
on Comparative Studies of National Cultures
May 27-29, 2014
Economics and Religion
June 6-7, 2014
RESEARCH CENTERS AND LABORATORIES
Name
Headed by
«Smolny Collegium» Center
A. Magun
Center for the Study of Economic Culture
D. Raskov
Center for Empire Studies
A. Semyonov
Center for Liberal Education
V. Monakhov, J. Becker
Center for Contemporary Art
S. Savitsky
Center for Art History Studies
I. Chechot
Center for Writing and Critical Thinking
D. Akhapkin
Gagarin Center for the Study of Civil Society and Human Rights
A. Zhelnina
Laboratory for Cognitive Studies
T. Chernigovskaya
Laboratory of Language Behavior
V. Kasevich
Nina Savchenkov. Associate Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and Practices in the Field of Arts.
Film and Video BA Program and the Film Theory and Criticism MA Program Director. Doctor of Philosophy. Associate Professor,
Department of Ontology and Epistemology of the Institute of Philosophy within St. Petersburg State University. Published three
monographs and over 50 articles in Russian print media, including Voprosy Filosophii, Filosofskiye Nauki, and Filosofsky Zhournal, and
an essay in the edited volume Problemy Liberalnogo Obrazovaniya. Involved with the Center for Art History Studies. Winner of the 2004
“Second Navigation Award” of the St. Petersburg Philosophical Society. Awarded the Pedagogical Excellence Faculty Prize for the
academic years 2004-2005 and 2010-2011.
In 2014 published the monograph Elements of Poetics and Psychoanalysis (ERGO Publishing House).
“In my opinion, important things are happening. Now that the Faculty
has its home and garden, we welcome guests who come from
nearby and faraway. Our visitors – poets, directors, writers, composers,
psychoanalysts, and philosophers – are hosted by students and
faculty members. What this means is that we invite our friends to
enter and share in our achievements, in a space where we can spend
meaningful time together. We can be effectively happy while we
are together and while Socrates’s “cicadas sing.” Really and truly, this
classical architecture provides room for both freedom and reason.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
SEMINARS
Critique of Social Sciences and Humanities
The seminar Critique of Social Sciences and Humanities is a
major public platform for academic discussions in St. Petersburg.
Here, key Russian and foreign researchers (in social sciences and
humanities) make presentations on a wide range of ideological
and epistemological issues. The seminar has existed since 1999
and is recognized as an important contribution to developing
the Faculty into a leading Russian research center. It is a venue
for regular discussions of central issues in the development of
contemporary society and social sciences. Topics most actively
debated at the Seminar include: the current crisis of the social
sciences, destiny and history of the Enlightenment, the genesis
of fundamental contemporary political concepts, contemporary
Russian ideology, and contemporary art theory.
Moderated by A. Magun
Human Rights Seminar
The Human Rights Seminar of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and
Sciences has become one of the few discussion forums in
St. Petersburg where human rights are examined in a broader
interdisciplinary context, with input from cultural professionals
and artists, sociologists, economists, and political scientists, as well
as lawyers and civil society activists. The seminar focuses on three
main areas. First, it reviews contemporary human rights research
in various academic disciplines. Second, it devotes significant
attention to discussions about how to teach human rights and
what the links are between practical human rights advocacy and
education. Finally, there are meetings with prominent journalists,
writers, directors, musicians, and artists to talk about the human
rights situation in the city and country and how the arts and
sciences could help to improve it.
Moderated by A. Magun
Discussions on Contemporary Art
The seminar Discussions on Contemporary Art explores
interactions and fusion of the various arts; reviews
multidisciplinary aspects of the humanities; and analyzes a variety
of aesthetic, social, and ideological forms of artistic creativity.
The seminar is a venue where MA students are able to discuss
their research projects with leading historians, art theorists,
curators, and visual artists.
Moderated by S. Savitsky
St. Petersburg Cognitive Research Seminar
The seminar seeks to cross-pollinate knowledge among scientists who
study learning and its evolution, including intelligence, perception,
consciousness, the representation and acquisition of knowledge,
language as a tool for learning and communication, brain
mechanisms involved in learning, and complex behaviors.
Moderated by T. Chernigovskaya
Economy and Culture
The seminar focuses on the connections between economy
and culture, as expressed in the relation of a given economic
system to the surrounding political, social, and cultural
environment. Its mission is to foster dialogue among
economists, philosophers, historians, and sociologists –
a project and, to a certain extent, a provocation that can be
described as “economy and culture” or “economic theory as
a soft science.” The seminar explores the following topics:
critique of the fundamental values and implicit assumptions of
contemporary economic theory; achievements of unorthodox
economic thinking (post-Keynesians, Marxists, institutionalists);
studies of economics as a soft science; the role played by
culture and values in economic development; the economic
culture of countries and regions; the connections between
the economy and religion and between the economy and
the arts; and philosophical and artistic reflections about
economics.
Moderated by D. Raskov
Art History Seminar
The Art History seminar is designed as a discussion platform
open to anyone who either studies or practices arts.
The cross-disciplinary seminar brings together historians of
fine arts and architecture, musicologists, and theater and
cinema historians to talk to philosophers, sociologists, and
psychologists. The seminar accords a special place to current
issues and to art history of the 20th - 21st centuries, while
also presenting a broader spectrum of art history themes.
The focus is on analyzing specific art phenomena and objects
within their critical context and in their relation to the history
and methodology of art history studies.
Moderated by I. Chechot
Literature as an Experience and a Problem
The seminar was launched in 2012. Its key objective is to
make current and valorize the understanding of literature as
it is viewed by present-day writers, poets, translators, and
publishers, as well as scholars of literature, philosophy, and
other humanities.
Co-moderated by A. Astvatsaturov, F. Dvinyatin, and S. Fokin
Practices of Liberal Education
The seminar Practices of Liberal Education looks into
the details of how contemporary educational models are
implemented alongside existing educational standards.
The seminar deals with a rather wide range of issues, from
strategies of curriculum building to the application of specific
methods in the classroom.
Moderated by D. Akhapkin and M. Kalashnikova.
Fedor Dvinyatin. Associate Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Field of Languages and Literature. Comoderates the seminar Literature as an Experience and a Problem. Ph.D. in Philology. Published approximately 80 articles on poetics,
history of literature, and history of the Russian language in journals and edited volumes published by the Publishing House of St.
Petersburg State University, Nauka, NLO, Indrik, Yazyki Slavyanskikh Kultur, O.G.I., Pegasus, and Elsevier. Awarded the Pedagogical
Excellence Faculty Prize for academic year 2003-2004.
Member of the editorial board, sub-editor and author of 20+ encyclopedic entries in the encyclopedic school dictionary The Russian
Language (print and electronic versions), published by St. Petersburg State University in 2014. In 2013-2014 participated in the
international conference “One Hundred Years of Russian Formalism” and three other international philology conferences. Published
several articles on the analysis of texts by Lomonosov, Derzhavin, Batyushkov, and Mandelstam.
“In my opinion, teaching at
the Faculty continuously
pursues two seemingly
different goals. Some students
in a classroom are interested
in the topic being discussed
and in the acquisition of skills.
There are others who want to
broaden their horizons and
obtain additional knowledge
and skills. You may have just
finished a conversation with
a student from the ‘inquiring
tourist’ category and then
turn to another who is your
colleague in the research
laboratory. So in developing
the course, professors are
expected to provide materials
and steer the discussion in
ways that are beneficial to
both categories; we have
to bridge the gap between
these students’ approaches
and objectives.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
RESEARCH PROJECTS
“Research and research development are a priority of
the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg
State University. This both ensures that there is a close
link between research and education, and creates a
professional setting for future Bachelors and Masters
graduates.
A spirit of respectful cooperation between students
and professors, and minds that are open to anything
new and promising – these are the prerequisites for
developing abilities, and for unrestricted intellectual
creativity. These are also the very principles
underpinning the Faculty’s educational and research
processes.
The Faculty has everything necessary to foster the
creative initiative of young researchers, shape their
scientific interests, and engage them in academic
work within large-scale research projects. Students’
participation in seminars and conferences plays
a crucial role in supporting their independent
academic work and in creating a stimulating
research environment. Knowing this, the Faculty
always encourages students to attend various
academic events, and creates conditions for their
active involvement in academic events for students
and young scholars. Engaging students in research
is of paramount importance; it helps develop their
organizational skills and simultaneously develops
their research potential and abilities. The Faculty has a
Young Scholars Council, which is the main organizer of
Smolny’s Annual Student Conference, which in 2014
was held successfully for the third time.
Conferences cover a great variety of research and
creative themes, as the new generation of young
scholars explores highly topical issues within the
humanities and social sciences, art history, and artistic
practice. Participants deliver presentations on economy
Research Projects by Professors and Students in 2013
Project Head
Mathematical Models and Software Tools of Knowledge Representation
A. V. Rodin
Culture and Symbolism (Philosophical Legacy of Ernst Cassirer)
A. N. Kryukov
Non-linear Methods Used in EEG Analysis
of Altered States of Consciousness
I. E. Kanunikov
The 19th-century Russian Composer: Service, Creation, and Leisure
N. A. Ogarkova
Cognitive Poetics
D. N. Akhapkin
New Historicism. Typological Modelling in Cultural Studies
K. I. Zabulionite
Soviet Cantatas and Oratorios by S. S. Prokofiev
in the Social and Cultural Contexts of his Time
V. S. Orlov
History as an Art of Articulateness. Russian Formalists and the Revolution
I. A. Kalinin
Developing Models of Personal Security
for Contemporary Military Conflicts A. I. Kubyshkin
The United Nations, Peace Keeping Operations, and Armed Conflicts
D. B. Pushkina
Historical Memory and Identity of the Population of
Vyborg and Kaliningrad (Interdisciplinary Research)
V. G. Timofeev
Toward a New Epistemology of Social Studies: the “Pragmatic Turn,”
20th-century Language Philosophy, and Analysis of Cultural Institutions
V. L. Kaplun
Political Subjectivity: History and Modernity
A. V. Magun
The Impact of the Eastern Mediterranean on China
in the 1st Millennium B. C.
D. V. Panchenko
Economic Culture of Contemporary Capitalism
D. E. Raskov
Research on Curatorial Practices in Contemporary Art
S. A. Savitsky
From Empire to Multiculturalism and Multipolarity: Citizenship
and Sovereignty Policies Confront the Challenges of Multiculturalism
A. M. Semyonov
The Baroque
A. V. Stepanov
Between Science and Ideology: Social and Historical Analysis
of Studies of Religion and Atheism in the USSR (1920s-70s)
M. M. Shakhnovich
Mimesis in Fine Arts
M. A. Chernysheva
and history, sociology and political science, philosophy
and pedagogy, international relations and anthropology,
cognitive sciences, art criticism, and complex systems in
nature and society. The diverse topics of the presentations,
the multitude of methodological approaches, and the
broad spectrum of research fields highlight the crossdisciplinary nature of studies within the Program in Arts
and Humanities and of the principles underlying liberal
education.
Research conducted by faculty members is an important
precondition for the quality of the educational process.
The quality of teaching is assured by the high professional
competencies and valuable research carried out by Smolny
educators, including prominent scholars and well-known
creative figures. Conferences and theoretical seminars bring
together experts from St. Petersburg, other Russian cities, and
foreign countries. The Faculty is a recognized leader in cognitive
studies, economics, political sciences, history of arts, literary
studies, and in other fields.
Further development of our publishing operation will provide
greater access to the research achievements of faculty
members: We have plans to publish more than 10 books and
100+ articles in the coming year.”
Marianna Shakhnovich
Deputy Dean of Research; Chair, Research Committee
Igor Kanunikov, Associate Professor, Department of Problems of Convergence of Natural Sciences and Humanities, Ph.D. in Biology.
Head of the Electroencephalography Laboratory of the Biology Faculty of St. Petersburg State University.
Author of over 120 published articles on a range of psycho-physiological topics. Recipient of the Certificate of Appreciation from
the RF Ministry of Education, for productive research and teaching. Bearer of the medal of the Second Class Order «For Merit to
the Fatherland,» for productive work as Director of the Ukhtomsky Physiological Research Institute of St. Petersburg State University.
“I’ve been teaching
at Smolny since its
foundation. Over the
years it has grown
into a mature and
very attractive Faculty
pursuing the principles
of liberal education.
Here, a motivated,
passionate, and focused
individual will be able
to implement their
most ambitious plans.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
PUBLICATIONS
In the academic year 2013-2014, the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences published or contributed to the following publications:
In Russian:
In English:
Almanac of the Center for the Study of Economic Culture at the Faculty of
Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University: A Collection
of Articles. St. Petersburg. Moscow: Publishing House of the Gaidar Institute
for Economic Policy, 2013.
Andrei Rodin. Axiomatic Method and
Category Theory. Springer, 2013.
Artem Radeev. Nietzsche and Aesthetics. St. Petersburg: Humanities Center,
2013.
Dmitry Panchenko. Diffusion of Ideas in the Ancient World. St. Petersburg:
St. Petersburg State University, 2013.
Grigory Tulchinsky. Total Branding: The Mythic Design of Post-Information
Society. Brands and their Role in Today’s Business and Culture.
St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University, 2013.
Liberal Education in Russia and the World: Proceedings
of the International Academic Conference 2012. St. Petersburg:
St. Petersburg State University, 2013.
Maria Chernysheva. Mimesis in the Fine Arts: From Greek Classics to French
Surrealism. Study Guide. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of St. Petersburg
State University, 2014.
N.J. Ogarkova, editor in chief. Musical St. Petersburg. Encyclopedia. The 19th
Century. Volume 12. St. Petersburg: Kompozitor, 2013.
Nina Savchenkova. Elements of the Poetics of Psychoanalysis.
Izhevsk: ERGO, 2013.
Sergey Fokin. Dostoevsky’s Figures in Twentieth-century French Literature
St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the Russian Christian Humanities Academy,
2013.
Stanislav Savitsky. A Private Person: Lidiya Ginzburg in the Late 1920s - Early
1930s. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the European University at
St. Petersburg, 2013.
Tatiana Chernigovskaya. The Cheshire Smile of Schrödinger’s Cat: Language
and Consciousness. St. Petersburg and Moscow: Yazyki Slavyanskikh Kultur,
2013.
Artemy Magun. Negative Revolution.
Modern Political Subject and its Fate
after the Cold War. Bloomsbury Academic,
2013.
Artemy Magun. Politics of the One.
Concepts of the One and the Many in
Contemporary Thought. Bloomsbury
Academic, 2013.
The following works are being prepared
for publication by or with participation
of the Faculty:
Denis Akhapkin, Evgenia Glazanova,
Marina Kalashnikova, Ilya Kalinin, Stanislav
Savitsky. Methods of Liberal Education.
Experience in Teaching Humanities:
A Collection of Teaching Guides and
Aids. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of
St. Petersburg State University, 2014.
Liberal Education in Russia and the
World: Proceedings of the International
Academic Conference 2014.
The Smolny Student Conference 2013:
Proceedings of the International
Student Conference, 2015.
More than 10 other publications are due
to be added to our publishing portfolio in
academic year 2014–2015.
T.A. Abrosimova, A. Rabinovich, and Y.V. Chernyayev, editors.
The Petersburg Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
in 1918: A Collection of Documents. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State
University, 2013.
The Smolny Student Conference 2013: Humanities and Social Sciences
in the Interactive Sphere. Proceedings of the International Student
Conference. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University, 2014.
Carine Clément, editor. Urban Movements in Russia in 2009–2012:
On the Way to Politics. Moscow: Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye, 2013.
Vadim Kasevich. Cognitive Linguistics: Looking For Identity. Moscow: Yazyki
Slavyanskikh Kultur, 2013.
Vera Zhirmunskaya-Astvatsaturova, editor. Viktor Zhirmunskii.
The Beginning: Diaries and Letters. Moscow: Novoye Literaturnoye
Obozreniye, 2013.
Boris Komissarov, Professor, Department of Theory and Methodology for Teaching Arts and Humanities, History of Civilizations
Program Director, Doctor of History.
A renowned expert and the author of numerous works on the history of Brazil and countries of the Iberian Peninsula, and on Russia’s
foreign policy. President of the “Farol” Society for the Promotion of Scientific, Cultural, and Business Contacts with Portuguese-Speaking
Countries (St. Petersburg). Associate member of the Brazilian Institute of History and Geography, Rio de Janeiro. Recipient of the Order
of Rio Branco (Rank 3) awarded by the President of Brazil.
“How can we overcome
the notorious indifference
to knowledge of history?
How can we make it
popular? This can only
be achieved if, through
learning, history students
can gain better insights
into events, processes,
and phenomena of
the modern age. A
flexible project on liberal
education in history
enables students to see
the specific features of
different civilizations,
while paying special
attention to intercivilizational contacts and
getting a general picture
of how the world has
developed over time.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
THE BOARD OF OVERSEERS
General Gianalfonso d’Avossa
President, “Dom Trezini” Foundation, Vice President,
“Human Life Fund” Foundation
Sergey Bogdanov
Vice Rector for Asian and African Studies, Arts
and Philology, St. Petersburg State University
Leon Botstein
President of Bard College
Sergey Vasiliev
Member of the board of the State Corporation
“Bank for Development and Foreign Economic
Affairs (Vnesheconombank),” Vice President of
the Vnesheconombank
Lyudmila Verbitskaya
President of St. Petersburg State University
Susan H. Gillespie
Vice President for Special Global Initiatives, Founding
Director of the Institute for International Liberal
Education, Bard College
Patricia Albjerg Graham
Charles Warren Professor of the History of American
Education, Emerita, Harvard Graduate School of
Education
Natalya Dementyeva
Representative of the Republic Mary-El State Assembly
in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation
Federal Assembly
Nikolay Kropachev
Rector of St. Petersburg State University
Alexey Kudrin
Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences,
St. Petersburg University
Vincent McGee
Trustee, The Gagarin Trust
Murphy, Kenneth
Director and Editor-in-chief of Project Syndicate
Grigory Rapota
State Secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus
Leonid Romankov
State Counselor of St. Petersburg, First Class
Yury Temirkanov
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of The St.Petersburg
Philharmoniс Orchestra (Honorary Member of the Board
of Overseers)
Daria Bocharnikova, (Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region), BA 2007 (History of Civilizations). After graduation from Smolny College,
Daria studied at the European University in Florence where, in 2014, she successfully defended her doctoral thesis titled “Inventing
Socialist Modernity: A History of the Architectural Profession in the Soviet Union (1932–1971).” Since 2012, she has been teaching at
the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University. Recipient of a fellowship from the Open Society Institute’s
Academic Fellowship Program and an Andrew Gagarin Fellowship. Co-organizer of the international research project “Second World
Urbanity: Between Communist and Capitalist Utopias.” In September 2014, she will join the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
at Harvard University as a research fellow, to work on a book about the architectural profession in the Soviet Union and to develop an
interactive map of cities of the Second World.
“Smolny infected me with
an interest in the humanities
and social sciences, made me
eager to learn more about the
world and human beings, and
gave me a more proactive
mindset. Now I am trying to
pass this ‘bacillus’ on to other
generations. It has been a
great honor and pleasure for
me to begin my career as a
teacher at the Faculty. I have
been following what happens
here for more than 10 years
and I can say that Smolny
continues to provide students
with everything they need
for exploring, wondering, and
making discoveries, just as it
did back when I was a student
myself. These opportunities
increase every year, making
studying here more and more
engaging.”
S t . Pe t e r s b u r g S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y. Fa c u l t y o f L i b e r a l A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s . A c a d e m i c Ye a r 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4
BOBRINSKY PALACE
7. The Bedroom
All that remains of the original interior of the bedroom
is the Dutch tile stove built into the marble fireplace. All
other rooms of the suite were designed in 1822-1825,
under the guidance of architect Andrey Mikhailov, for
the Count’s eldest son Alexey Alexeevich (1800-1868),
soon after the marriage to Countess Sofia Samoilova
(1799-1866). The bedroom was redesigned later in
the middle of the 19th-century.
The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University is
housed in a former mansion of the Counts Bobrinsky, at 58–60 Galernaya Street.
The mansion was built by the famous architect Luigi Rusca and is named in honor
of the family that owned it from 1798 to 1917. The founder of the family was
Alexey Bobrinsky (1762–1813), an illegitimate son of Empress Catherine the Great
and Count Grigory Orlov. The surviving suite of rooms on the second floor facing
the garden makes the Palace a fine example of a private residence in the Empire
style. The building is an architectural heritage monument of federal significance.
The rooms of the main suite have been restored and are currently used for
academic conferences, seminars, workshops, and other educational and cultural
activities. All the photographs of teachers, students, and graduates found in this
report were taken in the Palace’s interiors.
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3
4
1
8
11
1. The Blue Drawing Room
Surviving elements include the magnificent paintings on the
ceiling celebrating married life, the walls of white artificial
marble, and the rich gilded moldings decorating the doors
and mirror. The ceiling paintings in the suite’s rooms were
completed under the general guidance of a popular artist of the
time, Giovanni Battista Scotti, and have remained in excellent
condition.
2. The Round Office
The room has the original bookcases, a white marble fireplace,
and a painted firmament ceiling, whose bright flower garlands
symbolize botany—a passion of Maria Feodorovna, the wife of
Emperor Paul I. Sofia Bobrinskaya was one of Maria Feodorovna’s a
ladies-in-waiting.
3. The Reception Room
The ceiling paintings in the Reception Room show scenes with
cupids. What makes them unique is that the cupids are busy with
sciences (geography, astronomy) and arts (architecture, drawing
and dance), as well as with sports and agricultural work. The
ceiling lamp is original.
1
8. The Crimson Living Room
The walls are decorated with fancy red silk brocade
panels in gilded frames. Other surviving elements of
the original interior are the white marble fireplace, with
a mirror and caryatids, and the mirrors in gilded frames
between the windows. The first mistress of the house,
Countess Anna Bobrinskaya, had established a salon
which became one of the most important venues for
social and cultural life in St. Petersburg. It was visited
by Vassily Zhukovsky, Pyotr Vyazemsky, Ivan Myatlev,
the Vielgorsky brothers, and foreign and Russian
diplomats including Karl Nesselrode and Alexander
Gorchakov. Alexander Pushkin was another frequent
guest. According to a contemporary, Anna Bobrinskaya
“held the rod of control over salons in St. Petersburg.”
2
4. The White Dining Room
The general idea of the ceiling painting is the Feast of Bacchus.
The dining room also features a large carved marble fireplace. In
the past, the room held most of the collection of family portraits,
including full-dress portraits of Empress Catherine the Great, Count
Orlov, and the Samoilov family.
5. The Count’s Library
During the years when they owned the Palace, the Bobrinskys
accumulated a library of about 20,000 valuable books. Among its
treasures were original manuscripts of 19th-century Russian poet
Vassily Zhukovsky. Count Alexey Alexeevich Bobrinsky served in the
Czar’s Ministry of Finance and was himself the author of articles on
finance and credit.
6. The Billiard Room
Next in the suite are the rooms of Count Alexey Alexeevich Bobrinsky.
Although more modest in architectural design, these, like the state
rooms, were decorated with a magnificent collection of about 500
bronze pieces. Special showcases were used to display collections of
porcelain and silver, as well as various “precious antiquities,” which
included coins, Limoges enamels, snuff boxes, and jewelry.
9. The Ballroom
The walls are decorated with light gray artificial
marble. The picturesque ceiling paintings depict
scenes of music-making, worship of Apollo, and
four pairs of female figures dancing. On January
18, 1834, Pushkin wrote in his diary: “The balls at
Count Bobrinsky’s are among the most glamorous.”
According to other contemporaries and documents
dating from that period, Emperor Nicholas I and his
wife Alexandra Feodorovna repeatedly took part in
balls held by the Bobrinskys and visited their house
on other occasions.
10. The Count’s Office
Count Alexey Alexeevich Bobrinsky was the main force
behind the construction of the first railroad in Russia,
linking St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo. He also
contributed to its financing. He was one of the first
in Russia to become interested in daguerreotypes,
was acquainted with the first Russian professional
photographers, and took photographs himself.
11. The Green Drawing Room
The walls in the Green Drawing Room were once
covered in a golden-green brocade with exquisite
patterns to match the ceiling paintings, which were
carried out in old bronze green against a pearl gray
background. The traditions of the Palace continued
under Countess Sofia Bobrinskaya. According to Pyotr
Vyazemsky, “Her salon was open every evening.
The guests were few but select. Those who came here
sought to enjoy an hour or two of pleasant talk, exchanging
thoughts and impressions after the worries or sometimes
even after meaningless entertainments of the day.”
Complete information on the rules
and conditions of admission is available
at the Information Center of the
St. Petersburg State University Admission
Committee (abiturient.spbu.ru).
Consultations are also available at the
Center for Protection of Applicants’
Rights (law.spbu.ru/ru/Education/
PreGraduateStudy/ConsultCenter.aspx).
Admission Office
Tamara Abrosimova
Telephone: +7 (812) 324 07 70
[email protected]
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Ekaterina Borisova
Telephone: +7 (812) 320 07 26
[email protected]
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Ian Crovisier
International Programs Coordinator
Telephone: +1 (845) 758 71 10
E-mail: [email protected]
http://smolny.bard.edu/about/
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Natalya Alyoshina
Telephone: +7 (812) 320 07 22
[email protected]
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58-60 Galernaya Street,
St. Petersburg, Russia, 190000
Telephone/Fax: +7 (812) 320 07 29
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