Perm State University
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Perm State University |
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| Motto | Vivat, crescat, floreat |
| Established | 1916 |
| Type | University/Liberal Arts |
| Rector | Prof.Vladimir Malanin,Honoured Scientist of Russia |
| Students | 10,000+ |
| Location | Perm, Perm Krai, Russia |
| Address | 15, Bukireva str., Perm, Russia, 614990 |
| Telephone | 7 (342) 239-63-26 (rector) +7 (342) 239-64-18 (vicerector of education) +7(342) 239-64-31 (vicerector of science) |
| Campus | Urban |
| Website | [1] |
[edit] History
The Perm State University was founded on October 14, 1916. It originated on the dividing line of two epochs of Russian history. That decade was marked by both so called " the silver age" of Russian culture, ingenious scientific achievements, rapid economic growth and by the crisis of the political system and also catastrophic war, which brought Russia to the brink of social and political revolution. All these factors shaped the history of the University.
The emergence of the University in the Urals was the logical development of the ideas of culture and geopolitical ambitions of Russia. This huge region with an enormous industrial potential sharply needed its own academic, teaching and educational center. This idea was discussed by many Russian academics and intellectuals at the turn of the century and was actively supported by D. I. Mendeleyev, A. S. Popov, D. N. Mamin- Sibiryak, A. G. Denisov- Uralsky. However the fact that Perm eventually became the first university city of the Urals was not totally accidental. The representatives of Perm society- industrialists, the Duma, Zemstvo (elected district council in prerevolutionary Russia) actively backed different ideas of founding a school of higher education in the town. The most prominent part in this process played the local industrialist Nikolai Meshkov. In the long run the local authorities offered the most generous financial support to this project and the central government made its decision in favor of Perm. So the Perm State University originated as a result of the two- way process: local initiative and the actual needs of Russia. From this moment on, the Urals, being the most Eastern point of Europe, integrated into the pan- European educational sphere.
It is worth mentioning that the University was initially set up as a branch of the St. Petersburg University - one of the leading European centers of higher education . Young and ambitious professors and tutors from the capital of Russia formed the backbone of the new university staff. It was a galaxy of brilliant academics overwhelmed with new ideas and zeal: B.D.Grekov, S.P.Obnorsky, N.P.Ottokar, A.A.Zavarzin, A.S.Yaschenko, K.K.Buga, Yu.N.Verkhovsky, A.G.Genkel and some others. It was a sort of engrafting of intellectual elitism and European culture into a provincial town, which prior to that had been "peacefully sleeping in the anteroom of culture", as Michael Osorgin once said. Very quickly the University began to develop into the center of intellectual and spiritual life of the Perm region, producing a special atmosphere of creative work, and introducing the town to the centers of European culture and education. An English traveler J.Greenwald managed to reflect objectively this process while describing Perm: "The center of the whole cultural life is the University . Its students give the air of academic campus to Perm, where the University is the hub of life. This circumstance shapes the town, which has become one of the regional academic centers, sort of "Ural Cambridge".
The University was born in the atmosphere of aspirations. For many "Founding Fathers" Perm was not supposed to be just a short episode in their academic careers. Alexander Genkel's life is the proof of it. He was not only an outstanding botanist, who laid the corner stone of the University Botanical Garden, but also a brilliant lecturer, polyglot and erudite, who embodied the characteristic feature of his time - universalism. Besides his professional articles on biology he offered his own versions of translation of "Utopia" by Thomas Moore and "Sun City" by Tomazo Campanella, was in the mainstream of poetry and published critical essays in it. It was not only Alexander Genkel whose life was closely interwoven with the University and the city, but also several generations of his family. His sons also specialised in botany, but his daughter, Maria Genkel, many years headed the Russian Language and General Linguistics Department. His grandson, professor A.G.Voronov, is a reputed ecologist, who plays a prominent part in conservation and nature of the Urals region. The seeds of knowledge, education and culture, sown by the first generation of the University professors, brought the fruits.
However not all ideas and concepts that had been tabled by the "Founding Fathers", were implemented into life, because general atmosphere in the country changed very quickly. In spite of it the University survived the zigzags of post-revolutionary epoch and always remained in the mainstream of Russian history . Though irrespective of the numerous "political winds" and voluntaristic innovations the University always tried to stick to and follow its fundamental principles.
At all stages of its development the Perm State University remained the center of scientific research in the Urals region . Many established academic schools, which have brought international recognition to the University, grew on the basis of investigations of natural, historical and cultural peculiarities of the Perm region and the Urals.
Professor G.A.Maximovich began working at the Department of Geography and Geology from its foundation. His exceptionally wide and successful activities can be traced both in science and management. He acted as Head of Dynamic Geology and Hydrogeology Department, Dean of the Faculty of Geology and finally he became one of the Pro-Vice-Chancellors of the University. He also developed the schools of karstology, dynamic geology and chemical geography. On professor Maximovich's initiative there was founded the Institute of Karst and Speleology, which united the efforts of scientists not only in the USSR, but also in other countries of the world. Up till now the Perm School of Karst remains one of the most influential in Russia and G.A.Maximovich's ideas are being developed by both his numerous disciples in CIS and young talented researchers at the University .
The investigations in economic geography at the University were initiated by professor V.A.Tanaevsky and were aimed at solving the actual problems of economic and territorial development of the Western Urals. Today professor M.D.Sharygin implements these ideas into life. His concept of territorial-economic complexes (which appears to answer the needs of the Perm region) won wide recognition . Under professor Sharygin's supervision the Department of Socio-Economic Geography publishes collections of abstracts, monographs and is actively involved into the process of solving the most important fundamental problems of regional geography ([2]).
[edit] List of Faculties
PSU includes 12 specialized faculties, which are:
- Faculty of Biology
- Faculty of Geography
- Faculty of Geology
- Faculty of History and Politology
- Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics
- Faculty of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
- Faculty of Physics
- Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology
- Faculty of Philology
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Faculty of Economics
- Faculty of Law
