Board of Trustees

Professor Ludmila Verbitskaya is a member of the Russian Academy of Education. She has a Doctorate in Philology.  She graduated from Leningrad State University in 1958 with a degree in Russian Language and Literature. She has been the head of the Department of General Linguistics of St. Petersburg State University since 1985.

Ludmila Verbitskaya became Deputy Rector for Education at the university in 1984 and later was promoted to First Deputy Rector of the University. In 1993 she was named Acting Rector and then elected Rector and took office in April 1994.

In 1995 Verbitskaya was elected as full member of the Russian Academy of Education (RAE) and member of the Presidium of RAE’s Northwest branch. She holds honorary doctorate degrees from a number of Russian and foreign universities (in Italy, USA, Japan, Slovakia Republic, China, etc.)

In 1999, Ludmila Verbitskaya was elected President of the Russian Society of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature (ROPRYAL). She has been President of the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature (MAPRYAL) since 2003.

Rector Verbitskaya is Deputy Chairperson the Advisory Commission on Science, Technology and Education of the President of the Russian Federation. She serves on several federal committees, among them the Russian Government Committee on Russian Language, the judges’ panel of the Russian Federation Presidential Prize and the Russian Government Prize in Education, among others. She played a large part in the Russian Government Commission tasked with developing a new national educational doctrine.

Rector Verbitskaya is deputy head of the Russian Union of Rectors. She is also Chairperson of the Presidium of the Council of University Rectors of the Northwest Federal District and Co-chair of the Association of Classic Universities.

She has been elected to the leadership of The European University Association, The International Association of Universities, The Association of Baltic Universities, and The Eurasian Association of Universities.

Ludmila Verbitskaya is also Vice-President of the Coordinating Committee of the Russian-German St.Petersburg Dialogue forum. She has served for many years as a member of the Russian Federation Commission for UNESCO and of the Coordinating Commission on UN Special Programmes.

Rector Verbitskaya also works as advisor to the Governor of St. Petersburg on education, science and mass media, and is a member of the Governor’s Committee on Science and Technology and the Presidium of the NGO Civil Society. She is also a member of the Saint Petersburg City Council.

Ms. Verbitskaya’s work has been recognized by the many awards and honours, including the order of Friendship, the order for “National Service” III degree and IV degree, the French Legion of Honour, the French “Academic Palm” award with the title of “Commander”, the “Knight’s Cross for Service of the Republic of Poland”, the Ukranian Medal of Honour of Grand Duchess Olga III, the medal of honour of Saint Grand Duchess Olga III from the Russian Orthodox Church, and the title of “Honorary Employee of Higher Education in Russia”, among others.

In 1997 Rector Verbitskaya was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, Great Britain. She was awarded the Russian Federation Presidential prize in Education (2001) and the Russian Government Prize (2007).  Ms. Verbitskaya was named an honorary Citizen of St. Petersburg in 2006.

Sergey Bogdanov is a Doctor of Philology, Professor, Head of the Russian Language Department and the Dean of the Faculty of Philology and Arts of St. Petersburg State University.

Mr. Bogdanov is a member of the Academic Council of St. Petersburg Technical University and the Chairman of the Academic Council of the Faculty of Philology and Arts. He has directly managed a number of major scholarly publishing projects, including the Russian Humanities Encyclopaedia (released in 3 volumes in 2002), the Three Centuries of Saint Petersburg encyclopaedia (to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Saint Petersburg in 2005), and the “Let’s Say It Correctly” series of dictionaries, among others. He is also an active participant in the development and implementation of the Russian higher education reform program.

Sergey Bogdanov is also a prominent advocate of the Russian language, and as Head of the Council on the Russian Language and Speech in the Russian Ministry of Education and Science works to raise Russian’s profile in the contemporary world.  He also organizes and participates in congresses of the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature (MAPRYAL), in “Russian World” festivals, and in many international and national language forums.  He is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Society of Teachers of the Russian Language and Literature (ROPRYAL) and a member of the Inter-Agency Commission on the Russian Language of the Russian government.

Mr. Bogdanov has been recognized for his work as a scholar and teacher and for his contribution to the education of highly skilled specialists. In 2003, his efforts were recognized with an award from the President of the Russian Federation.

Alexander Dzasokhov is a prominent statesman and political personality. He was born in 1934 in Vladikavkaz to the family of a railroad worker.

Dzasokhov studied engineering, and after his schooling began working for the state. During the Soviet era he was a member of the Politburo and a Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and member of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet. He was Soviet Ambassador to Syria in 1986-1988, when the two countries had very active economic, political and cultural relations.

In the post-Soviet period, Dzasokhov has served multiple times as a State Duma Deputy and member of the Federation Council. In 1998-2005, he was President of North Ossetia-Alania. Currently, he is a member of the Federation Council, chairman of the Federation Council’s Commission on Cultural Affairs, and Deputy Chairman of the Council’s Commission on UNESCO Affairs.

Alexander Dzasokhov has authored a number of books and other publications. He has many awards for his contributions to the state. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II recognized him for his contributions to the revitalization of Orthodoxy in the North Caucasus.

Oleg Dobrodeyev was born in Moscow in 1959. In 1981 he graduated from the Faculty of History of the Moscow State Lomonosov University. Starting in 1984 Mr. Dobrodeyev was an editor of the Vremya TV news program and later became deputy editor-in-chief and headed the creative team. In 1990 he was among the establishers of the television station Rossiya and headed Vesti news program.

Between 1991 and 1993 Oleg Dobrodeyev was editor-in-chief of the Ostankino Television Information Agency of Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. In 1994 he was one of the founders of the television channel NTV and later headed the company.

Since 2000 he has been General Director of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.

Vitaly Ignatenko has been serving as General Director of Russian news agency ITAR-TASS since 1993. He is also Chairman of the International Board of News Agencies and has been President of the Asia-Pacific News Agencies Organization (OANA) since May 2000.  Mr. Ignatenko oversees the Russian Association for Russian-Korean Friendship and Cooperation and is member of the UNESCO’s Russian Federation Committee. 

Mr. Ignatenko began his career as a reporter for Komsomolskaya Pravda, rising to the rank of First Deputy Chief Editor. From 1986-1980 he was Chief Editor of Noyoe Vremya, and supervised the Presidential Press Service from 1990-91. Mr. Ignatenko also worked with the Russian Communist Party and the TASS agency. 

Vitaly Ignatenko has held numerous other posts, namely, he has served as President of the International Association of the Russian Press, which unites over 300 Russian language publications from 80 countries of the world. In May 2006 Mr. Ignatenko was elected President of the CIS News Agencies Association. 

Vitaly Ignatenko has received numerous awards and orders, the most notable of them including the III and IV Orders “For Meritorious Service to the Motherland” , the Lenin award in 1978 as well as the Government Award of the Russian Federation in 2003. 

Mr. Ignatenko has a diploma from the Moscow State University in journalism.

Vitaly Kostomarov was born in Moscow in 1930. In 1952 he completed his degree at the Russian Language Department of the Philological Faculty of Moscow State University. In 1953 he graduated from the English Language Department of the Translation Faculty of the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages. Vitaly Kostomarov earned his Ph.D. in Philology at the Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences (1955). In 1969, he completed his doctoral thesis in Philology at the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University.  He has been a professor since 1970 and full member of the Russian Academy of Education. 

After graduation Vitaly Kostomarov worked at the Higher Party School with the Central Committee of the Communist Party as an interpreter and later as a teacher of Russian language and head of the Russian Language Department, until 1964. Then he moved to the Academy of Sciences' Institute of the Russian Language. Currently professor Kostomarov is president of the Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language (previously – Russian Language Research and Methodology Center in the Moscow State Lomonosov University), where he has been working since 1965. In 1990-1992 Vitaly Kostomarov was elected President of the National Academy of Education. 

Mr. Kostomarov belongs to academician Viktor Vinogradov's linguistic school and researches stylistics and lexicology of the modern Russian language as well as tendencies in the language development that can be seen primarily in the media. He also researched the language-culture relations and founded a special linguistic area of thought called linguoculturology. He authored many books, including Culture of Speech and the Style, Linguistic Taste of the Time, Our Language in Action, Linguistic and Cultural Theory of the Word, etc. He also worked on sociolinguistic issues and studied the role and place of the Russian language among other languages. Vitaly Kostomarov wrote books on teaching Russian as a foreign language and a number of textbooks for students, including the award-winning Russian Language for All. In total, he published over 600 works. He provided academic advising to more than 56 Ph.D. and doctorate candidates. He is editor-in-chief of Russian Speech journal and member of the editorial board of the Russian Language Abroad.

 Vitaly Kostomarov served as member of the Moscow City Council (Mossovet) as well as district councils, was member and chairman of a number of academic councils, the Expert Council of the All-Russia Academy of Sciences and several ministerial councils and committees. He has also been acting as Chief Secretary and President of the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature. Currently he holds the post of vice president of the Association.  

Mr. Kostomarov is honored scientist of the Russian Federation. He has been awarded the Presidential prize in education and has a number of other state and international awards.  Vitaly Kostomarov has received honorary doctorate degrees from several universities.

Sergey Lavrov has served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation since March 9, 2004, when he was appointed to this post by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. 

Previously Mr. Lavrov has been serving as Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations from 1994 and was President of the United Nations Security Council in December 1995, June 1997, July 1998, October 1999, December 2000, April 2002 and June 2003. 

In 1992-1994 Sergey Lavrov was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and before that in 1990-1992 he served as the Director of the Department of International Organizations and Global Issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

He also served as Deputy Head of the International Economic Relations Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1988-1990.  Earlier in 1981 Sergey Lavrov was sent as a senior adviser to the Soviet mission at the United Nations in New York and worked there until 1988. 

Sergey Lavrov began his career in the diplomatic field in 1971 when he graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and was sent as a diplomat to the Soviet Emassy in Sri Lanka, where he worked until 1976.  Later he worked in the Department of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR between 1976 and 1981. 

Mr. Lavrov has the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation and was decorated with a number of state awards.

He has a good command of English, French and Sinhalese, which he learned during his mission in Sri Lanka. 

Sergey Lavrov is married and has a daughter.

Nikita Mikhalkov is a world-famous Oscar-winning film director, actor, People’s Artist of Russia, Chairman of the Management Board of Cinematographers’ Union of Russia, President of the Russian Fund of Culture, member of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO and Co-Chair of the Russian Zemstvo Movement Council.  He has a Ph.D. from the International Academy of Sciences and Arts. 

Nikita Mikhalkov was born in Moscow in 1945 into a distinguished artistic family.

Mikhalkov studied acting at the children’s studio of the Stanislavsky Theatre and later at the Schukin School of the Vakhtangov Theatre. 

While still a student, he appeared in Georgy Danelia’s film “I Walk in Moscow” (1964) and his brother Andrei Konchalovsky’s film “A Nest of Gentry” (1969). Mikhalkov continued to pursue his acting career and joined the VGIK Directors Faculty, where he graduated in 1971. 

He directed his first short film in 1968, “I’m Coming Home,” and appeared in over twenty films, including his brother’s “Uncle Vanya” (1972), before he co-wrote, directed and starred in his first feature, “At Home Among Strangers, Stranger at Home” in 1974. 

He released films almost every year for the next decade: Slave of Love (1976), Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano (1977), Five Evenings (1979), A Few Days in the Life of Oblomov (1980), Kinfolk (1982) and In Private (1983). 

In the late 1980s he established a producers’ association, Tri Te, which still operates successfully today. In 1990, he was elected President of the All-Russia Tennis Association, where he served for five years. In 1993, Mikhalkov was elected President of the management board of the Russian Fund of Culture and Chairman of the management board of Cinematographers’ Union of Russia in 1999. 

Mikhalkov’s Burnt by The Sun” (1994) received the Grand Prize at Cannes and an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, among many other honours.

In 1998 Nikita Mikhalkov was elected the President of the Russian Society of Cinematographists and has managed the Moscow Film Festival since 2000. He also set the Russian Academy Golden Eagle Award in opposition to the traditional Nika Award. 

In 2005, Mikhalkov resumed his acting career, starring in three movies – ’’The State Councelor’’, “Zhmurki”, and Krzysztof Zanussi’s ’’Persona Non Grata’’.

In September 2007 Nikita Mikhalkov’s film “Twelve”, a modern adaptation of Sidney Lumet’s court drama “Twelve Angry Men”, received a special Golden Lion for the “consistent brilliance” at the Venice Film Festival.

Natalia Narochnitskaya is Doctor of History. She graduated with honors from Moscow State Institute of International Relations, specialized in American and German studies as well as in general issues and tendencies of international relations. Between 1982 and 1989 Natalia Narochnitskaya worked in the Soviet diplomatic mission with the United Nations in New York. 

She has initiated and co-chaired many forums and associations of the Russian community, including the World Russian People's Council, and author of their concept programs and statements. 

Ms. Narochnitskaya has authored the major work Russia and Russians in World History as well as other works on Russian foreign policy and on combining Russian national-state mentality with West European liberalism. She published over 40 research works. She is a permanent contributor to the magazine of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Life.  

Natalia Narochnitskaya has successfully publishing her works outside Russia and participating in international discussions. She maintains relations with think tanks and scholars in Western European countries including Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Greece.

Andrei Fursenko was first appointed Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation on March 9, 2004, by a Presidential Decree and was re-appointed to this post following the re-election of President Vladimir Putin to his second term in May 2004. 

Mr. Fursenko was born on July 17, 1949 in St. Petersburg. He studied in the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics of Leningrad State University Named for Zhdanov, earning a Ph.D. in physics and mathematics. 

From 1971-1991 he worked at the Ioffe Physics and Technology Institute in St. Petersburg as a Junior Researcher, Senior Researcher, and Laboratory Head, eventually becoming Deputy Director for Scientific Research. 

From 1991-1993 Mr. Fursenko was Vice President of the Advanced Technology Center Ltd., a research and development company. From 1994-2001 he served as General Director of the St. Petersburg Regional Foundation for Scientific and Technological Development. 

In November 2001 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Industry, Science and Technology of the Russian Federation and in November 2003 Mr. Fursenko became First Deputy Minister of Industry, Science and Technology of the Russian Federation. 

Since October 2000 Mr. Fursenko has served as the Chairman of the Academic Council of the Northwest Centre for Strategic Research.  Mr. Fursenko was awarded an Honorary Certificate of the Government of the Russian Federation.

Evgeny Yurkov is a member of the presidium of The International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature and Vice President of the Russian Society of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature

Mr. Yurkov has a Ph.D. in Philology and a readership at Saint Petersburg State University. He is the Dean of Special Department of Philology and Deputy Dean for Short-Term Instruction Programs with the Faculty of Philology and Arts of Saint Petersburg State University. He is the Head of the Department of Russian Language for International Students and for RFL Teaching Techniques, and is Director of St. Petersburg State University’s Russian Language Testing Center for Foreigners. 

Evgeny Yurkov is an author of over 100 publications, including collaborative research books prepared under the auspices of the State System of Russian Language Testing for Foreigners. He is on the Editorial Board of the World of The Russian Word journal. 

Mr. Yurkov is a member of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science’s commission on Russian language distance education and for the development of Russian language tests for candidates for Russian citizenship . He is also a member of the Inter-Agency Commission on the Russian Language of the Russian Federation. 

He has a range of professional awards, including an award in education from the President of the Russian Federation.