News and Opinions
Exhibition “In Russia, women against war, risking their lives”
Exhibition “In Russia, women against war, risking their lives” The traditional International Women’s day in paternalistic discourse suggests the association...
The broken record effect, or on the advantage and disadvantage of historical analogies for life
Essay by Ilya Kalinin in RussiaPost.info
Antidote against Tyranny? The Case of Russian Independent Media
February 1, 2023, 6:00 pm. Panel discussion at Bard College with Masha Gessen, Anna Nemzer, Archie Magno. Moderated by Ilia...
Mini Courses
Autofiction at the Crossroads of Experience and Writing
Larissa Muravieva | March 17 - April 14
Spring 2023 Semester Courses
Cognitive Aspects of Conflict Resolution
Michael Allakhverdov | S2023 M W
Dissent! Politics, Justice, Dignity
Pinar Kemerli | S2023 T T
History of History, or How Modernity Comprehends the Past
Victor Apryshchenko | S2023 T T
Political History of Documentary Photography in Russia
Denis Skopin | Spring 2023 M W
Soviet Origins of Contemporary Russia
Aleksey Gilev | S2023 M W
Trauma Narratives in Contemporary Russian Literature
Larissa Muravieva | S2023 M T
Unofficial Late Soviet Culture
Stanislav Savitski | S2023 W F
When the People Rule: Popular Sovereignty in Theory and Practice
Atanassow & Bartscherer | S23 Tu
Archive
Public Events
Life in the Face of War: Political Challenges, Social Responses, Cultural Shifts
April, 13 - 14, 2023 (Harriman Institute at Columbia University,...
(Ne)moi text: an Open Call
Deadline is April 1
How to apply for a PhD in the US: Art History
March, 15, 2023 Workshop led by Ivan Chernyakov
Through Aggression to Peace: Thoughts on Conflict Resolution and Mediation
February, 9 2023, 10 AM EST Speaker: Michael Allakhverdov, the...
About
Smolny Beyond Borders is an educational initiative for students who left Russia and countries of Eurasia due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the declining educational situation in those countries. Smolny College (Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University) is an international Russian-American project that began in 1997 and paved the path for the growth of liberal arts education across Russia.
About Smolny College
Smolny College was a long-term collaboration between St. Petersburg State University and Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. After its founding in 1997, it became both the largest liberal arts program in Russia and the most robust Russian-American partnership in the higher education sphere. In the summer of 2021, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation declared that Bard College is an undesirable organization, the first college or university to be so named. This began the dismantling of Smolny, which has since undergone the loss of faculty and curricular changes that have rejected the very idea of liberal arts and sciences education.
The Gagarin Center for the Study of Civil Society and Human Rights (Gagarin Center at Bard College) allows Russian scholars forced to leave Russia as a result of the war on Ukraine, and risks of political persecution, continue to pursue research and educational activities focused on contemporary social, economic, and human rights issues in Russia. Previously, the Gagarin Center, supported by the Gagarin Trust, was a core component of Smolny College. The Center and its fellows offered courses, prepared research on vital issues, offered public programming, and served as a venue for the critical exchange of ideas.