News and Opinions
“The Smolny that everyone knew no longer exists.”
Denis Skopin - about changes in Russian universities and hope for alternative online projects
The slow, painful death of liberal arts in Russia
Pola Lem, writing for Times Higher Education, examines the challenges faced by the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences and...
Does your university say ‘Sieg Heil,’ but you still want to study?
The DOXA team asked the instructors of "Smolny Beyond Borders" to recommend one text related to their courses to potential...
A new Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Montenegro is enrolling students
Our colleagues and allies from Shaninka are launching the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Montenegro. The enrollment for...
Semester Courses Fall 2023
A History of the World since 1300
Victor Apryshchenko | F23 M W
Ancient Culture: Polis, Family, Personality
Ilya Kalinin | F23 M W
Cognitive Aspects of Conflict Resolution
Michael Allakhverdov | F23 T T
Contemporary Art in Russia
Stanislav Savitski | F23 T T
Introduction to Dialectics
Artemy Magun | F23 W
Introduction to Film Language
Masha Godovannaya | F23 M W
Introduction to Liberal Arts Mathematics
Andrei Rodin | F23 T T
Russian Politics after 1991
Aleksey Gilev | F23 M W
Writing Across Disciplines
Natalia Fedorova | F23 T T
Mini-courses Fall 2023
Anti-Colonial Museum and the Practice of Reconciliation
Vera Shengeliya | SEP18 – NOV13 | M
Autofiction at the Crossroads of Experience and Writing
Larissa Muravieva | NOV17 – DEC15 | F
Comparative Case Studies within the Disability Rights Movement
Vera Shengeliya | SEP21 – NOV16 | TH
Introduction to the Philosophy of Art
Denis Skopin | SEP20 – OCT19 | W T
Prison and Hard Labor in Russian Literature
Dmitry Bykov | OCT31– DEC1 | T T
Thriller Aesthetics
Dmitry Bykov | SEP19 – OCT20 | T T
Trauma Narratives in Contemporary Russian Literature
Larissa Muravieva | OCT6 – NOV3 | F
Graduate Courses Fall 2023
Critical Perspectives on Human Rights: Human Rights and Spectatorship
Denis Skopin | F2023 W
Archive
Public Events
Investigating Stalin’s Terror Through Photography
September 22, Denis Skopin's talk at Harvard Universithy.
Russian Universities in Exile
Discussion Moderator: Boris Grozovsky | Wednesday, August 30, 7 PM...
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
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) was 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.