The Faculty of Humanities was created on December 1, 2014. It trains instructors and researchers in the field of language and literature, as well as specialists in philosophy, history, and modern culture.
The main goal of the faculty is to teach students how to understand and analyse various cultural processes, employ current research strategies, and effectively put their knowledge into practice.
The faculty’s staff are leading Russian academics and practitioners from various cultural fields, as well as invited foreign specialists. Students receive a modern education in the humanities, as well as thorough language preparation, which allows them to find extensive professional opportunities upon graduation. Students are given the opportunity to conduct research and gain practical experience at major private and public establishments.
Our strengths:
1. Interdisciplinary approach
We study the humanities alongside other academic fields so that students can apply their skills in various areas.
2. International cooperation
We maintain active international ties, which allows students to undertake internships and study abroad, as well as broaden their outlook and cultural experiences.
3. Research
We encourage and support student participation in research projects. This gives them an opportunity to apply their knowledge in practice and make a contribution to the development of the humanities.
Our graduates pursue careers in public and commercial organisations and various types of mass media. They also implement their own media, cultural, social, and educational projects.
Publications
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Book
Greek and Barbarians Networking on the Shores of the Black Sea and Beyond. Ἐπισκύθισον: Studies Presented to Askold Ivantchik for His Sixtieth Birthday
This volume presents contributions in honour of Askold Ivantchik on his sixtieth birthday. Since his main academic interest lies in the Black Sea region in ancient times inhabited by diverse cultural groups who also had frequent contacts with people from far beyond, we collected articles on this topic. The volume presents papers analyzing different kinds of sources and using various approaches to reveal networking and agency of peoples that belong to different social strata and cultural milieus. It will be of interest for scholars looking for multidisciplinary research methods as well as for the newest information about the archaeology of the Circumpontic region.
Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2025.
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Article
From Incarceration to Repatriation: German Prisoners of War in the Soviet Union. By Susan Grunewald
From Incarceration to Repatriation: German Prisoners of War in the Soviet Union. By Susan Grunewald (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2024. xiii plus 241 pp. $44.95).
Journal of Social History. 2025. No. 32. P. 1-4.
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Book chapter
Varieties of Alaskan Russian: The diachrony of language contact
Alaskan Russian is a language that emerged in the 18th century as a result of Russian colonial presence in Alaska, was used for everyday communication in Russian America and is still remembered by several elderly persons. During the Russian America time, Alaskan Russian (termed as such in Krauss 1996) became the native (=first) language for the people of mixed Russian/Native origin (Creoles) residing in various parts of Alaska. Later, some varieties of Alaskan Russian (AR) kept developing on their own, and served as means of communication, creating and maintaining cultural identity of local communities long after the end of the official “Russian period” in 1867. As a result, AR represents a specific variety of the Russian language.
In bk.: Language change in the Arctic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2026.
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Working paper
You shall know a piece by the company it keeps. Chess plays as a data for word2vec models
In this paper, I apply linguistic methods of analysis to non-linguistic data, chess plays, metaphorically equating one with the other and seeking analogies. Chess game notations are also a kind of text, and one can consider the records of moves or positions of pieces as words and statements in a certain language. In this article I show how word embeddings (word2vec) can work on chess game texts instead of natural language texts. I don't see how this representation of chess data can be used productively. It's unlikely that these vector models will help engines or people choose the best move. But in a purely academic sense, it's clear that such methods of information representation capture something important about the very nature of the game, which doesn't necessarily lead to a win.arxiv.org. Computer Science. Cornell University, 2024