2023 was a special year for the Department of Human Geography and Regional Studies of the Faculty of Geography, Geoecology, and Tourism as it comprised the 120th anniversary of Grigory Grishin and the 100th anniversary of Mai Goncharov – researchers who became prominent in human geography and dedicated their lives to VSU. They were also heads of the Department of Human Geography and Regional Studies. Their research contributed greatly to the development of geography and its popularisation in Russia and in the Voronezh Region.
On 29 November, academic staff and students of the faculty held a round table discussion organised by the Sinilga student research club. The event was dedicated to the contribution Grigory Grishin made to the development of human geography and the studies of our region.
The discussion covered the following topics: “Life and career of Grigory Grishin” (a report by Rimma Rogozina, head of the department), “Agricultural geography in the works by G.T. Grishin” (a report by Associate Professor Igor Komov), and “Regional studies by G.T. Grishin” (a report by Evgenia Kulakovskaya). The event was also attended by staff members who had worked with Grigory Grishin and knew him personally. Lyudmila Kalyuzhnaya, a lecturer at the Department of Natural Resource Management of the Faculty of Geography, Geoecology, and Tourism, talked about Grigory Grishin as both a scientist and a man.
There was also a competition of essays on the problems that Professor Grishin focused on. There were 16 essays, 7 of which were awarded prizes in various nominations. Alexandra Dvornikova, a fourth year student, won the competition. Vera Sergeeva, a third year student, took second place, and Taisiya Akhlestova, a third year student, took third place. Third year students Artem Penkov, Sofia Kostina, and Anastasia Ryabtseva were awarded for their creative approach, and Yulia Andryuschenko received an award for the relevance of her essay.
“Over his long career, Grigory Grishin became a leading scientist of the Voronezh school of economic geography. He was an academic advisor for a large number of PhD students, who later became well-known scientists and members of the department. Today, we can’t say that Grigory Grishin is an author of a large number of works. Nevertheless, each of his works is of great value. It was Grigory Grishin who first studied the economical and geographical features of Voronezh, performed the zoning of the Voronezh Region according to his own methodology, and studied the specifics of geographical location of economic entities in the Central Black Earth Region”, said Rimma Rogozina.
“Grigory Grishin had a big heart. He always welcomed PhD students and colleagues at his place on Teatralnaya street”, said Lyudmila Kalyuzhnaya.
Such events help us to keep our memories about our roots, i.e. our teachers, whose heritage will last for ages.
