On 8 September, a memorial plaque dedicated to Iosif Sternin, a legendary linguist and educator and VSU Professor, was opened at the Faculty of Philology, next to the Department of General Linguistics and Stylistics of Voronezh State University (room 32a), which Professor Sternin was the head of. Relatives, colleagues, and friends came to honour the memory of the great university professor.
The memorial plaque was opened on the initiative of the commission on I.A. Sternin’s creative and scientific legacy created at VSU. The money was raised by former students, colleagues, and close relatives of the scientist. The opening ceremony was dedicated to the International Literacy Day: thanks to the scientist's initiative, this holiday has been annually celebrated in Voronezh at the Nikitin Regional Scientific Library.
The event was opened by Professor Marina Sternina, the Chair of the commission on I.A. Sternin’s creative and scientific legacy. The memorial plaque was opened by Svetlana Sternina, the spouse of the linguist, and Natalia Vakhtel, Professor at the Department of General Linguistics and Stylistics. Mariana Rosenfeld, Acting Head of the Department, hosted the event.
Among visitors of the event who came to express words of gratitude to the eminent scientist were: Dmitry Endovitsky, Rector of VSU, Yury Bubnov, VSU Vice-Rector for Strategic Administrative Management, Oleg Kozaderov, VSU Vice-Rector for Research, Innovations, and Digitising, Yulia Shpyg, Deputy Head of the Department of Education, Science, and Youth Policy of the Voronezh Region, Zhanna Gracheva, Dean of the Faculty of Philology of VSU, Alexey Kretov, Chairman of the dissertation board of the Faculty of Philology, Professor Olga Charykova, and Larisa Symvolokova, Deputy Director of Nikitin library.
The guests remembered Iosif Sternin as a scientist, educator, teacher, and personality, as well as his unique qualities. The participants noted that he made a significant contribution to the development of science at the university, in the city, and the entire country.
“We, the employees, students, and graduates of Voronezh State University, were lucky to have such a great teacher as Iosif Sternin. I am very grateful to his disciples for continuously passing his name and knowledge to new generations. This memorial plaque and a scholarship named after Iosif Sternin should remind us that we are the pupils of such a great scientist,” said Dmitry Endovitsky, Rector of VSU.
Iosif Sternin passed away on 5 March 2022. Over his long and busy professional life, the professor managed to make a huge contribution to science: he published numerous works on language theory, linguistic manipulation, psycholinguistics, and forensic linguistics. He performed titanic work as an educator, initiated the regional Service of the Russian Language and the radio programme “Territory of the Word”. Iosif Sternin organised rhetoric competitions and held in Voronezh annual events dedicated to the Russian language. The name of the talented scientist is known in the city, in Russia, and abroad.
