On 29 April, the book “Iosif Sternin: Scientist. Teacher. Educator. Man” was presented at the Faculty of Philology. The event was held in memory of VSU Professor of the Department of General Linguistics and Stylistics and Head of VSU Communication Studies Centre Iosif Sternin, PhD, Honoured Scientist of the Russian Federation.
The presentation took place on the day of the 75th anniversary of Iosif Sternin and was the final event of Sternin’s Remembrance Week held between 24 and 29 April.
Professor Marina Sternina, the Chair of the Commission on Iosif Sternin’s creative and scientific legacy, talked about the results of the Sternin’s Remembrance.
“A special episode of a radio programme “Let’s Speak Russian” was released as part of Remembrance Week. This programme has replaced “Word Territory” that had been hosted by Iosif Sternin on the regional radio for 20 years. The Nikitin library held a round table discussion “Sternin, a man of Voronezh soil” on the “Kultura” channel which was dedicated to his educational activities, and a round table discussion “Relevant Issues of Linguistic Inspection of Texts” dedicated to Professor Iosif Sternin’s 75th anniversary was held at the Faculty of Philology of VSU. A multi-authored monograph “Linguistic inspection in the works of the Voronezh Association of Linguistic Experts” was also presented (the association was founded by Professor Iosif Sternin). Sternin’s “Rhetoric Festival” was held among the pupils of secondary schools, and more than 100 pupils from first to tenth grades of 23 schools of Voronezh and Voronezh Region took part in it. The events of the Remembrance Week took place not only in Voronezh. The editorial board of the “Communicative Studies” journal of Dostoevsky Omsk State University, the member of which Iosif Sternin had been for many years, held a round table “Sternin’s Communicative Paradigm”, and Demidov Yaroslavl State University, where Iosif Sternin had put a lot of effort into the development of philological education, held “Philological Readings” in his memory,” said Marina Sternina.
The presentation of the book of memoirs about Iosif Sternin began with an overview of its contents by Mariana Rosenfeld, Acting Head of the Department of General Linguistics and Stylistics. The book includes the recollections by 110 people, including the professor’s colleagues, students, friends, and family members. From different cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Yaroslavl, Nazran, Belgorod, Lipetsk, Samara, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Kursk, Sochi, Tver, Stary Oskol, Borisoglebsk, Rossosh, Liski, Sredny Ikorets, and Shikotan Island (Southern Kuriles). Among the authors are also those from the USA, Great Britain, Serbia, Germany, People’s Republic of China, Senegal, Republic of North Macedonia, and the Kyrgyz Republic. The book also includes photographs reflecting various aspects of Iosif Sternin’s life and work, as well as the Encyclopaedic Dictionary “Sternin from A to Z” prepared by colleagues from his department.
Among those who shared their memories of Iosif Sternin were rector’s councillor Vladimir Listengarten, Dean of the Faculty of Philology Zhanna Gracheva, Professor of the Department of English Language for Humanities Faculties Anatoly Babushkin, and Professor of the Department of Public Relations, Advertising, and Design of Voronezh State University Marina Novichikhina.
A film about Iosif Sternin was shown with fragments of his lectures and interviews, and there was also a presentation showing his contribution to the development of philological education in Borisoglebsk prepared by employees of the Borisoglebsk branch of Voronezh State University.
A psycholinguistical card “Iosif Sternin” was also presented at the meeting. It was prepared based on the conducted associative experiments and described how Iosif Sternin was represented in the linguistic consciousness of his colleagues and students. Artist Evgenia Dyakonova (Moscow), PhD in Philology, and Alexandra Rudakova, DSc in Philology, Associate Professor from the Department of General Linguistics and Stylistics, talked about the card and how it was created.
