Preserving traditions and introducing innovations: on the anniversary of Maria Aleksandrovna Ponomareva

Abstract. The article is dedicated to the anniversary of the Director of the Institute of History and International Relations of the Southern Federal University, Doctor of
Historical Sciences Maria Alexandrovna Ponomareva. Thanks to her leadership qualities and organizational skills, as well as her talent as a scholar, educator, and administrator, she has managed to create an efficient and cohesive team that successfully works for the benefit of the university, domestic science, and education. Highly demanded and promising areas of scientific research, such as historical memory, the history of the Great Patriotic War, Soviet temporality, power and society in Russia in the 20th–21st centuries, as well as a number of other fields, have received a powerful impetus for development at SFU thanks to the efforts of M.A. Ponomareva. Her high level of professionalism, combined with personal qualities such as integrity, sensitivity, responsiveness, and responsibility, has not only helped preserve the long-standing traditions of the History Department but also introduced new forms and mechanisms of scientific, educational, and outreach activities at IIMO. This article presents a perspective on the key milestones of M.A. Ponomareva’s professional and creative life from the viewpoint of a colleague and companion, expressing not only his own opinion but also the collective view of the staff of the Institute of History and International Relations.

Keywords: M.A. Ponomareva, Institute of History and International Relations of the Southern Federal University, anniversary, power and society, historical science, education, educational activities.