Vitaly Kostomarov
/ Главная / Russkiy Mir Foundation / Foundation / Board of Trustees / Vitaly Kostomarov Vitaly KostomarovPresident of the Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language
Vitaly Kostomarov was born in Moscow in 1930. In 1952 he completed his degree at the Russian Language Department of the Philological Faculty of Moscow State University. In 1953 he graduated from the English Language Department of the Translation Faculty of the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages. Vitaly Kostomarov earned his Ph.D. in Philology at the Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences (1955). In 1969, he completed his doctoral thesis in Philology at the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. He has been a professor since 1970 and full member of the Russian Academy of Education.
After graduation Vitaly Kostomarov worked at the Higher Party School with the Central Committee of the Communist Party as an interpreter and later as a teacher of Russian language and head of the Russian Language Department, until 1964. Then he moved to the Academy of Sciences' Institute of the Russian Language. Currently professor Kostomarov is president of the Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language (previously – Russian Language Research and Methodology Center in the Moscow State Lomonosov University), where he has been working since 1965. In 1990-1992 Vitaly Kostomarov was elected President of the National Academy of Education.
Mr. Kostomarov belongs to academician Viktor Vinogradov's linguistic school and researches stylistics and lexicology of the modern Russian language as well as tendencies in the language development that can be seen primarily in the media. He also researched the language-culture relations and founded a special linguistic area of thought called linguoculturology. He authored many books, including Culture of Speech and the Style, Linguistic Taste of the Time, Our Language in Action, Linguistic and Cultural Theory of the Word, etc. He also worked on sociolinguistic issues and studied the role and place of the Russian language among other languages. Vitaly Kostomarov wrote books on teaching Russian as a foreign language and a number of textbooks for students, including the award-winning Russian Language for All. In total, he published over 600 works. He provided academic advising to more than 56 Ph.D. and doctorate candidates. He is editor-in-chief of Russian Speech journal and member of the editorial board of the Russian Language Abroad.
Vitaly Kostomarov served as member of the Moscow City Council (Mossovet) as well as district councils, was member and chairman of a number of academic councils, the Expert Council of the All-Russia Academy of Sciences and several ministerial councils and committees. He has also been acting as Chief Secretary and President of the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature. Currently he holds the post of vice president of the Association.
Mr. Kostomarov is honored scientist of the Russian Federation. He has been awarded the Presidential prize in education and has a number of other state and international awards. Vitaly Kostomarov has received honorary doctorate degrees from several universities.