A joint media project of the "Heart of the Urals" Advanced Engineering School and the Institute of Media, Social Sciences, and Humanities is being launched at South Ural State University. Students and faculty have teamed up to create a series of podcasts in the "Radio SUSU" educational studio dedicated to the history of the university and its connections with prominent figures in our country's military-industrial complex.
The first series will feature Nikolai Dukhov, a legendary design engineer and three-time Hero of Socialist Labour, whose name is inextricably linked with the history of SUSU. It was him, a chief design engineer of the Kirov Plant in Chelyabinsk during the Great Patriotic War, who initiated the creation of a flagship university for training tank engineers, which later grew into the major university in the South Ural region. The series will consist of six episodes.
The podcasts hosts will reveal little-known facts: how a tank design engineer became one of the creators of the Soviet atomic bomb, working side by side with Igor Kurchatov, and why a monument to the great scientist in Chelyabinsk stands next to a university founded with the participation of Nikolai Dukhov.
"What could be more important today than historical memory and the continuity of generations?" reflects Liudmila Shesterkina, Doctor of Sciences (Philology) and Head of the Department of Journalism, Advertising, and Public Relations at the Institute of Media, Social Sciences, and Humanities. "This will save us from forgetting what is important, it is our main mechanism for preserving cultural and national pride. And projects like those proposed by the "Heart of the Urals" Advanced Engineering School are invaluable. They ensure the transfer of experience, values, and traditions from ancestors to descendants. They create a unified social space, linking the past, present, and future, which serves as the foundation of national identity."
One of the project's leaders is Professor Yuri Rozhdestvensky, Head of the Department of Automotive Engineering and Dean of the Faculty of Automotive Engineering at the Institute of Engineering and Technology. He notes that this project is not simply a story about the past, but a powerful tool for nurturing a new generation of engineers. Nikolai Dukhov's story clearly demonstrates that a true design engineer requires not only technical knowledge but also civic responsibility and the ability to work for the good of our country in the most difficult times. Through the personal stories of great people, we convey to students not just dry facts, but living examples of service to the profession. The podcasts will help young people see the connection between fundamental science, engineering, and the fate of our Fatherland—a crucial development for future specialists.
The Design Engineer Nikolai Dukhov and His School book published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth, serves as the literary basis for the podcasts. Excerpts from this book, authored by writer Aleksandr Moiseyev and a teacher with 40 years of experience Valentin Putin, will be broadcast in the radio studio. The media project's creator, children's writer and Honoured Cultural Worker of the Russian Federation Nina Pikuleva is convinced that revisiting these pages of history will help find answers to questions that remain pressing today:
"Our time, like no other, has shown how many enemies our country has. And if Russia were not so strong and did not possess powerful weapons against all the ills of America and Europe, we would have been crushed and wiped off the face of the earth long ago. Today is the time not only to introduce current SUSU students to this publication, but also to help them find answers to many modern questions," says Nina Pikuleva.
Professor Yuri Rozhdestvensky, Head of the Department of Automotive Engineering and Dean of the Faculty of Automotive Engineering at the Polytechnic Institute; Honoured Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation Nina Pikuleva; lecturer of the Department of Journalism, Advertising, and Public Relations Kseniia Zabolotneva; second-year students of the Department of Journalism, Advertising, and Public Relations Olesia Mishina, Violetta Kononova and Polina Begenova; and first-year student of the Institute of Engineering and Technology Ruslan Triboi are actively involved in the podcasts creation process.
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