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All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice.

James Andreoni, PhD

Richard E. Attiyeh, PhD, Emeritus

Donald V. T. Bear, PhD, Emeritus

Eli Berman, PhD

Julian Betts, PhD

Prashant Bharadwaj, PhD,  Vice Chair of Graduate Studies

Renee Bowen, PhD

Richard T. Carson, PhD

Vincent P. Crawford, PhD , Emeritus

Julie Berry Cullen, PhD

Gordon Dahl, PhD

Graham Elliott, PhD

Robert F. Engle, PhD , Emeritus

Marjorie Flavin, PhD, Emerita

Roger Gordon, PhD, Emeritus

Joshua Graff-Zivin, PhD

Theodore Groves, PhD, Emeritus

James D. Hamilton, PhD

Mark Jacobsen, PhD

Nir Jaimovich, PhD

Mark J. Machina, PhD, Emeritus

Marc Muendler, PhD, Chair

Karthik Muralidharan, PhD

Paul Niehaus, PhD

Garey Ramey, PhD, Emeritus

Valerie A. Ramey, PhD, Emerita

James E. Rauch, PhD,  Emeritus

Joel Sobel, PhD, Emeritus

Ross M. Starr, PhD, Emeritus

Yixiao Sun, PhD

Allan Timmermann, PhD

Joel Watson, PhD

Michelle J. White, PhD, Emerita

Associate Professors

Samuel Bazzi, PhD

Jeffrey Clemens, PhD

Songzi Du, PhD

Itzik Fadlon, PhD

Simone Galperti, PhD

Alex Gelber, PhD

Katherine Meckel Clemens, PhD

Alexis Akira Toda, PhD, MD

Isabel Trevino, PhD

Emanuel Vespa, PhD

Tom Vogl, PhD,  Faculty Director of Student Advising

Johannes Wieland, PhD

Kaspar Wuthrich, PhD

Assistant Professors

Titan Alon, PhD

Judson Boomhower, PhD

Fabian Eckert, PhD

Juan Herreño, PhD

Clemence Idoux, PhD

Sara Lowes, PhD

Xinwei Ma, PhD

Denis Shishkin, PhD

Fabian Trottner, PhD

Steve Wu, PhD

Ying Zhu, PhD

Teaching Professors

Kate Antonovics, PhD, Provost of Seventh College

Melissa Famulari, PhD

Associate Teaching Professor

Giacomo Rondina, PhD,  Vice Chair of Undergraduate Education

Assistant Teaching Professors

David Arnold, PhD, Director of Instruction

Aram Grigoryan, PhD

Adjunct Professor

Dale Squires, PhD, National Marine Fisheries Service

Affiliated Professors

Joseph Engelberg, PhD, Professor, Rady School of Management

James Hilger, PhD, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center

Ruixue Jia, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Global Policy and Strategy

Craig McIntosh, PhD , Professor, School of Global Policy and Strategy

Dimitrus Politis, PhD , Professor, Mathematics

Krislert Samphantharak, PhD , Associate Professor, School of Global Policy and Strategy

General Catalog 2012–13

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ECONOMICS STUDENT SERVICES: 245 Sequoyah Hall http://economics.ucsd.edu

The Graduate Program

The department offers a PhD degree in economics, designed to provide a solid, analytically oriented training in microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and advanced specialties. Since the program is structured as a doctoral program, only students who intend to pursue a doctorate should apply.

The main economics PhD requirements are that a student pass qualifying exams in microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and select courses of specialization, and prepare an acceptable dissertation.

Detailed descriptions of the PhD program are available on the Internet at the department website at http://economics.ucsd.edu/ . Residence and other campuswide regulations are described in the graduate studies section of this catalog.

Departmental PhD Time Limit Policies

Students must be advanced to candidacy by the end of five years. Total university support cannot exceed six years. Total registered time at UC San Diego cannot exceed seven years. Students will not be permitted to continue beyond the precandidacy and total registered time limits. Students will not be permitted to receive UC San Diego administered financial support beyond the support limit.

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Academic HR Analyst 2 - 129858

Job description, #129858 academic hr analyst 2.

UCSD Layoff from Career Appointment : Apply by 5/17/24 for consideration with preference for rehire. All layoff applicants should contact their Employment Advisor.

Special Selection Applicants : Apply by 5/29/24. Eligible Special Selection clients should contact their Disability Counselor for assistance.

DESCRIPTION

UC San Diego’s School of Social Sciences (SoSS) includes a diverse group of outstanding departments, programs, centers and research units engaged in increasing opportunities for interdisciplinary study and research.

Comprised of ten academic departments and a wide range of interdisciplinary programs and research units, Social Sciences is the largest academic division at UCSD in terms of numbers of faculty and undergraduate students. More than 40 percent of all bachelor degrees awarded at UCSD are in the social sciences. Four of the top ten majors, Psychology, Economics, Communication, Political Science are Social Science disciplines. Social Sciences is home to nationally and internationally recognized faculty, including three Nobel Laureates and four MacArthur "genius" Grant recipients. Virtually all of the division's programs rank in the top 20 nationally and many rank in the top 10.

Social Sciences has over 220 full-time faculty; 700 graduate students; and approximately one third of the campus' undergraduate majors (8,000) with a total annual course enrollment exceeding 82,000 students. In addition, there are more than 220 staff and 370 student employees housed in 11 buildings across the main campus. IT support for the School is provided by the Social Sciences Computing Facility (SSCF), a consolidated group that offers a shared computing infrastructure and standard policies to all the departments.

Applies professional UC Academic HR concepts, organization and / or system wide policies, and procedures to provide guidance to supervisors and managers to resolve a variety of academic human resources issues of moderate scope and complexity.

As a member of the Dean's Office Academic Personnel review team/unit, conduct the independent review and analysis of academic appointment and review files, temporary academic appointment files for compliance with campus and University policy and procedure, and Non-Senate Instructional Unit (Unit 18) Memorandum of Understanding, ensuring accuracy and confidentiality; make recommendations for resolution of problems. Provide counsel regarding academic and temporary academic personnel issues and actions to departmental chairs, staff, Dean and other campus administrators. Compose and/or edit a wide variety of correspondence for signature of the Dean. Participate in development, analysis, and implementation of new policies.

Retrieve, report, and analyze data from a variety of sources. Develop, update, and implement improvements to internal databases to track academic personnel actions and analyze trends. Participate in a wide variety of special projects and conduct analyses on a variety of personnel issues. Makes a significant contribution to the general objectives of the School of Social Sciences. Cross-train and serve as backup to Dean's office academic personnel team. Serve on cross-functional teams to solve problems and implement new processes relating to academic personnel. Provide administrative support in the Dean's Office as needed.

• Occasional evenings and weekends may be required. Overtime may be required.

QUALIFICATIONS

Knowledge of university and campus academic personnel policies. Demonstrated ability to relate and apply these policies to the academic appointment and advancement process.

Demonstrated knowledge and experience in the analysis and interpretation of higher institution policies, practices, and procedures (College/Campus/University preferred) for academic personnel and their application to all academic titles.

Knowledge of human resources management systems and other related business software programs and systems.

Knowledge of unit academic culture and educational goals of discipline(s) served.

Knowledge of and ability to apply / interpret organization and college policies and procedures which govern academic HR.

Knowledge of organization, college and departmental formal and informal policies and procedures and understanding of variances to stated policies.

Analytical skills to conduct analysis and develop recommendations to Chairs / unit management.

Demonstrated organization, problem solving, and communication skills.

Critical thinking and applied problem-solving skills to research and analyze complex information and/or problems related to academic personnel in an objective manner. Analytical skills to anticipate and forecast impact of potential action. Proven ability to develop logical conclusions and to recommend sound and creative solutions.

Demonstrated excellent interpersonal skills to communicate and handle difficult, sensitive and/or confidential matters in a pleasant, diplomatic, effective, and expedient manner. Ability to represent policies and to coach departmental staff on proper procedures to obtain positive results.

Strong organizational skills to coordinate large volumes of work, establish priorities, and meet deadlines. Demonstrated experience in maintaining a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail under the pressure of deadlines, while working with constant interruptions.

Demonstrated excellent writing skills to independently compose and edit documents effectively. Knowledge of correct spelling and grammar and excellent proofreading skills. Excellent communication skills and ability to communicate technical and nuanced information in person, by telephone or e-mail.

Demonstrated experience in maintaining confidentiality of personnel or other sensitive data and issues and exercise discretion in dealing with controversial or potentially sensitive topics. Proven experience in exercising independent judgment and discretion.

Skill to maintain composure under heavy workloads and conflicting priorities or demands and thereby sustain effective performance.

Demonstrated ability to learn new information, synthesize information from a variety of sources. Research and obtain education to stay current with trends in the field.

Demonstrated ability to interact with a diverse group of people and clientele. Initiative to follow-up on projects and to be proactive.

Computer skills to quickly and accurately produce reports, correspondence, proposals, etc. Ability to learn new software programs.

Knowledge of academic governance. Understanding of UCSD and UC systemwide organizational structure and communication channels.

Familiarity with institutional data systems with an ability to conduct independent research. Skills sufficient for the effective manipulation and analysis of quantitative data. Mathematical skills sufficient to calculate or evaluate non-standard salaries and levels of additional compensation, service credit, and salary differentials.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

• Background Check required.

Pay Transparency Act

Annual Full Pay Range: $61,800 - $108,000 (will be prorated if the appointment percentage is less than 100%)

Hourly Equivalent: $29.60 - $51.72

Factors in determining the appropriate compensation for a role include experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. The Hiring Pay Scale referenced in the job posting is the budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position. The Annual Full Pay Range may be broader than what the University anticipates to pay for this position, based on internal equity, budget, and collective bargaining agreements (when applicable).

If employed by the University of California, you will be required to comply with our Policy on Vaccination Programs, which may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.

To foster the best possible working and learning environment, UC San Diego strives to cultivate a rich and diverse environment, inclusive and supportive of all students, faculty, staff and visitors. For more information, please visit UC San Diego Principles of Community .

UC San Diego is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status.

For the University of California’s Affirmative Action Policy please visit: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4010393/PPSM-20 For the University of California’s Anti-Discrimination Policy, please visit: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/1001004/Anti-Discrimination

UC San Diego is a smoke and tobacco free environment. Please visit smokefree.ucsd.edu for more information.

Application Instructions

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Posted : 5/16/2024

Job Reference # : 129858

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'Maximize chaos.' UC academic workers authorize strike, alleging rights violated during protests

T he union representing 48,000 graduate student teaching assistants, researchers and other academic workers across the University of California’s 10 campuses has voted to authorize a strike, alleging that its workers' rights have been violated at several universities by actions against pro-Palestinian protests, union leaders announced.

The potential walkouts, which are still being planned, were approved by 79% of the 19,780 members of the United Auto Workers Local 4811 who voted. The strike vote comes as campuses throughout the UC system have been roiled by tension and protests over the Israel-Hamas war, including a violent mob attack on a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA and the arrest of 50 protesters at UC Irvine on Wednesday.

Union leaders said they intend to provide more details Friday morning. The union has rebuked UCLA, UC San Diego and UC Irvine for what it says are unfair crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protesters, including union members. Any walkouts would come at a particularly critical time in the academic year as finals are approaching and grades will be due before commencements.

Rafael Jaime, the union’s co-president and a PhD candidate in UCLA’s English department, said the goal would be to “maximize chaos and confusion” at universities where the union alleges officials have violated workers' rights over workplace conditions during student protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

“Our members have been beaten, concussed, pepper sprayed, both by counterprotesters and by police forces. As a union, it is our responsibility to stand beside them,” the union said in a statement. "In order to de-escalate the situation, UC must substantively engage with the concerns raised by the protesters — which focus on UC’s investments in companies and industries profiting off of the suffering in Gaza."

The vote came after the union filed charges with the state labor board over the arrests of pro-Palestinian graduate student protesters at UCLA and suspensions and other discipline at UC San Diego and UC Irvine. The complaint accuses the universities of retaliating against student workers and unlawfully changing workplace policies to suppress pro-Palestinian speech.

Internal and external investigations are underway at UCLA.

In a letter sent to graduate student workers on Wednesday, the University of California warned students against striking, citing a no-strike clause in the union's contract.

"The university’s position is that the union’s strike is unlawful . ... Participating in the strike does not change, excuse, or modify, an employee’s normal work duties or expectations. And, unlike a protected strike, you could be subject to corrective action for failing to perform your duties," the unsigned letter from the UC office of the president said.

The letter defended calling police to campuses.

"We have a duty to ensure that all speech can be heard, that our entire community is safe, and that our property and common areas are accessible for all. These duties require the UC to take action when protests endanger the community and violate our shared norms regarding safe behavior and the use of public spaces. Importantly, UC’s actions have not been tied to negotiations with UAW or any employment issues whatsoever," it said.

The academic workers' strike would be modeled after last year's "stand up" strikes against Ford, Stellantis and General Motors and similar to recent strikes at Southern California hotels. The walkouts would not target all campuses at once, Jaime said, but one by one based on how receptive administrations are to pro-Palestinian activists. He said strikes could run for any length of time through the end of June.

UC Riverside and UC Berkeley have reached agreements with protesters to end encampments and explore divestment from weapons companies. Leaders at those universities have rejected calls to target Israel specifically or for academic boycotts against exchange programs and partnerships with Israeli universities.

While some Jewish students have supported pro-Palestinian protests, national Jewish groups have criticized the divestment push, saying it is antisemitic because it aims to delegitimize the only predominantly Jewish nation.

In November and December 2022, the union walked out for six weeks, winning significant improvements in wages and working conditions and energizing a surge of union activism among academic workers across the nation.

Before the strike vote results came out, the University of California said the union was inappropriately flexing its muscle on a political issue. Heather Hansen, a spokeswoman for the UC office of the president, said the union was setting a "dangerous precedent that would introduce non-labor issues into labor agreements."

The disagreement hinges on whether student workers such as Jaime, who was part of pro-Palestinian protests at UCLA the night a violent mob attacked the encampment, are striking over a "workplace issue or political speech," said John Logan, a professor in the department of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University.

"The contract between UAW and UC does include language on academic freedom, but the university could say, 'Yes, speech is protected, but the actions you engaged in go far beyond speech, preventing students from getting into [a] library or other campus [areas] that are not protected,'" Logan said.

In a letter released after the vote, the vice chair of the University of California Academic Senate said that faculty could opt to join the strikes in support of academic workers but would risk losing pay. The letter from UC Academic Chair James A. Steintrager said faculty "cannot be required to take on additional responsibilities for teaching related to a work stoppage"

Professors have "have the right to strike and to respect the picket line by, for example, not entering classroom buildings that are picketed," said Steintrager, a UC Irvine professor of English, Comparative Literature and European Languages. "However, if the strike is determined to be unlawful, any sympathy strike would be unlawful as well."

The union did not give a campus-by-campus breakdown of support for the vote but said it would consider levels of support in choosing which campuses to call up to strike. About 41% of the total membership voted.

As college presidents across the country have faced criticism for calling in police in riot gear to clear pro-Palestinian encampments, the move to threaten a strike is one of the biggest actions by an American labor union in support of Palestinians .

Some members said they believed the union's criticism of the campus protest crackdown did not go far enough. Many student protesters have called for campus police to be defunded or for universities to vow to never again call municipal police to campus. The union did not include those issues in its strike-related demands.

"It's really disappointing to me as a Black person that the union did not take a strong stance on policing and racial profiling on campus," said Gene McAdoo, a doctoral student in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies. "They portray themselves as radical, yet aren't on this issue."

McAdoo still voted in support, he said, because "withholding our labor gives us a lot of power and leverage to push the UC administration to meet demands for divestment. That is the ultimate goal of this movement. But I also know that there is an undercurrent of folks who are still pushing for cops off campus."

It’s not the first time UAW workers have pushed for divestment. In 1973, Arab American workers in Detroit auto plants walked off the job in protest of the union's investment in Israeli bonds.

But for a union to vote on a strike while a contract is in place is "unheard of in modern times,” said Jeff Schuhrke, a labor historian who teaches at SUNY Empire State University.

While the union demands on academic freedom, free speech and protection from violence could arguably center on workplace conditions, they also explicitly support protesters' calls for divestment.

The strike vote "is not about economics. It’s not about a raise, or more benefits. It’s political,” Schuhrke said.

The professor said that harked back to the origins of the student labor movement, when the first graduate unions formed in the 1960s during the campus free speech and antiwar movements.

AFT Local 1570, a union of teaching assistants formed at UC Berkeley in the throes of the campus free speech movement, voted in 1966 to strike against the University of California in response to police arresting students conducting a sit-in around a U.S. Navy recruitment table on campus.

The Teaching Assistants’ Assn. at University of Wisconsin-Madison, which grew out of the anti-draft sit-in and campus demonstrations against Dow Chemical for its role in production of napalm and other weapons for the Vietnam War, is the oldest graduate union still in existence in the U.S.

"The graduate union movement is coming full circle," Schuhrke said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .

To please Putin, universities purge liberals and embrace patriots

Russian university leaders are imbuing the country’s education system with patriotism to favor Putin, quashing Western influences and dissent.

Two weeks before the start of his 25th year as Russia’s supreme political leader, Vladimir Putin made a sweeping proclamation: “Wars are won by teachers.”

The remark, which Putin repeated twice during his year-end news conference in December, shed light on a campaign he is waging that has received little attention outside wartime Russia: to imbue the country’s education system with patriotism, purge universities of Western influences, and quash any dissent among professors and students on campuses that are often hotbeds of political activism.

At St. Petersburg State University, this meant dismantling a prestigious humanities program called the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences. For more than a decade, until May 2022, the faculty — or college — was led by Alexei Kudrin, a liberal economist and former finance minister who had been a close associate of Putin’s since the early 1990s, when they were deputy mayors together in St. Petersburg.

“We had many classes on U.S. history, American political life, democracy and political thought, as well as courses on Russian history and political science, history of U.S.-Russian relations, and even a course titled ‘The ABCs of War: Causes, Effects, Consequences,’” said a student at the faculty, also known as Smolny College. “They are all gone now,” the student said, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

About this series

In a radical reshaping of Russia’s education system, curriculums are being redrawn to stress patriotism and textbooks rewritten to belittle Ukraine, glorify Russia and whitewash the totalitarian Soviet past. These changes — the most sweeping to schooling in Russia since the 1930s — are a core part of Putin’s effort to harness the war in Ukraine to remaster his country as a regressive, militarized state.

Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, leaders of Russian universities, which are overwhelmingly funded by the state, have zealously adopted the Kremlin’s intolerance of any dissent or self-organization, according to an extensive examination by The Washington Post of events on campuses across Russia, including interviews with students and professors both still in the country and in exile.

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Professors who spoke out against the war, or allowed safe spaces for students to question it, have been fired. Students who picketed or posted on social media for peace were expelled.

Meanwhile, those who volunteer to fight in Ukraine have been celebrated in line with Putin’s promises that war heroes and their descendants will become the new Russian elite, with enhanced social benefits, including special preference for children seeking to enter top academic programs. Normally, such programs require near-perfect grades and high scores on competitive exams — uniform standards that applicants from all societal backgrounds have relied on for decades.

And the most fundamental precept of academic life — the freedom to think independently, to challenge conventional assumptions and pursue new, bold ideas — has been eroded by edicts that classrooms become echo chambers of the authoritarian nativism and historical distortions that Putin uses to justify his war and his will.

As a result, a system of higher learning that once was a beacon for students across the developing world is now shutting itself off from peer academies in the West, severing one of the few ties that had survived years of political turbulence. Freedom of thought is being trampled, if not eradicated. Eminent scholars have fled for positions abroad, while others said in interviews that they are planning to do so.

At the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow, officials last July created the Ivan Ilyin Higher Political School, which is now being led by Alexander Dugin, a fervent pro-Putin and Orthodox Christian ideologue who was tasked with “revising domestic scientific and educational paradigms and bringing them into line with our traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.”

“There has been a catastrophic degradation in Western humanitarian history,” Dugin said at a January seminar on transforming Russian humanities education. “This is evidenced by gender problems, postmodernism and ultraliberalism. We can study the West, but not as the ultimate universal truth. We need to focus on our own Russian development model.”

How we reported ‘Russia, Remastered’

Last month, students pushed an online petition to protest the naming of the school after Ilyin, a philosopher who defended Hitler and Mussolini in World War II and advocated for the return of czarist autocracy in Russia. In a statement to Tass, the state-controlled news service, the university denounced the petition as “part of the information war of the West and its supporters against Russia” and asserted, without providing evidence, that the group behind it had no connection to students at the school.

Programs specializing in the liberal arts and sciences are primary targets because they are viewed as breeding grounds for dissent. Major universities have cut the hours spent studying Western governments, human rights and international law, and even the English language.

“We were destroyed,” said Denis Skopin, a philosophy professor at Smolny College who was fired for criticizing the war. “Because the last thing people who run universities need are unreliable actors who do the ‘wrong’ thing, think in a different way, and teach their students to do the same.”

The demise of

Smolny College

The demise of Smolny College

St. Petersburg State University, commonly known as SPbU, has long been one of Russia’s premier academies of higher learning. It is the alma mater of both Putin, who graduated with a degree in law in 1975, and former president Dmitry Medvedev, who received his law degree 12 years later and now routinely threatens nuclear strikes on the West as deputy chairman of Russia’s national security council.

In many ways, the university has become the leader in reprisals against students and staff not loyal to the Kremlin, with one newspaper dubbing it the “repressions champion” of Russian education. Its halls have become a microcosm of modern Russia in which conservatives in power are pushing out the few remaining Western-oriented liberals.

Like other aspects of Putin’s remastering of Russia — such as patriotic mandates in the arts and the redrawing of the role of women to focus on childbearing — the shift in education started well before the invasion of Ukraine. In 2021, Russia ended a more than 20-year-old exchange program between Smolny College and Bard College in New York state by designating the private American liberal arts school an “undesirable” organization.

Jonathan Becker, Bard’s vice president for academic affairs and a professor of political studies, said the demise of Smolny was emblematic of a wider shift in Russia as well as a new intolerance of the West.

“A huge number of faculty have been let go, several departments closed, core liberal arts programs which focus on critical thinking have been eliminated,” Becker said. “All of that has happened, and it’s not just happened at Smolny — it has happened elsewhere. But we were doubly problematic because we both represent critical thinking and partnership with the West. And neither of those are acceptable in present-day Russia.”

In October 2022, in a scene captured on video and posted on social media, dozens of students gathered in a courtyard to bid a tearful goodbye to Skopin, Smolny’s cherished philosophy professor who was fired for an “immoral act” — protesting Putin’s announcement of a partial military mobilization to replenish his depleted forces in Ukraine.

The month before, according to court records and interviews, Skopin was arrested at an antiwar rally. He ended up sharing a jail cell with another professor, Artem Kalmykov, a young mathematician who had recently finished his PhD at the University of Zurich.

That fall, the university launched an overhaul that all but shut Smolny College and replaced the curriculum with a thoroughly revamped arts and humanities program.

The dismantling of Smolny marked the resolution of a years-long feud between Kudrin, the liberal-economist dean, and Nikolai Kropachev, the university rector, whom tutors and students described as a volatile character with a passion for building ties in the highest echelons of the government.

It’s hard to describe the insane level of anxiety the students felt at the start of the invasion, and I’d say 99 percent of them were against it.”

Denis Skopin

Former philosophy professor at Smolny College

It’s hard to describe the insane level of anxiety the students felt at the start of the invasion, and I’d say

99 percent of them were against it.”

It’s hard to describe the insane level

of anxiety the students felt at the start

of the invasion, and I’d say 99 percent

of them were against it.”

It’s hard to describe the insane level of anxiety

the students felt at the start of the invasion,

and I’d say 99 percent of them were against it.”

In February, Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, sent a heartfelt birthday message to Kropachev, thanking him for his “civic and political activity” and for “comprehensive assistance in replenishing personnel.”

One student described how Kropachev once interrupted a meeting with students and hinted that he needed to take a call from Putin, in what the student viewed as a boast of his direct access to the Russian leader. Both St. Petersburg State University and Moscow State University were assigned a special status in 2009, under which their rectors are appointed personally by the president.

Skopin, who earned his PhD in France, and his cellmate, Kalmykov, were perfect examples of the type of academic that Russia aspired to attract from the early 2000s to the mid-2010s — enticed after studying abroad to bring knowledge home amid booming investment in higher education. But by 2022, the system seemed to have no need for them.

Video of the gathering in the courtyard shows students erupting in sustained applause, and one student coming forward to hug Skopin.

“It’s hard to describe the insane level of anxiety the students felt at the start of the invasion, and I’d say 99 percent of them were against it,” Skopin said.

After his dismissal, some students tried to fight the administration’s plan to dismantle the Smolny program.

“At one point we found ourselves in a situation where out of 30 original faculty staff, we had just three tutors left,” said Polina Ulanovskaya, a sociology student and activist who led the student union. “And the quality of education definitely suffered, especially all of the politics-related classes.”

Ulanovskaya said that on the political science track, only two professors have stayed, and many classes were eliminated, including a human rights course. There are now just two courses offered in English, down from 21.

With every new professor, Ulanovskaya said, she felt a need to test the waters. Would the word “gender” trigger them? Could she say something opposition-leaning? What would be a red flag?

Ulanovskaya opted out of writing a thesis on her main research topic — Russian social movements, politicization of workers and historic-preservation activists — out of fear that it would be blacklisted. Instead, she wrote about Uruguay.

“The main problem at the faculty now is that there is no freedom and especially no sense of security,” she said. “I guess there is no such thing anywhere in Russia now ... you can’t trust anyone in any university.”

A few weeks after The Post interviewed Ulanovskaya last fall, she was expelled, formally for failing an exam, but she and Skopin said they believe it was retaliation for her activism.

Another student, Yelizaveta Antonova, was supposed to get her bachelor’s degree in journalism just days after legendary Novaya Gazeta newspaper reporter Yelena Milashina was brutally beaten in Chechnya, the small Muslim-majority republic in southern Russia under the dictatorial rule of Ramzan Kadyrov.

Antonova, who interned at Novaya Gazeta and looked up to Milashina, felt she could not accept her diploma without showing support for her colleague. She and a roommate printed a photo of Milashina, depicting the reporter’s shaved head and bandaged hands, to stage a demonstration at their graduation ceremony — much to the dismay of other classmates, who sought to block the protest.

“They essentially prevented us from going on stage,” Antonova said. “So we did it outside of the law school, and we felt it was extra symbolic because Putin and Medvedev studied in these halls.”

They held up the poster for about half an hour, until another student threatened them by saying riot police were on the way to arrest them. Antonova believes the protest cost her a spot in graduate school, where she hoped to continue her research comparing Russia’s media landscape before and after the invasion.

Eight months after the graduation ceremony, authorities launched a case against Antonova and her roommate for staging an unauthorized demonstration — an administrative offense that is punishable by a fine and puts people on law enforcement’s radar. Antonova left the country to continue her studies abroad.

Ideological divides

The history college at St. Petersburg State has long been a battleground for various ideologies, with cliques ranging from conservatives and Kremlin loyalists to unyielding opposition-minded liberals, according to interviews with students and professors.

The February 2022 invasion of Ukraine caused a deeper split. Some students and professors openly praised Putin’s “special military operation,” as the Kremlin called the war, while others joined rallies against it.

“The war gave them carte blanche,” said Michael Martin, 22, a former star at the college — to which he was automatically admitted after winning two nationwide academic competitions and where he earned straight A’s.

Martin was a leader of the student council, which on the day of the invasion issued an antiwar manifesto quickly drafted in a cafe.

Another history student, Fedor Solomonov, took the opposite view and praised the special military operation on social media. When Solomonov was called up as part of the mobilization, he declined to take a student deferral and went to fight. He died on the front on April 1, 2023.

Soon after Solomonov’s death, screenshots from internal chats where students often debated history and politics were leaked and went viral on pro-war Telegram channels. In some, Martin and other classmates expressed antiwar sentiments, while another showed a message — allegedly written by an assistant professor, Mikhail Belousov — vaguely describing events in Ukraine as “Rashism,” a wordplay combining “Russia” and “fascism.”

In an aggressive online campaign, pro-war activists demanded that Belousov, who denied writing the message, be fired and that the antiwar students, whom they labeled “a pro-Ukrainian organized crime group,” be expelled.

“A cell of anti-Russian students led by a Russophobe associate professor is operating at the history faculty,” read posts on Readovka, a radical outlet with 2.5 million followers. “They are rabid liberals who hate their country.” Belousov was dismissed and seven students, including Martin, were accused of desecrating Solomonov’s memory and expelled.

Belousov has gone underground and could not be reached for comment.

“They essentially tried to make me do the Sieg Heil,” Martin said, recalling the expulsion hearing, where he said the committee repeatedly asked leading questions trying to get him to say the war was justified. The committee also asked him repeatedly about Solomonov.

“I said he was for the war and I was against it — we could argue about that,” Martin said. “I didn’t find anything funny or interesting in this — I’m truly sorry for what happened to him, but at the same time, I don’t think that he did something good or great by going to war.”

Martin said that as the war raged on, the university began “glorifying death” and praising alumni who had joined the military.

This narrative also warped the curriculum.

A few weeks into the invasion, the school introduced a class on modern Ukrainian history, with a course description asserting that Ukrainian statehood is based “on a certain mythology.”

They essentially tried to make me do the Sieg Heil.”

Michael Martin

Former student at St. Petersburg State University

Belousov, the former assistant professor, criticized a course titled “The Great Patriotic War: No Statute of Limitations,” taught by an instructor with a degree in library science. The key message of the course is that the Soviet Union had no role in the start of World War II — a denial of Russia’s joint invasion of Poland with Nazi Germany in 1939.

According to a government document reviewed by The Post, Russia’s Higher Education Ministry plans to introduce this course at other universities to ensure the “civic-patriotic and spiritual-moral education of youth,” specifically future lawyers, teachers and historians, and to “correct false ideas.”

“These are obviously propaganda courses that are aimed at turning historians into court apologists,” Martin said.

Martin was expelled days before he was supposed to defend his thesis. He quickly left the country after warnings that he and his classmates could be charged with discrediting the army, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison. A criminal case was initiated against Belousov on charges of rehabilitating Nazism.

“This is all very reminiscent of the Stalinist 1930s purges,” Martin said. “The limit of tolerated protest now is to sit silently and say nothing. There is despair at the faculty and a feeling that they have crushed everything.”

New Russian elite

To lure more Russian men to fight in Ukraine, the government has promised their families various sweeteners, including cheap mortgages, large life insurance payments and education benefits for their children.

In 2022, Putin approved changes to education laws to grant children of soldiers who fought in Ukraine admissions preferences at Russia’s best universities — schools that normally accept only students with near-perfect exam scores and impressive high school records.

Now, at least 10 percent of all fully funded university spots must be allocated to students eligible for the military preference. Those whose fathers were killed or wounded do not need to pass entry exams.

The new law solidified a previous Putin decree that gave special preferences to soldiers and their children. In the 2023-24 academic year, about 8,500 students were enrolled based on these preferences, government officials said. According to an investigation by the Russian-language outlet Important Stories, nearly 900 students were admitted to 13 top universities through war quotas, with most failing to meet the normal exam score threshold.

In areas of Ukraine captured by Russian forces since February 2022, a different takeover of the education system is underway, with Moscow imposing its curriculum and standards just as it did after invading and illegally annexing Crimea in 2014.

For the 2023-24 academic year, according to the Russian prime minister’s office, more than 5 percent of fully state-financed tuition stipends — roughly 37,000 out of 626,000 — were allocated for students at universities in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson or Zaporizhzhia, the four occupied or partly occupied areas of Ukraine that Putin has claimed to be annexed.

The relatively large allocation of tuition aid in occupied areas shows how financial assistance and education are central to Putin’s effort to seize lands in southeast Ukraine and absorb its population into Russia in violation of international law.

Deans of several leading Russian universities have made highly publicized trips to occupied Ukraine to urge students there to enroll into Russian schools, part of a multipronged effort to bring residents into Moscow’s orbit.

The Moscow-based Higher School of Economics, once considered Russia’s most liberal university, recently established patronage over universities in Luhansk, with Rector Nikita Anisimov often traveling there.

An inward turn

A few weeks after the invasion started, Moscow abandoned the Bologna Process , a pan-European effort to align higher education standards, as Russia’s deans and rectors strove to show they weren’t susceptible to foreign influence.

Higher Education Minister Valery Falkov said Russian universities would undergo significant changes in the next half-decade, overseen by the national program “Priority 2030,” which envisions curriculums that ensure “formation of a patriotic worldview in young people.”

Soon after Russia quit the Bologna Process, Smolny College was targeted for overhaul.

“The decision was an expected but distinct shift from the more liberal model of Russian higher education policy that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” said Victoria Pardini, a program associate at the Kennan Institute, a Washington think tank focused on Russia.

Another prestigious school, the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, canceled its liberal arts program in 2022 after authorities accused it of “destroying national values.”

In mid-October 2023, the Higher Education Ministry ordered universities to avoid open discussion of “negative political, economic and social trends,” according to a publicly disclosed report by British intelligence. “In the longer term, this will likely further the trend of Russian policymaking taking place in an echo-chamber,” the report concluded.

Russia’s position among

countries by number of

scholarly papers published

Source: Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics

of Knowledge

Russia’s position among countries by

number of scholarly papers published

Source: Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge

Russia’s position among countries by number of

Many international exchange programs have been canceled — some because Russian students now have difficulty obtaining visas. Still, a heavy brain drain is underway. “All those who could — they left the country,” Skopin said of his students. “Those who can’t are thrashing around as if they are in a cage.”

Martin is among those who got out — he was recently accepted into a prestigious master’s program abroad and plans to continue his research into 19th-century Australian federalism.

Skopin now teaches in Berlin and is a member of Smolny Beyond Borders, an education program that seeks funding to cover the tuition of students who leave Russia because of their political views. As of late 2023, an estimated 700 students were enrolled.

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Commencement 2024: Meet some of this spring’s notable graduates 

The University of Wisconsin–Madison has no shortage of amazing students. Some have changed lives with their research or improved communities through their public service. Others have scaled the academic heights, made an impressive mid-life career change, or overcome daunting odds to finish a degree. In advance of spring commencement May 10-11, here’s a look at how just a few of these notable graduates made their mark.  

High school didn’t take; now he’s got a PhD

Tim Fish , a citizen of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, looks back on his higher education journey with both gratitude and disbelief. He grew up in poverty on the Osage reservation in Pawhuska, Oklahoma; education was not emphasized, he says. “I didn’t have a connection to school or any sense of its value.”  He dropped out of high school his junior year and moved to Madison to live with relatives and work factory jobs. “I also knew that wasn’t the life I wanted to live,” Fish says. He got his high school equivalency diploma, earned a two-year degree at Madison College, and transferred to UW–Madison. This May, at age 51, he will become a four-time Badger. He already has a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from UW–Madison. Now, he’s earning a doctorate in civil society and community research through the School of Human Ecology. “Education changed my life,” he says. “Actually, I think it saved my life. It showed me a different way.” This fall, Fish will be teaching at the UW School of Education. “I’ve become really passionate about education,” he says. “It’s been transformative for me, and I want others to experience that.”  

She’s improved campus accessibility, climate

Brelynn Bille

Brelynn Bille describes herself as “a feisty girl who doesn’t back down.” She’s employed that approach on campus as a passionate advocate for disability rights, often tapping personal frustrations to fuel broader change. Bille was among the leaders of the student coalition that successfully advocated for a Disability Cultural Center on campus, and she was the driving force behind Gov. Tony Evers proclaiming July as Disability Pride Month in Wisconsin. Bille, of Waupun, Wisconsin, is earning a bachelor’s degree in community and nonprofit leadership. Read more about her advocacy work on campus.  

They rose to the top nationally as scholars  

Lucy Steffes

Carl Shirley Photo: Taylor Wolfram

Paul Chung Photo: Taylor Wolfram

Lucy Steffes ,  Carl Shirley  and  Yi Won (Paul) Chung  received Goldwater Scholarships , the premier undergraduate award in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering in the United States. Steffes, of Milwaukee,  won the award in 2022 as a sophomore.  She is earning a bachelor’s degree with a double major in astronomy-physics (with honors) and physics. She will begin pursuing a doctorate in astrophysics this fall at the University of Arizona, supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Shirley and Chung  won the scholarships last year  as juniors. Shirley, of Bristol, New Hampshire, is earning a bachelor’s degree in molecular and cell biology with comprehensive honors. He plans to pursue a doctorate in immunology and undertake research aimed at enhancing the success of immunotherapies for cancer treatment. Chung, a native of South Korea, is earning a bachelor’s degree in computer sciences and data science with comprehensive honors. He will begin pursuing a doctorate in computer science and engineering at UC San Diego this fall.

Their voices reach a national media audience

Anika Horowitz

Jane Houseal

Many UW–Madison students become part of the national conversation through their special skills and their viewpoints. Anika Horowitz , an economics major from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, has been published eight times (and counting) by the Wall Street Journal in a weekly feature titled “Future View,” which compiles the perspectives of college students on a variety of social and political issues. Post-graduation, Horowitz will be applying to law school and working as an analyst at Patomak Global Partners, a regulatory consultancy for the financial market in Washington, D.C. Jane Houseal , a journalism major from River Forest, Illinois, serves as the Wisconsin 2024 Election Correspondent for  Teen Vogue  and a podcast editorial partner at Spotify. She covers youth-led movements and captures what students are saying about national issues and elections. Post-commencement, she plans to stay in the Midwest and continue her writing career.  

Her work has mobilized hundreds at the polls  

Chandra Chouhan

Chandra Chouhan , the daughter of immigrants from India, was dismayed several years ago to learn that the South Asian vote in the U.S. is historically lower than many other demographic groups. From that, she developed a vision: a nonpartisan organization dedicated to mobilizing South Asian voters. During the summer of 2022, Chouhan brought together four other UW–Madison students and founded “Chup! Go Vote.” The organization has now mobilized hundreds of South Asian voters on campus and nationally. Chouhan, who serves as executive director, is from Brookfield, Wisconsin, and is earning a bachelor’s degree in global health and international studies. Read more about her work to amplify the voices of South Asians across America.  

And speaking of stellar voting advocates . . .

Laine Bottemiller

Rosalie Powell

Rosalie Powell and Laine Bottemiller have done exceptional work in educating and assisting voters. Powell, a double major in environmental sciences and life sciences communication, began working at the polls at 16 and became a chief election inspector for the city of Madison at age 18 — a rare feat. On campus, she has helped to staff early voting stations, recruited UW students to work at the polls, and served as the chief election inspector at the Lowell Center polling site. A Madison native, she aspires to a career in climate change communication . Bottemiller, a double major in journalism and political science, also has served as an election official on campus. She has been a part of the BadgersVote Coalition since her sophomore year and produced a variety of nonpartisan voter content for the Morgridge Center for Public Service and as an Andrew Goodman Vote Ambassador . In a lengthy piece for Forbes magazine , Bottemiller recapped strategies to engage students on college campuses, including having groups canvass students as they wait in line to enter bars. A native of Prior Lake, Minnesota, Bottemiller plans to stay in Madison and work in political communications.  

Pandemic spurred his college aspirations

Jim Spoden had a good career in U.S. trade compliance but during the pandemic reexamined his future and impact on the world. “I discovered I was doing something I did not want to keep doing for the rest of my life, and I felt that without a college degree, my options were limited,” he says. In 2022, he earned an associate degree from Madison College, then transferred to UW–Madison. Starting over in his late 30s was daunting, he says, but UW proved to be a welcoming place. A Milwaukee native, he is most proud of a final project in a cartography course. He created a map of “book deserts” in his hometown — think “food deserts,” but with libraries. Spoden is earning a bachelor’s degree this spring in environmental science and life science communications. His goal is to work as a geographic information systems analyst in the environmental protection or sustainability field — a career that would align with his interest in addressing climate change.

She’s dedicated to helping military veterans

Madeleine Allen

Madeleine “Maddie” Allen still thinks of herself as a “military kid” — her mom’s career in the Navy meant she moved 10 times before graduating high school. Allen’s desire to help veterans who suffer from psychological disorders has fueled her undergraduate research at UW. Working as an assistant in a research lab at the Madison VA Hospital, Allen has focused on how to effectively include family caregivers of veterans with dementia in a healthcare setting. She has presented her findings at several university and national conferences. A native of Imperial Beach, California, Allen is earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a certificate in Asian American Studies. A Posse scholar and a McNair scholar , Allen hopes to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology and work with veterans and military families.  

She’s a legal scholar, triathlete and Division I athlete

Danielle Orie

Professional triathlete Danielle Orie tackled two demanding activities simultaneously while on campus: attending UW Law School and competing on the women’s cross-country team . How did she juggle a rigorous law school curriculum with Division I athletics? “I had to remind myself to follow the voice that said, ‘Just do it. Stop complicating things,’” Orie says. “In the law, if your line of logical reasoning and analysis are messy, then you have a losing argument. And in athletics, if you’re in your head too much, you’re already putting yourself behind the competition.” Orie was a managing editor for the Wisconsin Law Review, a member of Wisconsin’s Moot Court, and a recipient of the Dean’s Academic Achievement Award. (And she was the top female finisher April 27 in the Crazylegs Classic.) S he plans to work in the public-interest/nonprofit legal sector while pursuing her goal of qualifying for the triathlon at the 2028 Summer Olympics.  

Restaurateur adds ‘Badger alum’ to her resumé

Erin Vranas

For many UW–Madison students, eating at the iconic Parthenon Gyros on State Street is a rite of passage. Now the owner is a Badger, too. Erin Vranas is graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in management after taking a long break to embark on her entrepreneurial journey. She started various businesses and eventually acquired the Madison restaurant before returning to UW–Madison to complete her degree. While balancing her studies with her responsibilities as a restaurateur, Vranas also launched a startup consumer packaged goods company, served as a director on the Wisconsin Restaurant Association Board, volunteered for multiple organizations, and even completed her yoga teacher training certification. She also has the distinction of being one of the first graduates of UW–Madison Online .  

His family and Tibetan community share in his success  

Tenzin Phuntsok

When the academic grind got especially tough at UW–Madison, Tenzin Phuntsok would call his mother in India for inspiration. As a young girl, his mother fled the Chinese occupation of Tibet with her family, trekking barefoot across the Himalayas. Later, as an eighth grader, she was forced to drop out of school to care for her parents, both bedridden. “She loved to learn, so it was a very, very difficult time for her,” Phuntsok says. “To this day, she is a strong advocate of education. She believes that if you are given the opportunity to study, you should do so without complaint.”  Phuntsok will be earning a master’s degree in biotechnology.  Read more about how his success is a testament to his family’s sacrifices – and to the special efforts of the Master of Science in Biotechnology Program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.  

She’s praised for academics, community service  

Naomi Lewis

Naomi Lewis, an industrial engineering major from Racine, Wisconsin, earned a 2023 Alliant Energy Erroll B. Davis, Jr. Achievement Award for outstanding academic achievement, leadership skills and community service. She served for two years as president and one year as co-president of the UW–Madison chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. She has served on the Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity in Engineering Student Advisory Council and worked with campus leadership to advocate for the needs of engineering students, helping develop outreach and recruitment programs that seek to broaden participation among students historically underrepresented in engineering.  

He’ll study international relations as a Truman Scholar  

Pranav Krishnan Photo: Jeff Miller

Pranav Krishnan has studied and researched some of the weightiest topics facing the world, from the rise of authoritarian regimes to the future of democratic institutions. Krishnan will be able to dig even deeper into these consequential issues as the recipient of a Truman Scholarship , one of higher education’s most prestigious awards. Krishnan, of Redwood City, California, will graduate this spring with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science. This fall, he will begin a master’s program in international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science.  

She turned numerous challenges into opportunities  

Pauline Ho had just $3,000 in her bank account when she started her graduate work at UW–Madison. English was her fourth language, and neither of her parents had finished elementary school. “Given my starting point, this journey has been undoubtedly challenging,” says Ho, who was born in Vietnam and settled in Los Angeles at age 12. Though Ho’s path has not been easy, she is earning a PhD in educational psychology. Read more about her journey.  

Financial advocate helps peers navigate money  

Pilot Lee majored in personal finance with the goal of empowering marginalized and underserved communities. On campus, that advocacy has taken many forms, often through Lee’s work as a programming intern at the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center. Lee led workshops on sustainability, food insecurity and financial literacy and spearheaded a community potluck that connected students to food resources near campus. Most recently, Lee hosted a financial literacy workshop called “Finance 4 Broke Gays.” Lee also helped organize a “Queer Archive Drive,” which “encouraged students to donate materials to the UW Archives in an era of queer censorship.”

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Bee-lieve It or Not: 8 Fascinating Bee Facts for World Bee Day

• Amanda Rubalcava - [email protected]

Published Date

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Every May 20, World Bee Day is celebrated worldwide to raise awareness of the importance of bees and pollinators, as well as the threats they face. Designated by the United Nations, this occasion also offers an opportunity to learn more about their vital contributions to the planet and explore ways to protect their future. 

UC San Diego Today sat down with Jess Mullins , a Ph.D. student in the Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution Department, to dive deeper into the world of bees and uncover fascinating insights about these pollinators. As a researcher in Professor David Holway's lab , Mullins investigates native bees and how they respond to habitat loss. On May 20, in observance of World Bee Day, she will present a free lecture at noon on native bees at Geisel Library’s Seuss Room.

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Ahead of her lecture, Mullins is sharing the "buzz" on bees with these eight facts:

San Diego County is home to over 700 bee species

The local region is a global biodiversity hotspot, boasting over 700 native bee species in San Diego County alone, which is more than 20% of the bee diversity in the United States. Worldwide, there are more than 21,000 bee species. 

“Native bee” is a term that helps distinguish local bee species from Western Honey Bees

The term “native bee” distinguishes the local bee species from the Western Honey Bee, which was introduced to North America by early Europeans. Community members who visit UC San Diego can see native bees fly around from plant to plant across campus. Bees also like living in places where there are seasonal synced blooms—for example, California’s flower super blooms are a feast for pollinators! 

Honey bees were introduced in the 1600s by early Europeans

Honey bees were first introduced to North America in the 1600s by Europeans who used bees for honey, wax and pollination services. While honey bees are an introduced species in Southern California—meaning not indigenous, or native, to the area—they do well in the region’s natural environment.

Contrary to popular belief, honey bees are not in decline 

While much love and attention is directed toward saving the honey bees, they are no longer in decline in commercially managed settings. Honey bees in the United States have reached an all-time high with a 31% increase (over 1 million colonies) since 2007, when concern over the decline in commercially managed bee colonies was first raised.

Only female bees can sting  

Only female bees can sting because the mechanism they use to sting is also the one they use to lay eggs. In the case of honey bees, most are also female “workers” who collect pollen and nectar for colony maintenance. Male bees are unable to collect pollen. If you see lots of honey bees entering a cavity in the ground or a tree hollow, steer clear and you are less likely to be stung. 

Most bee species are solitary 

A common misunderstanding is that bees mostly live together in groups. For instance, when we think of bees, we often imagine a queen surrounded by worker bees collaborating in a beehive. In reality, approximately 70% of the 21,000 bee species worldwide are solitary. This means that a single female bee builds a nest, lays an egg on a pollen ball and seals it off. Solitary bees emerge from their nest the following season and mother bees never interact with their offspring. Most bees also build their nests underground.

Habitat loss and climate change are the biggest threats to biodiversity loss     

Habitat loss and climate change pose the two greatest threats to biodiversity, including bees. When events like floods or excessive pesticide use occur in bee habitats, they often abandon the area and do not return.

Their messy eating habits help them effectively pollinate plants

Bees are effective pollinators thanks to their messy eating habits. Pollen and nectar serve as their primary sources of protein and carbohydrates. As bees gather nectar and pollen, they frequently transfer pollen from one flower to another, aiding in plant reproduction. Their bodies also have various adaptations for this task: some have long hairs on their belly, others have hairy legs that look like bell bottom pants, and some even feature tiny baskets on their legs they use to store nectar and pollen. 

As a designated Bee Campus, UC San Diego actively promotes pollinator health and conservation through initiatives such as pollinator gardens, educational programs and research. The university became a member of Bee Campus USA under the leadership of Associate Dean of the Division of Biological Sciences Dr. James Nieh, who spearheaded efforts and works with The Pollinator Club to support pollinators and establish pollinator-friendly habitats on campus.

To learn more about the World Bee Day lecture, please visit the event website . More information about UC San Diego’s status as a Bee Campus USA member can be found in this UC San Diego Today story . 

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Analysis: Gazprom’s Declining Fortunes Spell Trouble for Moscow

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Gazprom’s Declining Fortunes Spell Trouble for Moscow

The gas giant’s record loss should worry the kremlin on several fronts..

• Agathe Demarais

At the end of 2022, Dmitry Medvedev—Russia’s former prime minister and the current deputy chairman of its Security Council—offered his predictions for the coming year. He warned that Europeans would suffer badly from Russia’s decision to curb natural gas exports to the European Union, suggesting that gas prices would jump to $5,000 per thousand cubic meters in 2023—around 50 times their prewar average. He probably assumed that that sky-high prices would translate into a windfall for Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, which was still supplying several European countries via pipeline, ramping up exports of liquefied natural gas, and eyeing new deals with China. Perhaps Medvedev also hoped that Europeans would beg the Kremlin to send the gas flowing again.

It turns out that Medvedev might want to polish his crystal ball: Last year, European gas prices averaged a mere one-tenth of his number. And just this month, Gazprom posted a massive $6.8 billion loss for 2023, the first since 1999.

Gazprom’s losses demonstrate the extent to which the Kremlin’s decision to turn off the gas tap to Europe in 2022 has backfired. In 2023, European Union imports of Russian gas were at their lowest level since the early 1970s, with Russian supplies making up only 8 percent of EU gas imports, down from 40 percent in 2021. This has translated into vertiginous losses for Gazprom, with the firm’s revenues from foreign sales plunging by two-thirds in 2023.

Gazprom’s woes are very likely setting off alarm bells in Moscow: With no good options for the company to revive flagging gas sales, its losses could weigh on Russia’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine. This is especially ironic given the fact that EU sanctions do not target Russian gas exports; the damage to the Kremlin and its war effort is entirely self-inflicted.

The most immediate impact of Gazprom’s losses will be on Russian government revenues, a crucial metric to gauge Moscow’s ability to sustain its war against Ukraine. Poring over Gazprom’s latest financials paints a striking picture. Excluding dividends, Gazprom transferred at least $40 billion into Russian state coffers in 2022, either to the general government budget or the National Welfare Fund (NWF), Moscow’s sovereign wealth fund.

This is no small feat. Until last year, Gazprom alone provided about 10 percent of Russian federal budget revenues through customs and excise duties as well as profit taxes. (Oil receipts usually account for an additional 30 percent of budget revenues.) This flood of money now looks like distant history. In 2023, the company’s contribution to state coffers through customs and excise duties was slashed by four-fifths, and like many money-losing firms, it is due a tax refund from the Russian treasury.

For Moscow, this is bad news on several fronts. Because of rising military expenses, the country’s fiscal balance swung into deficit when Moscow invaded Ukraine. To help plug the gap, the Kremlin ordered Gazprom to pay a $500 million monthly levy to the state until 2025. Now that the company is posting losses, it is unclear how it will be able to afford this transfer. In addition, Gazprom’s contribution to the NWF will probably have to shrink. For the Kremlin, this could not come at a worst time: The NWF’s liquid holdings have already dropped by nearly $60 billion , around half of its prewar total, as Moscow drains its rainy-day fund to finance the war. Finally, Gazprom’s woes could prompt the firm to shrink its planned investments in gas fields and pipelines—a decision that would, in turn, hit Russian GDP growth.

As if this was not enough, a closer look at Gazprom’s newly released financials suggests that the worst may be yet to come, with three telltale signs that 2024 could be even more difficult than 2023.

First, Gazprom’s accounts receivable—a measure of money due to be paid by customers—are in free fall, suggesting that the firm’s revenue inflow is drying up. Second, accounts payable shot up by around 50 percent in 2023, hinting that Gazprom is struggling to pay its own bills to various suppliers. Finally, short-term borrowing nearly doubled last year as Russian state-owned banks were enlisted to support the former gas giant.

Whereas these figures come from Gazprom’s English-language financials, the company’s latest Russian-language update yields two additional surprises—both of which show that the firm’s situation has worsened even further since the beginning of the year.

First, short-term borrowing during the first three months of 2024 roughly doubled compared to the previous quarter. If Russian state-owned banks continue to cover Gazprom’s losses, the Russian financial sector could soon find itself in trouble. This begs a tricky question: With the NWF’s reserves dwindling and Moscow’s access to international capital markets shut down, who would pay a bailout bill? Second, Gazprom’s losses were almost five times greater in the first quarter of 2024 than in the same period of 2023, hinting that the firm may post an even bigger loss this year than it did in 2023.

Looking ahead, 2025 will be an especially tough year for Gazprom. The transit deal for gas shipments through Ukraine via pipeline to Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia will probably expire at the end of this year, further curbing what’s left of Gazprom’s exports to Europe. A quick glance at a map makes it clear that China is now the only remaining option for Russian pipeline gas.

Yet Beijing is not that interested: Last year, it bought just 23 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, a mere fraction of the 180 billion cubic meters that Moscow used to ship to Europe. Negotiations to build the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline , which would boost gas shipments to China, have stalled. And in truth, China is not a like-for-like replacement for Gazprom’s lost European consumers. Beijing pays 20 percent less for Russian gas than the remaining EU customers, and the gap is predicted to widen to 28 percent through 2027.

Without pipelines, raising exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is the only remaining option for Moscow. However, Western policies make this easier said than done. Western export controls curb Russia’s access to the complex machinery needed to develop LNG terminals, such as equipment to chill the gas to negative160 degrees Celsius so that it can be shipped on specialized vessels. And Washington has recently imposed sanctions on a Singapore-based firm and two ships working on a Russian LNG project, signaling that it will similarly designate any entity willing to work in the sector. Finally, U.S. sanctions make it much harder for Russian firms to finance the development of new liquefaction facilities and the gas field designed to supply them. In December, Japanese firm Mitsui announced that it was pulling staff and reviewing options for its participation to Russia’s flagship Arctic LNG 2 project. As a result, the Russian operator announced last month that it was suspending operations of the project, which was originally slated to launch LNG shipments early this year.

Gazprom’s cheesy corporate slogan—“Dreams come true!”—does not ring so true anymore as Moscow’s former cash cow becomes a loss-making drain. Data from the International Energy Agency confirms the extent of the Kremlin’s miscalculation when it turned off the gas tap to Europe: The agency predicts that Russia’s share of global gas exports will fall to 15 percent by 2030—down from 30 percent before Moscow’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine.

This was probably predictable. It is hard to imagine how a gas exporter configured to serve European customers and reliant on Western technology could thrive after refusing to serve its main client—signaling to every other potential customer, including China, that it is an unreliable supplier. Corporate empires tend to rise and fall, and it looks like Gazprom will be no exception to the rule.

Agathe Demarais is a columnist at Foreign Policy , a senior policy fellow on geoeconomics at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and the author of Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests. Twitter:  @AgatheDemarais

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• October – In October you should take your first GRE test. You can also take it in the summer before October if you feel you are ready, just make sure not to wait too long. If you don’t do well on your first test you should try and take it again to improve your score.
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• At UC San Diego, the Math 140 sequence is the more rigorous version of real analysis. This sequence will teach you topics that economists are less likely to use but taking Math 140A is likely enough to convince graduate admissions committees that you can handle the mathematics in first year PhD program.  If you are extremely comfortable with mathematics and believe you can do well in this course, then this will be great preparation for graduate school. In your application to graduate school, you should note that there are two real analysis courses at UCSD, and that you took the more difficult of the two, as this will not be obvious to admissions committees. If you feel that you may struggle to achieve a high grade in 140A or have a difficult schedule, it would be better to take the 142AB and do well rather than struggle in 140A. In many cases, the admissions’ committees will want to see that you have performed well in a Real Analysis course, and so it is important to take a course that you believe you can do well in, rather than taking the most difficult course. Further, 142AB teaches the math topics most likely to be useful in an Economics graduate program. 
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• Whether you should apply to an MA program depends on your goal. If your eventual goal is a PhD in economics, then you may consider a MA program in Economics if you feel you lack the mathematical foundation to do well in graduate school, or because you would like to increase your chances at being accepted at a higher-ranked program. If you feel you will be competitive at schools you are targeting for a PhD, then it is not necessary to complete an MA before attending. One thing to be careful about is to make sure a given MA program is a good fit for you. Some are more rigorous than others. You do not want to attend an MA program in which you are re-learning material that you already know from your undergraduate education.
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