COOPERATION BETWEEN THE LEADERS OF THE FIRST TOGLIATTI HIGHER SCHOOL, SELF-GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS AND HEADS OF CONSTRUCTION SITES OF THE CITY (IN 1951-1971)

The article presents a wide range of previously unknown pages of the history of Togliatti State University (TSU) related to the activities of the university leaders in the first two decades of the high school activity. The paper covers the period from its founding in 1951 as a branch of the evening school of the Kuibyshev Industrial Institute of Kuibyshevhydrostroy in Stavropol-on-Volga till 1971, when Togliatti Polytechnic Institute (TPI) had got material and technical resources, scientific and pedagogical staff, and foundations for the development of scientific schools.

For the first time, the article presents in its scientific consideration the relevant biographical information – in its chronological sequence – about all six leaders of the higher school: the heads of the evening department of the Stavropolsky branch of Kuibyshev Industrial Institute of Kuibyshevhydrostroy D.E. Churkin and V.N. Nikolayev, the directors of the Stavropolsky branch of Kuibyshev Industrial Institute V.N. Zubkov, V.L. Bondarev and E.F.Vinokurov, the rector of Togliatti Polytechnic Institute A.N. Reznikov. The author reveals the peculiarities of the interaction of the university leaders, the city administration and construction projects aimed at expanding the scientific, educational and pedagogical tasks and creating a common educational network of the city. Two phases of development of the university are considered in details: first, the initial period of establishment of the evening school of KII of KHS before the city of Stavropol-on-Volga had been transferred, and the early years of the new city under construction. The research reports the effective support provided to the branch by the head of "Kuibyshevhydrostroy" I.V. Komzin, and his teaching activity as a professor.

The second period is when an independent higher school was created in Togliatti – Togliatti Polytechnic Institute (TPI). The creation of the first independent university in Togliatti is connected with the name of Professor A.N. Reznikov, an honorary citizen of the city of Togliatti. The article considers its effective cooperation with the Volga automobile factory and other factories of the country; studies the basic activities of 12-year history of TPI when the higher school was not only expanding, but also became a scientific and educational center of the Volga region.