PROFESSOR NIKOLAI MIKHAILOVICH KULAGIN 50 YEARS IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE, AND MANAGEMENT

Nikolai Mikhailovich Kulagin was born on November 27, 1939, in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Region. After graduating from high school in 1957, he worked as an oxyacetylene torch operator in the pile driver shop of the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant. In 1958, he entered the technology department of the Siberian Metallurgical Institute (SMI), graduating in 1964 with a degree in Physics of Metals. He began working as a research engineer in SMI's problem lab. In 1968, he was accepted to the Department of Physical Chemistry and Theory of Metallurgical Processes as a senior laboratory assistant. He then rose through the ranks of assistant, senior lecturer, associate professor, and professor.
N.M. Kulagin completed the classical university training program for scientific, pedagogical, and managerial personnel. In 1971, he entered the correspondence graduate program under Professor N.V. Tolstoguzov and began studying the physicochemical properties of lanthanide chlorides. During his graduate studies and in the period that followed, Nikolai Mikhailovich revealed himself as a talented experimenter, creating unique setups for the synthesis of lanthanide chlorides, studying the kinetics of their thermal decomposition, thermal, thermodynamic, and conductometric properties. His remarkable ability to interpret and generalize experimental data allowed him to obtain results included in domestic and foreign academic reference books and to brilliantly defend his PhD dissertation. In 1978, N.M. Kulagin was awarded a Candidate of Chemical Sciences degree, and in 1983 he was promoted to Associate Professor, and in 1991, to Professor in the Department of Physical Chemistry and TMP. Along with his teaching duties, he served in public and administrative capacities: as a member of the Institute's Trade Union Committee, Chairman of the Trade Union Bureau, Secretary of the Party Bureau (1982–1985), and Dean of the Electrometallurgical Faculty (1985–1988).
On January 22, 1988, the first democratic rectoral elections were held at the Siberian Metallurgical Institute. N.M. Kulagin won in the first round and became one of the top ten democratically elected university rectors in the Soviet Union. Nikolai Mikhailovich served as rector of the now Siberian State Industrial University from January 1988 to July 2008.

Nikolay Mikhailovich Kulagin developed and implemented a target program for the transformation of the metallurgical institute into a single educational, scientific and industrial complex of the polytechnic type. During this period, the university changed its status twice: in April 1994, it was transformed into the Siberian State Mining and Metallurgical Academy (SSMMA), and in January 1998, into the Siberian State Industrial University (SSIIU). The implementation of this program allowed the university to significantly improve its key performance indicators, expand its development opportunities, and finally establish itself as the largest center for training engineering and scientific personnel for Kuzbass, Siberia, and the Far East. The university underwent the certification procedure four times (1992, 1997, 2002, 2007), each time confirming accreditation indicators in all areas of activity. Over these 20 years, 3 new faculties (Economics; Automation, Computer Science and Electromechanics; Information Technology) were created, 4 branches in the cities of the south of Kuzbass (Prokopyevsk, Osinniki, Mezhdurechensk, Tashtagol), 8 departments, 30 new specialties were opened (to the 23 that existed in 1988). The number of doctors of science and professors increased from 11 to 65, postgraduate specialties from 6 to 23, scientific schools from 11 to 17. A doctoral program was opened, and 3 councils for the defense of doctoral dissertations in the university's main scientific areas were established. The following institutions were established: the Faculty of Pre-University Training, the Center for Advanced Training and Retraining of Personnel for Employees of Kuzbass Enterprises, the Regional Center for Employment and Adaptation of Graduates in the Labor Market "Career", the Center for Entrepreneurial Activity, the Educational and Methodological Department, the Scientific Research Department, the Information Technology Department, the International Activities Service, and the Department of Extracurricular Activities. The University's Scientific and Technical Library has become one of the largest libraries in Siberia, receiving the status of a Category 1 library. A modern integrated library system, VIRTUA, has been implemented.

Thanks to the painstaking work of N.M. Kulagin on the reconstruction of the auditorium fund, auditoriums were opened named after the Governor of the Kemerovo Region A.G. Tuleyev, the General Director of the Novokuznetsk DSK A.V. Kosilov, the General Director of the NZRMK N.E. Kryukov, the General Director of the foreign trade company AsAlmaz I.S. Alekseev, the General Director of Trading House - Avangard T.M. Lukhanina, OJSC Kuznetsk Ferroalloys, and the design institutes Sibstalkonstruktsiya and Sibpromstroyproekt. Among the most significant achievements during this period were the university's successes in the "Quality Assurance Systems for Specialist Training" competition of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. In 2004, the university became a diploma winner, and in 2005, a laureate of this competition, confirming the high level of specialist training and demonstrating the correctness of the chosen university development strategy aimed at implementing quality management principles according to international standards. In 2006, the university successfully certified its quality management system for specialist training (at that time, the only university in Kuzbass).
In 2005, N.M. Kulagin, as part of a research team, together with professors V.I. Bazaikin, V.E. Gromov, and V.Ya. Zellermayer and the staff of ZSMK were awarded the Russian Federation Government Prize in the field of

science and technology for the development and implementation of a new acid-free technology for the production of cold-drawn rolled products.
N.M. Kulagin successfully continues his professional teaching career. Professor N.M. Kulagin's high level of professionalism is confirmed by the positive comments of his students: "Nikolay Mikhailovich is a teacher and professor with a capital "P," a master of his craft. Our city is built on such people. We wish him as many talented students as possible and good health." N.M. Kulagin devotes considerable attention to the development and improvement of modern educational and information resources. These include textbooks on physical chemistry and the 10-volume series "Aluminum Metallurgy: Technology, Ecology, Economics." As one of the leaders, he takes an active part in the work of the scientific school on the physicochemical properties of rare-earth halides. Based on his own and literary experimental data, a system of mutually consistent values ​​of standard enthalpies of formation and standard entropies of crystalline lanthanide tri- and dichlorides was created. The conductometric properties of LnCl3 – (KСl – NaCl) melts, where Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Yb, were studied in wide temperature and concentration ranges. The patterns of physicochemical and thermodynamic properties of lanthanide tri- and dichlorides as functions of atomic number were studied and a semi-empirical interpretation of these patterns was given. The low-tonnage technologies for obtaining high-purity anhydrous chlorides, bromides and iodides of lanthanides, yttrium and scandium, developed and implemented at SibGIU, with the provision of characterized samples for research in a number of other scientific institutions in Russia, contributed to the development of fundamental chemistry and thermodynamics of rare earth halides.

N.M. Kulagin is constantly involved in extensive public service: he is a deputy of the Novokuznetsk City Council of People's Deputies, a member of the Novokuznetsk City Administration Board, a member of the Presidium of the Educational and Methodological Association for Metallurgy Education at Russian Universities, and a member of the first convocation of the Kemerovo Region Public Chamber (he headed the education committee). He has been president of the Novokuznetsk City Organization of the "Knowledge" Society for over 20 years. Nikolai Mikhailovich served as a trustee in presidential elections three times in the Russian Federation: (1996 and 2000) for Aman Gumirovich Tuleyev, and (2004) for Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
With the active participation of N.M. Kulagin, the University's Board of Trustees was established. Nikolai Mikhailovich is an active member of the organizing committee preparing for the university's 85th anniversary celebration.
Currently, N.M. Kulagin is a member of the Council of Elders under the Head of the City of Novokuznetsk, heads the public Council of Housing and Public Utilities under the City Council of People's Deputies, and the Center for Social Protection and Support of the Elderly.
For his multifaceted work, Professor N.M. Kulagin has been awarded state,

industry, and regional awards and honorary titles: the Order of Honor, "Honored Worker of Higher Education of the Russian Federation," "Honored Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation," the Order of Labor Glory, 3rd Class, the Order of Valor of Kuzbass, medals "For Special Contribution to the Development of Kuzbass" 3rd and 2nd Class, "For Service to Kuzbass," and others.

Colleagues and students congratulate Professor Nikolai Mikhailovich Kulagin on this remarkable anniversary – 50 years of service to Russian education, science, and the city of Novokuznetsk. We wish him health, prosperity, creative success, and talented students!