President of St. Petersburg State University and President of the Russian Academy of Education. She was the Rector of St. Petersburg State University from 1994 to 2008. She holds honorary doctorate degrees from a number of Russian and foreign universities (in Italy, USA, Japan, Slovakia, China, etc.). Dr. Verbitskaya is the author of more than 300 scientific and teaching papers in the fields of Russian and general linguistics, phonetics, phonology and Russian language teaching methods. Dr. Verbitskaya is a member of the Presidential Council for Science, Technology and Education, the Education Commission, the State Council of Russian Language and the Presidential Council for the Implementation of Priority National Projects, and Vice-President of the Russian Union of Rectors.