Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian   The eighth Armenia Summer Study Program took place May 24-June 9, 2017, when thirteen students and group leaders Professors Barlow Der Mugrdechian and Hagop Ohanessian arrived in sunny Yerevan. Fresno State students have the opportunity to take Armenian Studies courses where they learn various aspects of Armenian history and culture, but an academic journey to ...

Michael Rettig Editor   The Armenian Studies Program held a two-day international conference on “Armenians, Greeks, and Kurds: A People’s History of the Ottoman Empire” on the weekend of September 22-23. Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Director of the Armenian Studies Program, and Dr. Ümit Kurt, visiting postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, organized the Conference to highlight Ottoman history from the ...

  Staff Report Armenian Studies Program Coordinator Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian gave three presentations during a visit to the United Kingdom, August 6-15, 2017. His travels took him to Oxford and also to London where he was invited to speak twice. On Tuesday, August 8, Der Mugrdechian gave a presentation in London on “Historic Armenia” for students of Dr. Krikor ...

Suzanna Ekmekchyan Staff Writer Armenian Students Organization (ASO) festivities have officially begun for the semester. It started with the first meeting of the year held on Wednesday, August 30. More than 20 members attended the meeting, where elections for new ASO officers were held with the following results: Kara Statler (President), Claire Kasaian (Vice President), Arthur Khatchatrian (Secretary), David Safrazian ...

Annie Rubio Staff Writer “Our revenge will be to survive.” These words, spoken in the movie The Promise, gave new life to the remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. The Promise premiered this spring, with impressive star power and a touching love story. Despite the fact that the main run of the film is over, it still remains a powerful tool ...

  Claire Kasaian  Staff Writer Mer Hooys-House of Hope is a California-based non-profit organization that provides a home in Yerevan, Armenia, for girls from severely disadvantaged backgrounds. The Program was established in December of 2008 and is housed in the Nakashian Children’s Support Center, a two-story renovated building in the suburbs of Yerevan, named in honor of its benefactors, the ...

Annie Rubio My first time in Armenia was truly a life-changing experience. Being half-Armenian, it was a wonderful feeling to take that piece of my upbringing and completely immerse myself in it. Once we started meeting people during our travels, my fears of feeling out of place disappeared. Everyone was always so welcoming and generous to us, even if we ...

Staff Report What brings twenty-one students from varied backgrounds to take a class together at Fresno State? For the Fall 2017 semester it was a common desire to learn modern Armenian in Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian’s elementary language class, Armenia 1A. Armenians and non-Armenians alike are learning the language spoken for more than three millennia, and in so doing they ...

David Safrazian Staff Writer   “Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France: A Zenith of Diasporan Writing” was the first presentation in the Armenian Studies Program Fall Lecture Series. Writer, filmmaker, and translator Christopher Atamian visited Fresno State on Friday, September 8 to speak on a theme that is important and meaningful to Armenian history, culture, and literature. Atamian translated ...

Staff Report This summer Dr. Sergio La Porta co-taught a 5-week intensive course on Classical Armenian (krapar) at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. The class was funded and sponsored by the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, located in Washington, D.C. Dr. La Porta was joined by Dr. Michael Pifer of ...