Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Photo: ASP Archive
Michael Mazman
Staff Writer
“Coming from a relatively poor background, it feels like a privilege to serve a community like this because you know that you are planting a seed that is going to grow.”
Dr. Vartuhi Tonoyan, professor of entrepreneurship and management in the Craig School of Business, has found a home at Fresno State after traveling across the world in pursuit of her advanced education and professional career opportunities. In every project that Dr. Tonoyan has taken on, she has advanced her lifelong mission of serving the underprivileged class, something she hopes to continue to do during her tenure at Fresno State.
Dr. Tonoyan was born in the village of Ninotsminda in Javakh, an Armenian enclave in southern Georgia. At the time Dr. Tonoyan was living there the town’s name was Bogdanovka and was part of the Soviet Union. She recalled stories from her childhood like putting on a red neckerchief as part of a Young Pioneers outfit to deliver speeches and poetry to her neighbors and relatives.
For her primary education, Dr. Tonoyan attended a Russian school in Georgia. Her Soviet upbringing and study of Russian literature greatly affected her familiarity with the roots of the Armenian culture. “When I was growing up, there was no Vartan Mamikonian or Sasuntsi Davit in the Russian school. I grew up reading Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Lermontov, and Yesenin – those were my idols.” While reminiscing about her experiences as a student, Tonoyan fondly looked back on those memories. “I always liked going to school. I loved surrounding myself with books and I adored my teachers. I was always happy when summer break was over, and I got to go back to school.”
Dr. Tonoyan’s admiration for her teachers is surely due, in part, to her own mother being a teacher of Armenian language and literature. Despite this, Tonoyan did not always aspire to become an educator. Growing up, she always envisioned becoming a lawyer, to defend the poor and the victims of petty corruption in Armenia and Georgia.
Dr. Tonoyan went on to ex-plain that small-scale, petty corruption occurs on a daily basis in countries with economies in transition. “For example, you could be driving down the road and a policeman will pull you over just to ask for baksheesh (bribe). Either you bribe him or you’re not going to be able to keep driving.” On the other hand, advanced economies such as the United States are much more subject to grand corruption, which happens on the governmental scale, rather than petty corruption. “In the United States, most of the corruption is formalized in lobbying activities which aren’t necessarily observable on a daily basis to the average person,” stated Dr. Tonoyan.
When Dr. Tonoyan turned sixteen, she completed her secondary education in Georgia and moved to Yerevan where she studied international economic relations at the Yerevan Institute of National Economy. After receiving her bachelor’s degrees in economics and international relations, Dr. Tonoyan transferred to the University in Mannheim as a foreign exchange student. It was at the University of Mannheim where she completed her master’s studies in economics and management, and then began her doctoral studies. Dr. Tonoyan has been awarded with academic honors from every school that she has attended.
When asked about her motivation to move to the United States, Dr. Tonyan after some thought replied, “There was lots of serendipity involved with that decision. At the time I was entrenched in the University of Mannheim as a research assistant. Most of the professors at the business school knew me because of my success in getting published, acquiring third-party funded projects, and attending international research conferences – all while being quite young. On a whim, I decided to apply for a one-year postdoctoral studies program at Stanford University. I didn’t expect to get accepted, but when I found out that I did, I made the decision to move to the United States.”
After completing her post-doctoral position at Stanford, Dr. Tonoyan found a visiting position at the University of Alberta in Canada. While teaching there, she applied for full-time positions at a handful of schools on the west coast of the U.S. Dr. Tonoyan mentioned that she was “particularly interested in Fresno State due to its mission to serve students coming from an underprivileged background.” Clearly, Dr. Tonoyan has been attracted to institutions that promote entrepreneurial and educational equality regardless of gender, race, or socioeconomic class throughout her entire life.
Dr. Tonoyan attributes her academic and professional success to her parents. Her mother, Tsagik Darbinyan, was strict during her childhood but always made sure that she brought home the best grades. “Looking back, I would say that her imprint on me was very important… she taught me to always seek to learn and give my best,” said Dr. Tonoyan. Her father, Kimik Tonoyan, built and led four different companies from scratch in Georgia. A former math Olympiad winner, he taught Dr. Tonoyan an appreciation for math and analytical thinking, as well as an entrepreneurial mindset. Sadly, Kimik Tonoyan passed away a few weeks prior to the completion of this article.
Since Dr. Tonoyan holds a tenure-track position, research is a significant aspect of her job at Fresno State. Currently, she is continuing her lifelong studies and resubmitting papers on topics like gender inequality in entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as the impact of corruption on firm innovativeness in emerging economies.
Dr. Tonoyan has found a home in Fresno and looks forward to making new friends in the Armenian community. She loves to paint, cook with and for friends, and host parties and book clubs.