News

Staff Report Armenian Studies Program Coordinator Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian announced that the Leon S. Peters Foundation has continued their generous support of the Armenian Studies Program with a grant of $30,000 for 2019. Their support for the Program over the past seven years has reached over $200,000.  This continues the tradition of the Peters Foundation in supporting the Armenian ...

Staff Report The world has changed substantially in the past forty years. In 1979 Armenia was still part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Jimmy Carter was President of the United States. Iranian militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held hostages. Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl. The Academy ...

  Dustin Vartanian Staff Writer It was William Saroyan’s wish that his home in Fresno would one day be turned into a research center. Thirty-seven years after his passing his wish was realized. Saroyan’s home for the last 17 years of his life became the first Museum and Research Center in the world dedicated to him. The process to convert ...

Annie Rubio Editor Music is a universal language, with messages and emotions that can be understood regardless of one’s background. Modern artists are always seeking new ways to push the boundaries of their craft, to continuously innovate. Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan artfully melds modern and traditional sounds into his music and he also ties in many elements from the ...

Annie Rubio Editor Behind every genocide are perpetrators, ones who promote and contribute to the acts of mass violence. However, a majority of these perpetrators are not top military officials, but rather the mass population who idly stands by. This has become a focus of Kazan Visiting Professor Dr. Ümit Kurt’s research: how such “ordinary” people can become involved in ...

Annie Rubio Editor Few people would stop to stare at a pile of rocks scattered across a field. Even fewer would be able to distinguish that a historic monastery used to exist there. Scottish explorer Steven Sim has spent nearly 40 years doing just that. From his days as an architecture student, he made the startling discovery that many of ...

  David Safrazian Staff Writer “Much of Armenian history has been expunged from Turkey, not only in a physical sense, but also in the sense of memory as the names of Armenian villages have been systematically erased,” stated Ara Sarafian. “States write history, and they can write people out of history, and if Armenians don’t write their own history, then ...

  Staff Report The July 23, 1908 Revolution in the Ottoman Empire was a significant moment in the history of the Empire. There was great hope that the reinstatement of the 1876 Constitution would guarantee equal rights among all of the citizens of the Empire, including the Armenians. The new ruling party, the Committee of Union and Progress, represented these ...

  Dustin Vartanian Staff Writer For thousands of years Armenia’s history has been filled with literary masterpieces. Oral epics such as Hayk and Bel and David of Sassoun are a rich part of the fabric of Armenian culture. There are also stories that explain the process of Armenia’s conversion to Christianity. In addition, Armenia’s literature has several masterful poems written ...

  Claire Kasaian Staff Writer The Armenian Studies Program and the CineCulture film series presented the Fresno premiere of the movie “Roots” on Friday, November 2, to an audience of Fresno State students and community members. Directed by Vahe Yan, the 89-minute movie was filmed on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Lilit Martirosyan, who producer ...