News

Aramayis Orkusyan Staff Writer Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian, director of the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State, is not only active in the Armenian community of Fresno, but also abroad. This past summer, Professor Der Mugrdechian was invited to Beirut by the Tekeyan Cultural Association to give a talk to the Armenian community of Lebanon. In addition to visiting Lebanon, ...

Diana Gasparyan Staff Writer Dr. Khatchig Mouradian, Kazan Visiting Professor of Armenian Studies at Fresno State, spoke on the topic of, “Genocide and Humanitarian Resistance in Ottoman Syria, 1915-1917,” as the first of his three-part public lectures series on “Genocide and Resilience.” The lecture, which took place on Tuesday, September 20, offered new insight into the Armenian Genocide and attracted ...

Staff Report The Triple X Fraternity-Los Angeles Chapter has established a scholarship at Fresno State for 2016 announced Armenian Studies Program Director Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian. The Triple X-Los Angeles Chapter has donated $2,000 to establish the scholarship, which will be awarded to deserving Armenian students studying at Fresno State. The Triple X Fraternity is approaching its centennial in 2018, ...

Alina Arakelian • Staff Writer As an Armenian, what annual events do you look forward to and why?   Raffi Apkarian Senior, Chemistry Prpoor, which is the traditional preparation of grape molasses to celebrate the harvest. It is a great event that brings Armenians together in all aspects. The celebration is a way to share our culture by singing traditional ...

Claire Kasaian Staff Writer Over the years the Armenian Studies Program has received a generous amount of donations, such as manuscripts, books, newspaper clippings, and videos. These materials include Genocide survivor memoirs, newsletters from the Diaspora, and theological and literary works. Malina Zakian, the Armenian Studies Program librarian and archivist, has been cataloging the numerous donations. Zakian and a graduate ...

Staff Report Fresh off of his trip to Armenia, Lebanon, and Turkey, Armenian Studies Program Director Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian was invited to appear on July 7 on “The Central Valley Ledger,” a Fresno and Clovis area public affairs program airing on KFSR 90.7 FM, CMAC-Comcast 93, and AT&T 99. The program is recorded with a volunteer crew from Fresno ...

Staff Report Ümit Kurt Kazan Visiting Research Scholar in the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State for the 2015-2016 academic year, successfully defended his dissertation Destruction of Aintab Armenians and Emergence of the New Wealthy Class: Plunder of Armenian Wealth in Aintab (1890s-1920s) at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University on Tuesday, April 19. Kurt’s doctoral ...

Elina Karapetyan Staff Writer After the devastation of the Armenian Genocide in 1915, Armenians who remained inside the borders of Turkey were left to reconstruct their lives and identities amidst politically hostile conditions. Among the community’s most influential people were feminist women who “articulated an Armenianness sustained through gendered differences.” The treatment of the remaining Armenians, their response to the ...

Michael Rettig Staff Writer Misak Medzarents is known as one of the pioneers of Western Armenian poetry. As a romanticist, most of his poetry was more positive than that of his contemporaries. However, Medzarents’ poetry also contained a political aspect that has previously gone unnoticed. On Thursday, March 17, Dr. James Russell discussed the political leanings of Medzarents in his ...

MENAS ARISIAN Business Administration- Entrepreneurship Minor in Armenian Studies What encouraged you to take an Armenian Studies course? My passion to learn more about my Armenian culture and history encouraged me. It is interesting and important for me to be more knowledgeable about my heritage and where I come from. The history of the Armenian people is deep and has ...