News

Staff Report Armenological and Social Sciences section of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, April 2009. Dr. Kouymjian, far left.

Staff Report Castro Valley resident Rosalie Mahakian has bequeathed the Armenian Studies Program at California State University, Fresno $50,000 for general Program purposes. She passed away in Castro Valley on February 10, 2007. Rosalie Hagopian Mahakian, born in Fresno, California July 7, 1922, was one of five children in the family of Ovagim and Elizabeth Hagopian. Her childhood was that ...

Tamar Karkazian Staff Writer For over 30 years Armenian children from all over the Valley have been attending the Armenian Community School of Fresno. In the past couple of years the Armenian Community School has undergone numerous changes, ranging from a change in location to introduction of after-school programs. Some of the more obvious changes are of the name and ...

Hagop Ohanessian Staff Writer Dr. Sergio La Porta was appointed as Haig and Isabel Berberian Professor of Armenian Studies at Fresno State and joined the faculty this Fall semester as an Associate Professor of Armenian Studies. Dr. La Porta’s father immigrated from Sicily in 1960 and his mother, whose parents were English and Dutch, was born in New York. Dr. ...

Evelyn K. Demirchian Staff Writer Twenty-year-old piano prodigy Nareh Arghamanyan graced a packed auditorium on September 18th at the Fresno State Concert Hall. Arghamanyan’s electrifying performance was at once elegant, moving, and worthy of the international praise she has received as one of the youngest professional concert pianists. Playing a two-hour set, Arghamanyan exuded energy with her performance, not often ...

Pateel Mekhitarian Editor Dr. Dickran Kouymjian was recruited from France to restart the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State in 1977. Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian was a freshman at Fresno State in 1974, and was present to experience the beginning of the new program. Der Mugrdechian was very involved in Armenian related events during his college career, taking a one-month ...

Heidi Lea Staff Writer The Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State hosted historian Ara Sarafian on Monday, October 12 to give a presentation commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Adana Massacres of 1909. Sarafian is an archival historian specializing in late Ottoman history. He is director of the London based Gomidas Institute, which is a research and publication center for ...

Pateel Mekhitarian Editor www.armenianchurch.net and www.armenianheritage.com Armenian literature is a major aspect of the culture. Literature may include a wide assortment of genres, such as fables, folk tales, myths, fantasy, poem, prose, and many others.  However, early Armenian literature began with the oral legends and epics. In many towns, storytellers (gousans) played music as they narrated these legends, reciting them ...

Staff Report Name: Svetlana Bagdasarov Major: Social Work Minor: Armenian Studies Why did you pursue an Armenian Studies Minor? I decided to pursue an Armenian Studies minor in order to increase my knowledge of my culture. I can honestly say that everything that I have learned about my heritage was a direct result of my participation in numerous Armenian Studies ...

Marissa Kalashian Staff Writer Every year as April approaches, Armenians are increasingly reminded of the Armenian Genocide, “the forgotten genocide,” which commenced on April 24, 1915 with the massacres of Armenian religious, political, and intellectual leaders in Constantinople. In Fresno, where there is a considerable Armenian population, the Genocide issue is constantly alive, and Armenians take the opportunity in April ...