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Annie Rubio Editor William Saroyan has long been a prominent figure in Fresno’s history. Recently, his name has become even more pronounced in the community. Ever since the opening of the Saroyan House Museum in August of 2018, there has been a resurgence of interest in his life and career. This led to the premiere of the new documentary, “Lights! ...

Staff Report A co-edited volume by Bedross Der Matossian and Barlow Der Mugrdechian entitled Western Armenian in the 21st Century: Challenges and New Approaches has been recently published by The Press at California State University, Fresno (2019). The book is the first in the newly launched Society for Armenian Studies (SAS) Publication Series published as part of the Armenian Series ...

Christine Pambukyan Staff Writer The Armenian language has been spoken for more than 3,000 years. Armenians, however, were not able to read and write with their own alphabet until a priest, St. Mesrop Mashtots, created a thirty-six-letter alphabet in 406 AD. In the twelfth century, two letters were added to the alphabet to accommodate new sounds introduced to the Armenian ...

Staff Report Armenian Studies Program Coordinator Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian announced that the Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundation has made a donation of $100,000 in January of 2019 to the Kooyumjian Endowed Scholarship Fund at Fresno State. Together with previous donations from the Family Foundation, the Endowed Scholarship has reached $250,000. Thomas A. Kooyumjian passed away in 1985 and his ...

Arshak Abelyan Staff Writer              From the violent streets of Beirut to the places he called his home, Armenia and Fresno, Paul Chaderjian’s new novel Letters to Barbra reveals the beauty and tragedy in life. Chaderjian’s grandparents were Armenian Genocide survivors who settled in Beirut and thus, he experienced the Civil War in Lebanon. Chaderjian discussed his new novel at a ...

              Staff Report The Knights and Daughters of Vartan announced that Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian and news anchor Stefani Booroojian are to be honored as “Man of the Year” and “Woman of the Year” at a special Banquet to be held on Sunday, March 30, 2019. Der Mugrdechian has been teaching at Fresno State ...

  Staff Report The Armenian Studies Program held an international conference on “The Committee of Union and Progress: Founders, Ideology, and Structure” on Friday, October 12, and Saturday, October 13, 2018 on the Fresno State campus. The Conference focused on the Committee of Union and Progress, who were the political leaders of Ottoman Turkey throughout most of the period 1908-1915. ...

  Matthew Pajouh Staff Writer An Exhibit on “Early Armenians in Fresno County” has recently opened on the second floor of the Fresno County Historical Museum, located at the Fresno Fairgrounds. The Exhibit displays many interesting artifacts and focuses on the early history of Armenians in Fresno County. The Exhibit is centered on religion, agriculture, business, and important Armenian monuments ...

  David Safrazian Staff Writer “My Armenian identity is shaped by the Armenian flag and it gave me a sense of purpose. It was to be idealistic and not a realist,” said Dr. Richard Hovannisian.  Dr. Hovannisian was invited to give a lecture titled “The Republic of Armenia: A Daring Endeavor, 1918-2018,” on Thursday, November 1, in the Charles and ...

Staff Report It was more than 100 years ago that an independent Republic of Armenia was established, the first Armenian state since the fall of the Kingdom of Cilicia in 1375. The Society for Armenian Studies organized an international conference, “Innovative Approa-ches to the History of the First Republic of Armenian, 1918-1920,” to mark this anniversary and to bring together ...