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Staff Report The Society for Armenian Studies (SAS) celebrated its 40th anniversary at its Annual Membership meeting held in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, November 22. A new Executive Council was elected with Barlow Der Mugrdechian (California State University-Fresno) chosen as the new SAS President. Also elected were Vice President Bedross Der Matossian (University of Nebraska-Lincoln); Secretary Lilit Keshishyan (UCLA); Treasurer ...

Marine Vardanyan Editor 2015 marks the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Why should you care? According to Dr. Sergio La Porta, Berberian Professor of Armenian Studies at Fresno State, the Armenian Genocide “is very much tied up with who we are today and the whole notion of modernity.” On Thursday, February 26, Dr. La Porta explored the role of ...

Lauren Chardukian Staff Writer This semester, the Armenian Studies Program welcomed Dr. Myrna Douzjian as the 11th Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies at Fresno State. As part of her responsibilities as Visiting Professor, Dr. Douzjian will be giving a series of lectures about her area of expertise, “The Armenian Genocide in Film.” The first of her three-part series, titled ...

Staff Report Armenian Studies Program Coordinator Barlow Der Mugrdechian announced a gift of $100,000 from the estate of the late Evelyn Sahroian Tregoning that will establish the Tregoning Endowment in Armenian Studies. Evelyn Sahroian Tregoning was born on September 30, 1923 and passed away on June 1, 2014. She was born to an Armenian immigrant family in the farming area ...

Aramayis Orkusyan Staff Writer Each year, the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State has the remarkable opportunity of inviting an internationally recognized scholar in contemporary Armenian affairs to teach a one semester topics course related to Armenian history, the Armenian Genocide, and the formation of the Armenian Republic. This opportunity is made possible through the generous endowment of the Henry ...

Marine Vardanyan Editor “We are now on Armenian land.” These words were declared by the first Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia in the United States, Berj Apkarian, during the ceremony marking the opening of the Fresno office on Monday, October 20, 2014. Indeed, the office of the Honorary Consul, located on the eighth floor of the historic Pacific ...

Staff Writer Michael Rettig On a bright and cool Sunday, November 2, more than 500 people gathered at Fresno State’s Maple Mall, to break ground for a Monument in honor of the victims of the Armenian Genocide. There have been multiple such Monuments erected around the world, but Fresno State’s will be the first on a university campus. The groundbreaking ...

Staff Writer Aramayis Orkusyan The vibrant, emotionally rich cascades of Armenian influenced melodies filled the Fresno State Concert Hall on the evening of November 14, 2014, as the Khachaturian Trio of Armenia performed for a sold-out audience of more than 300. The Trio’s repertoire included the dramatic, deftly nuanced, passionate and powerful sounds of Rachmaninoff’s “Trio élégiaque No. 2 in ...

Special to Hye Sharzhoom On August 8, 2014, Bitlis municipality approved the renaming of five streets in this historic town of south-eastern Turkey. Among the new names was “William Saroyan Street,” after the great American-Armenian writer, whose ancestors left Bitlis before 1915. Saroyan was born in Fresno but felt strong ties to his ancestral home. He visited Bitlis in 1964 ...

Marine Vardanyan Editor This summer, a group of nine students, led by the faculty of the Armenian Studies Program, travelled 7,024 miles to live two weeks in the ancient land of Armenia. The group, self-dubbed the “Yerevan Eleven,” was the class of Armenian Studies 120 T: Armenia Today. Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian and Prof. Sergio La Porta led nine students, ...