Top Stories

Carina Tokatian Staff Writer Walking into “Kef Time Fresno” felt like entering any Armenian’s nirvana. There was lavish food, spirited conversations, lively laughter, warm hugs, and smiling faces everywhere. Most of all, there was the lively group of dancers and musicians—the stars of the evening—who offered any spectator a taste of sublimity. “Kef Time Fresno” was held on the evening ...

Staff Report A delegation of Yerevan State University (YSU) administrators and faculty, headed by YSU President Dr. Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, visited the Fresno State campus on Wednesday, February 2. Accompanying Dr. Hovhannisyan were Dr. Alexander Markarov, Head of the International Cooperation Office of YSU and Dr. Vahagn Aglyan, Director of the American Studies Center at YSU. The group was hosted at ...

Staff Report The Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State has a long and distinguished history. Armenian and Armenian Studies courses have been taught at Fresno State for more than fifty years. The Program was established in 1977 and over the years the has developed an international reputation in terms of excellence in teaching, quality of scholarship, and active student and ...

Sosse Baloian Staff Writer “We know about our identity from reading the stories of our writers,” said Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian. “Without that literature and history, it would be difficult to understand Armenian identity.” On Sunday, January 16, 2022, Prof. Der Mugrdechian gave a talk on “Armenian Literature and Identity” at St. Apkar Armenian Apostolic Church in Scottsdale, Arizona. Prof. ...

Eddy Thurber Staff Writer The International Court of Justice (ICJ) rules against Azerbaijan on all counts! Armenia won a landmark victory in a hearing brought before the ICJ on the basis of urgency and the need for immediate relief. The court made three orders to secure the safety of Armenian prisoners of war, the cessation of hate speech and violence ...

Staff Report Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Berberian Coordinator of the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State, discussed the newly published book, The Committee of Union and Progress: Founders, Ideology, and Structure, at a special presentation and kinetson on Saturday, November 6, 2021. The Committee of Union and Progress is volume 13 in the Armenian Series of The Press at California ...

Staff Report The Armenian Series of The Press at California State University, Fresno announces the publication of its fourteenth volume, Captive Nights: From the Bosphorus to Gallipoli with Zabel Yessayan. This new collection of translations from Zabel Yessayan’s (1878 – 1943?) internationally renowned body of work presents three of her least-known and most revealing stories: Meliha Nuri Hanum, The Veil, ...

Armenia’s Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Lilit Makunts (center) visited the William Saroyan House Museum on Sunday, October 24. Accompanying Amb. Makunts on the visit were Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia in Fresno, Mr. Berj Apkarian (left), and Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian (right). Ambassador Makunts attended the AMAA Annual Banquet in Fresno on Saturday, Oct 23.

Staff Report Patricia Peterson Hansen of Sacramento, California, has established a new Endowment Fund of $50,000 at Fresno State in the name of her late sister Helen Zevart Peterson. The Helen Zevart Peterson Fund will provide funding for programming musical performances and speakers in the Armenian Studies Program. Helen Zevart Peterson was born to Simon and Haiganoosh Peterson in Hanford, ...

Natalie Agazarian Staff Writer Artak Beglaryan, State Min-ister of Artsakh, has conducted a significant amount of research and dedicated much of his time serving the people of Artsakh. Mr. Beglaryan, who was in Fresno to speak at the annual meeting and banquet of the Armenian Missionary Association of America, held a conversation with Fresno State students on Friday, October 22, ...