Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Staff Report
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia
Armen Aroyan, Los Angeles, California
Dr. Eileen Barker, Professor Sociology, London School of Econ.
Academician Dr. Georg Brutian, Vice President Armenian National Academy of Sciences
Dr. Valentina Calzolari, Secretary, Association Internationale des Études Arméniennes
The Reverend Bernard and Knar Guekguezian, First Armenian Presbyterian Church
Dr. Ellen Gruenbaum, Dean of the School of Social Sciences
Elizabeth Koojoolian, Fresno, California
Hagop, Lisbett, and Gabriel Khoubesserian, Toronto, Canada (Dr. Kouymjian’s sister-in-law and family)
Diane Majors, Reference Librarian, Henry Madden Library
Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, Patriarch of Jerusalem, Felix Ter-Martirossov
Archbishop Mesrop Moutafian, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople
Mikael Nichanian, University of Clergy-Pontoise, (Dr. Kouymjian’s nephew)
Dr. Richard Pinkerton, Professor of Marketing, Fresno State
Ara Sarafian, London, England
Dr. Robert Thomson, Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian, Oxford University
Prof. Dr. Father Levon Boghos Zekiyan, Armenian Department Director, University of Venice
Dr. Dickran Kouymjian
Dear Dickran:
How appropriate that you should be designated as the Person of the Year by the Armenian National Committee of Central California. You have dedicated your entire career to the advancement of Armenian Studies and in so doing have enlightened new generations and colleagues and helped to integrate Armenian history and culture into world history from ancient to modern times.
It is sometimes not recognized and perhaps not so obvious that scholarly, academic, and outreach programs making known the past and present of the Armenian people are in themselves an important component of the Armenian Cause or Hai Tad. The battle for truth takes place not only in the political arena but now more than ever in the academic arena. You have always been present as a champion of the truth, whether subtly through illustrated presentations of Armenian art and architecture or directly by confronting the deniers and rationalizers of the indefensible. Vartiter and I warmly congratulate you and Angèle on receipt of the public recognition extended by the Armenian National Committee, with wishes for continued service and achievement.
Sincerely yours,
Richard G. Hovannisian
Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History, University of California, Los Angeles
Archbishop Mesrob Moutafian,
Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople
We have learned with great happiness that the Armenian community of California has found you worthy to be named as “Man of the Year,” and at the same time has decided to honor you with a special banquet in Fresno this weekend. From the historic branch of the Western Armenians in Constantinople and from the shores of the beautiful Bosphorous, we have registered that this is a “worthy and true” choice.
Dear Dickran, your contribution to the field of Armenian Studies is so great, that you are not only the man of this year, but as a philologist-teacher-scholar, your works will for many years be a valuable and rich source for both Armenian and non-Armenian students and readers who have become familiar with your studies.
It was not an accident that His Holiness Karekin I of blessed memory, Catholicos of All Armenians, and His Holiness Aram I of the Holy See of Cilicia both bestowed you with encyclicals in appreciation of your multi-faceted studies in the field of Armenian Studies. Therefore, with great happiness at you being named as “Man of the Year,” we also, through this Patriarchal Letter of Blessing, warmly recognize your productive work.
With heart-felt prayers that the Lord grant you and your kind wife Angele many more healthy years. May the Lord strengthen you, may he grant you unending vigor and energy, on the eve of the third millennium, to continue your dedicated mission to sow, cultivate, and reap in the field of Armenian Studies. Be well in the care of the Lord, strengthened by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, and be eternally blessed by Him.
Amen.
Mother Cathedral of St. Mary the Mother of God
Kum Kapu, Constantinople
March 3, 2000