News

Anahid Valencia Staff Writer The Armenian Studies Program partnered with Cine-Culture, AGBU Arts, and the Armenian General Benevolent Union Greater Fresno Chapter to host “Armenians in Film” on Friday, February 21.“Armenians in Film” consisted of six short films by Armenian directors, including Ophelia Harutunyan and Katia Spivakova, who participated in a discussion after the screening. The films were titled “All ...

Staff Report Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian was a guest speaker at the Phoenix Secondary Academy in Fresno on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Students at the academy had been studying Armenian culture during the month of January and Prof. Der Mugrdechian was asked to give a presentation on Armenian culture and history. More than forty students and staff of the Academy ...

Natalie Agazarian Editor “This is everyday history…the catastrophic, everyday history that is valuable and needs to be studied,” remarked newly appointed Kazan Visiting Professor, Dr. Talin Suciyan. She gave her first lecture, the first in a three-part series on Armenian family archives, on Friday, January 31, 2025. Dr. Suciyan was born in Istanbul, and after obtaining her Ph.D. in Munich, ...

Lori Agazarian Staff Writer On Monday, February 24, 2025, the Fresno State Armenian Studies Program hosted Dr. Julien Zarifian for a lecture about the history, memory, and politics of the Armenian Genocide. Dr. Zarifian is a professor of U.S. History and U.S. civilization, with an emphasis in politics, at the University of Poitiers in France. He visited West Coast universities, ...

Ani Sargsyan Staff Writer On Friday, February 7, 2025, the Armenian Studies Program welcomed guest speaker Dr. Talar Chahinian for her lecture “Language Politics and Literary Creation in the Armenian Diaspora’s Formative Years.” Dr. Chahinian spoke about her recent book, Stateless: The Politics of Armenian Language in Exile, which focuses on two key moments and locations of Western Armenian literary ...

Staff Report The Society for Armenian Studies (SAS) elected Barlow Der Mugrdechian as its new president, following a meeting of the SAS Executive Council on Saturday, November 30. Der Mugrdechian, Berberian Director of the Armenian Studies Program at California State University, Fresno, succeeds outgoing president Christina Maranci (Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Harvard University) in the leadership role. The election ...

Staff Report During the winter break, Dr. David Zakarian participated in the 16th General Conference of the International Association of the Armenian Studies (AIEA), held at the University of Geneva and the University of Lausanne from January 9-11, 2025. The conference brought together many leading scholars in Armenian Studies from around the world, focusing on various aspects of Armenian history, ...

Careen Derkalousdian Staff Writer “At the beginning of the 20th century, after the Armenian Genocide, there were two groups of people among the Armenians: those who survived and those who started to gather the remnants,” said Dr. Talin Suciyan. On Friday, February 28, 2025, Dr. Talin Suciyan, the 21st Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies presented her second lecture, entitled ...

Sosse Yanez Special to Hye Sharzhoom The Nishkian Family Photo Archive has been made public on the Armenian Studies Program’s Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/armenianstudies/albums/72177720323171031. The Nishkian Archive contains 60 scanned images, primarily photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although some photographs are captioned on the back, most are not labeled. There are also newspaper articles and a partial ...

Careen Derkalousdian Staff Writer “It’s a great event to bring the Armenian community together,” said Kef Time guest Alicia Minasian. “It represents our heritage, and we are so proud of it!” On Saturday, January 25, 2025, the highly anticipated Kef Time Fresno IV took place at the Holy Trinity Armenian Church Social Hall. Featuring the Kef Time Legacy Band, this ...