News

Lori Agazarian Staff Writer Fresno State’s Armenian Studies Program welcomed Ambassador Erin McKee to campus on Thursday, August 29, 2024 to speak about the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and its activities in Armenia today. The USAID is an independent agency that focuses on international development and aid and was founded by John F. Kennedy in 1961. McKee ...

Rachel Yepremian Staff Writer On Friday, September 27, Dr. Simon Maghakyan, Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies, held the first of his three-part lecture series entitled, “The Past of the Past: Armenian Heritage in Ottoman and Republican Turkey.” The Kazan Visiting Professorship was established in 2001 through an endowment by Henry Khanzadian Kazan and the first visiting professor was Dr. ...

Staff Report Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian met with U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Kristina A. Kvien on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Prof. Der Mugrdechian was in Yerevan to participate in the International Armenological Congress, organized by the Matenadaran. Amb. Kvien began her service in Armenia in February, 2023, as the tenth U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. In a Fresno connection, Ambassador Kvien ...

Staff Report Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian was a guest speaker at the St. Sarkis Armenian Church of Carollton, Texas on Friday, May 17. His talk “Western Armenia on the Eve of the Armenian Genocide: 1878-1914” focused on Armenian life in the Ottoman Empire, prior to the Armenian Genocide. This was Prof. Der Mugrdechian’s first visit to the Dallas community and ...

Sosse Baloian Yanez Armenian Studies Program The Armenian Studies Program Archive has identified two short children’s books – renditions of the Armenian National Epic, David of Sassoun. Both works are illustrated and briefly summarize the epic. The first, David of Sassoun: Epic Hero of Armenia: Children’s Booklet, was published by the United Armenian Commemorative Committee in 1976. The book was ...

The Armenian Studies Program would like to thank the donors, authors, and publishers for the following books, periodicals, videos, and archival gifts, either offered personally, or to the Program. Dr. Sergio La Porta, Fresno, CA, for a copy of An Armenian Futūh Narrative: Lewond’s Eighth-Century History of the Caliphate by Sergio La Porta and Alison M. Vacca (Chicago: Institute for ...

Staff Report Dr. David Zakarian has been appointed as the Haig and Isabel Berberian Professor of Armenian Studies at Fresno State, joining the Armenian Studies Program for the Fall 2024 semester. Dr. Zakarian was previously an associate faculty member of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford. “The Armenian Studies Program welcomes Dr. Zakarian,” ...

Staff Report The Matenadaran (Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts) organized and hosted an International Armenological Congress from July 19-22, 2024 in Yerevan, Armenia. Armenian Studies scholars from throughout the world gathered to discuss the current status of the field, to give reports on their programs, and to discuss further areas of cooperation. The Congress opened on Friday, July 19, ...

Staff Report Dr. Simon Maghakyan, a political scientist known for his pioneering forensic and theoretical research on heritage and security, has been named the 20th Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno for the Fall 2024 semester. “It is a humbling honor to hold the distinguished position of Kazan Visiting Professor,” stated Dr. Maghakyan. “Being entrusted ...

Staff Report (Cambridge, MA) The Society for Armenian Studies (SAS) marked its 50th Anniversary with a three-day groundbreaking international conference at Harvard University and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR). Titled “Armenian Studies: Evolving Connections and Conversations,” the conference took place September 13-15, 2024, and was co-sponsored by the Mashtots Chair in Armenian Studies (Harvard University); the ...