News

Aramayis Orkusyan Editor Each year, the Fresno State Armenian Students Organization (ASO) hosts commemorative events in memory of the Armenian Genocide, in order to raise awareness about it and to bring justice to its victims and survivors. This year, the ASO commemorated the 101st anniversary of the Genocide with the slogan “Remembering our past, Forging our future.” The week of ...

Aramayis Orkusyan Editor Former United States Ambassador to Armenia John M. Evans was a guest speaker for the Armenian Studies Program Lecture Series on Monday, April 25. Throughout his career, Ambassador Evans served in diplomatic posts in Tehran, Prague, Moscow, Brussels, St. Petersburg and Washington, and served as Ambassador to Armenia from 2004 to 2006, when he was dismissed from ...

Staff Report On Saturday, April 16, Dr. Sergio La Porta was honored as one of the recipients of the 2016 “Men of the Year Award” by the Knights of Vartan Yeprad Lodge and the Daughters of Vartan Alidz Otyag. He shared this distinction with renowned oud player Mr. Richard Hagopian. The award was presented in commemoration of the 100th anniversary ...

Michael Rettig Staff Writer The Armenian Genocide, an atrocity denied by Turkey, was the topic of a major conference bolstering the historicity of what happened in 1915 against denialist claims. On the weekend of March 18-19, the Armenian Studies Program hosted an international conference, “Empire, Politics, and War: The Armenian Genocide within the Context of the Ottoman Empire,” bringing Armenian, ...

Staff Report Ümit Kurt Kazan Visiting Research Scholar in the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State for the 2015-2016 academic year, successfully defended his dissertation Destruction of Aintab Armenians and Emergence of the New Wealthy Class: Plunder of Armenian Wealth in Aintab (1890s-1920s) at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University on Tuesday, April 19. Kurt’s doctoral ...

Elina Karapetyan Staff Writer After the devastation of the Armenian Genocide in 1915, Armenians who remained inside the borders of Turkey were left to reconstruct their lives and identities amidst politically hostile conditions. Among the community’s most influential people were feminist women who “articulated an Armenianness sustained through gendered differences.” The treatment of the remaining Armenians, their response to the ...

Michael Rettig Staff Writer Misak Medzarents is known as one of the pioneers of Western Armenian poetry. As a romanticist, most of his poetry was more positive than that of his contemporaries. However, Medzarents’ poetry also contained a political aspect that has previously gone unnoticed. On Thursday, March 17, Dr. James Russell discussed the political leanings of Medzarents in his ...

MENAS ARISIAN Business Administration- Entrepreneurship Minor in Armenian Studies What encouraged you to take an Armenian Studies course? My passion to learn more about my Armenian culture and history encouraged me. It is interesting and important for me to be more knowledgeable about my heritage and where I come from. The history of the Armenian people is deep and has ...

LUCIE EKEZYAN STAFF WRITER Keen on making the school year enjoyable for its members, the Armenian Students Organization (ASO) hosted a Woodward Park social on February 27, as warm spring weather graced the Central Valley. With food, games, sports, and great company, a day at the park lifted spirits and strengthened ties for the members. “My favorite event so far ...

KATRINA BISSETT STAFF WRITER On Wednesday, March 9, the Armenian Studies Program and the Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concert Series once again joined forces to bring a fantastic gift to the people of Fresno. Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Director of the Armenian Studies Program, and Professor Andreas Werz, Artistic Director of the Keyboard Concert Series, have collaborated many times in ...