News

Staff Report Amidst a recent donation of books on Armenian history and literature by Dr. Jeannette Hovsepian to the Armenian Studies Program was a remarkable find: a small book of 12 postcards from 1931, printed in France with captions in Armenian, entitled AGBU Memento of [its] Silver Anniversary. The cards were produced to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Armenian ...

If you could go back and visit an Armenian Historical event, what would it be and why? Haverj Stanboulian Staff Writer Ani Ekezyan Freshman Major: Biology If I could go back in time and visit an Armenian historical event it would be September 21, 1991, when the Republic of Armenia was restored after 70 years of Soviet rule. It would ...

Lauren Chardukian Staff Writer 1,564 years ago, in 451 AD, the Armenians, under the leadership of General Vartan Mamigonian, fought for their religious and political freedom from the neighboring Sassanid Persians. Although the Armenians were greatly outnumbered they fought valiantly. By the end of the battle there were 1,036 Armenian casualties and many Persian casualties. This historic event is known ...

Staff Report Forty years ago five scholars, Richard Hovannisian, Avedis Sanjian, Dickran Kouymjian, Nina Garsoian, and Robert Thomson, met to found the Society for Armenian Studies, dedicated to the development of Armenian Studies as an academic discipline. Today the SAS has become the largest professional organization for scholars and students working in the field of Armenian Studies. This year SAS ...

Aramayis Orkusyan Staff Writer Each year, the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State has the remarkable opportunity of inviting an internationally recognized scholar in contemporary Armenian affairs to teach a one semester topics course related to Armenian history, the Armenian Genocide, and the formation of the Armenian Republic. This opportunity is made possible through the generous endowment of the Henry ...

Marine Vardanyan Editor “We are now on Armenian land.” These words were declared by the first Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia in the United States, Berj Apkarian, during the ceremony marking the opening of the Fresno office on Monday, October 20, 2014. Indeed, the office of the Honorary Consul, located on the eighth floor of the historic Pacific ...

Staff Writer Michael Rettig On a bright and cool Sunday, November 2, more than 500 people gathered at Fresno State’s Maple Mall, to break ground for a Monument in honor of the victims of the Armenian Genocide. There have been multiple such Monuments erected around the world, but Fresno State’s will be the first on a university campus. The groundbreaking ...

Staff Writer Aramayis Orkusyan The vibrant, emotionally rich cascades of Armenian influenced melodies filled the Fresno State Concert Hall on the evening of November 14, 2014, as the Khachaturian Trio of Armenia performed for a sold-out audience of more than 300. The Trio’s repertoire included the dramatic, deftly nuanced, passionate and powerful sounds of Rachmaninoff’s “Trio élégiaque No. 2 in ...

Special to Hye Sharzhoom On August 8, 2014, Bitlis municipality approved the renaming of five streets in this historic town of south-eastern Turkey. Among the new names was “William Saroyan Street,” after the great American-Armenian writer, whose ancestors left Bitlis before 1915. Saroyan was born in Fresno but felt strong ties to his ancestral home. He visited Bitlis in 1964 ...

Marine Vardanyan Editor The biggest advocate for furthering knowledge in Armenian history, culture, and language, Fresno State’s Armenian Studies Program provides unique experiences for students to better acquaint themselves with Armenian studies. One such experience is the Summer Study Trip to Armenia. Since 1988, Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian has organized and led numerous groups of students to experience modern-day life ...