Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Staff Article
University of California Berkeley has decided upon Dr. Dickran Kouymjian as the second Saroyan Professor of Armenian Studies. The endowed chair, officially called the The William Saroyan and Krouzian Visiting Professor of Armenian Studies, bring a distinguished Armenian specialist to the Berkeley campus in each fall semester to offer a course in his or her area of specialization. It was formally established last year thanks to the long term efforts of the U.C. Berkeley Armenian Alumni Association and a series of community wide annual fund drives.
Due to a special endowment from Krikor Krouzian and Zovinar Davidian-Krouzian of San Francisco, the program started in the fall of 1995 with Prof. Richard Hovannisian of UCLA who taught a course in modern Armenian history.
The U.C. Berkeley decided in consultation with Prof. Armen Der Kiureghian, the highly motivated campus coordinator for the Saroyan Professorship, and Prof. Kouymjian that a course on William Saroyan would be most appropriate for a program named after the famous Fresno writer. It will be offered under International and Area Studies (IAS 150, Section 2) and cross-listed as English 166 (Special Topics) on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2-4 P.M. in 155 Kroeber Hall. Emphasis will be on Saroyan’s dramatic works, his films, unpublished plays and memoirs from his last years, and his unwavering anti-establishment views.
Dr. Kouymjian has also agreed to offer an Armenian film course on Monday evenings from 7-10 P.M. in 142 Dwinelle Hall. The course entitled Armenian Film will be listed as IAS 150, Section 1 and cross listed as Film Studies 160, National Cinema. Particular attention will be given to famous directors Bek-Nazarov, Mamoulian, Paradjanov, Peleshian, and Egoyan, without neglecting the works of lesser known contemporary Armenian filmmakers. Several directors of documentaries and feature films will be invited to present their creations personally.
For further information on these courses and enrollment for students and the general public, contact the Center for Slavic and Eastern European Studies at Berkeley, (510) 642-3230.
After teaching at Columbia University, the American University of Beirut, the American University in Cairo, the American University in Paris, the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and Yerevan State University (on a Fulbright Lectureship), Dickran Kouymjian will lend his talents to U.C. Berkeley, commuting back and forth to attend to his Fresno State duties. When asked about the new challenge, he reflected that the value of any teaching experience rests on the relationship established between the professor and the class. “Students anywhere — Fresno, Berkeley, Paris — need to be motivated and engaged, made to feel that they too can add to the understanding of a subject, and contribute to the intellectual process which is the defining experience of a university.”
Though in recent years Prof. Kouymjian has been devoting his time to medieval Armenian manuscripts through projects in paleography, inscribed leather bindings, and miniature painting, he is looking eagerly to revisit the twentieth century through cinema and literature.