Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Staff Report
The Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundation has made two significant donations in 2022 to benefit the Armenian Studies Program and to enhance the Kooyumjian Endowed Scholar Fund at Fresno State.
The Kooyumjian Family Foundation donated $15,000 to the Armenian Studies Program to support special projects, including sponsorship of the “Komitas Trio” concert and an international conference.
The Kooyumjian Family also made an additional donation of $25,000 to the Kooyumjian Endowed Scholarship Fund at Fresno State. Together with previous donations from the Family Foundation, the Endowed Scholarship has reached nearly $500,000.
Thomas A. Kooyumjian passed away in 1985 and his Foundation was established in 1987.
The goals of the Foundation are to encourage education, with an emphasis on the appreciation of fine arts. Kooyumjian was an employee and inventor at Belmor Manufacturing and excelled in his field, but also wanted to embrace the finer arts and encourage the same in others.
The current President of the Foundation is Tony Kooyumjian.
One of the Foundation’s goals is to encourage all generations to experience and be educated in the effects of fine arts on society as a whole.
The Foundation is also one of the sponsors of the Armenian Genocide Monument on the Fresno State campus.
The Kooyumjian Endowed Scholarship will benefit students within the Armenian Studies Program, in the College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State. Scholarship recipients will be known as the Thomas A. Kooyumjian Scholars in Armenian Studies.
Per the endowment’s conditions, recipients shall have a) a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or greater; shall be b) enrolled in any course within the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State, and c) recipients shall have submitted a personal statement speaking to the applicant’s financial need.