Top row, from left: Armen Marsoobian, Asya Darbinyan, Melanie Tanielian. Middle row, from left: Elyse Semerdjian, Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Helen Makhdoumian. Bottom row, from left: Talinn Grigor, Houri Berberian, Bedros Torosian
The Society for Armenian Studies has elected Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian as its new president, following a meeting held on November 30 of the SAS Executive Council. Der Mugrdechian, Berberian Director of the Armenian Studies Program at California State University, Fresno, succeeds outgoing president Christina Maranci (Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Harvard University) in the leadership role.
The election of new officers also saw Elyse Semerdjian (Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair of Armenian Genocide Studies, Clark University) named vice president, Helen Makhdoumian (Collaborative Humanities Postdoctoral Program Fellow, Vanderbilt University) as secretary, and Armen T. Marsoobian (Professor of Philosophy, Southern Connecticut State University), taking on the role of treasurer. Melanie S. Tanielian (Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Asya Darbinyan (Executive Director of Chhange [Center for Holocaust, Human Rights & Genocide Education] at Brookdale Community College, New Jersey), and Bedros Torosian (UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, History Department, UC Davis) were appointed as advisors.
Incoming “Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies” editors Houri Berberian (Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in Armenian Studies and Director of the Center for Armenian Studies, University of California, Irvine) and Talinn Grigor (Professor of Art and Architectural History, University of California, Davis, will serve as ex-officio officers of the SAS Executive Council.
In his remarks, Der Mugrdechian thanked the outgoing leadership team, including Maranci, vice president Rachel Goshgarian (Associate Professor of History, Lafayette College), secretary Shushan Karapetian (Director, Institute of Armenian Studies, University of Southern California), and Tamar Boyadjian, editor-in-chief of the “Journal for the Society for Armenian Studies” (Stanford University), for their years of service.
“It is a privilege to be elected as the new president of the Society for Armenian Studies and I look forward to collaboratively working with my colleagues,” said Der Mugrdechian. “SAS plays a vital role in providing a forum for scholars to exchange ideas. Our members work across a range of disciplines, but all their research is rooted in the study of Armenia and the Armenian people. This research, shared with the academic community and the public, helps raise awareness about Armenian culture.”
Der Mugrdechian previously served as SAS President between 2001 and 2004, as well as 2015 and 2017.
The announcement comes on the heels of a milestone year for SAS, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024. The anniversary was marked by a major international conference, titled “Armenian Studies: Evolving Connections and Conversations,” held at Harvard University from September 13 to 15. The conference, organized by SAS in collaboration with the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, was co-sponsored by multiple Armenian Studies Chairs and Programs in the United States.
Over fifty scholars from Armenia, Turkey, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, England, Australia, and the United States participated in the three-day conference, which dealt with established and emerging areas of focus within Armenian Studies, making connections and conversations with related areas of research. They included – but were not limited to – the study of diaspora, migration, and forced displacement; collective violence, trauma, memory, and genocide; race and ethnicity; women, gender, and sexuality; environment; transnational and global mobility of people and ideas; art, architecture, and material culture; print and other established and emerging foci.
Under Der Mugrdechian’s leadership, SAS is expected to continue its commitment to advancing Armenian Studies and fostering collaboration among scholars globally.
The SAS website provides information about events and activities. Readers who wish to financially support the SAS can become a member. The secretariat of the SAS is based in the Armenian Studies Program at California State University, Fresno. For more information, call (559) 278-2669 or e-mail barlowd@csufresno.edu.
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