Pioneering Armenian Studies

The Armenian Studies Program at the University of California (UCLA) focuses on the study of the history and culture of Armenia and the Armenian people. Here, Dr. Richard Hovannisian, one of the foremost pioneers of studies dedicated to Armenian history and culture in the United States, gives a brief overview of the history of the program, from its establishment and development over the years to the challenges facing the new generation of students and scholars of Armenian Studies.

Produced by AGBU WebTalks in partnership with the Zoryan Institute

Originally published January 2016.

About the speaker

Richard Hovannisian

Dr. Richard Hovannisian is Professor Emeritus of History and First Holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA, the author or contributing editor of 32 books, including five volumes on the first Republic of Armenia and five volumes on the Armenian Genocide, together with some 80 scholarly articles. A Guggenheim Fellow, he is the initiator and six-time president of the Society for Armenian Studies, established in 1974, and has lectured worldwide on topics relating to Armenian and Near Eastern history and cultures, for which he has received numerous awards, commendations, and encyclicals.

Richard Hovannisian