News from Members

JOSEPH M. ALEXANIAN (Olympia, Washington) will be attending the AIEA Conference in Vienna, Austria, September 29-October 1, 1999.  Then he will be in Armenia for three weeks, teaching in the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Armenia and doing research at the Matenadaran on the manuscripts of the Gospels and Acts.

CLAUDE COX (McMaster Divinity College) gave a paper on ?The Psalms of Zion in Armenian? at the conference celebrating 30 years of the teaching of Armenian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, May 24-26, 1999.

LEVON CHORBAJIAN (University of Massachusetts, Lowell) has published Levon Chorbajian and George Shirinian, eds. Studies in Comparative Genocide. 1999 available from the Scholarly and Reference Division of St. Martin?s.

R. HRAIR DEKMEJIAN (USC) is editor and chapter author of a book entitled Multicultural Societies in Conflict and Coexistence (1999) which brings together five authors focusing on a comparative analysis of politics in multicultural countries.
A Persian translation of the 2nd edition of Dr. Dekmejian?s Islam in Revolution (1995), was published by Keyhan Publishers as Islam Dar Inqilab (1999).

JOHN A. C. GREPPIN (Cleveland State University) has published an article, ?Greek Verbs? Acta Orientalia 50, 1997: 107-110. He has reviewed John Soper, ed., by András Bodrogligeti Loan Syntax in Turkic and Iranian appearing in Language 74.4:887-8 and by Camille Verleuw, Trafics et crimes en Asie centrale et en caucase appearing in Times (London) Literary Supplement. July 30, 19989: 28.

HAIG KHATCHADOURIAN (Emeritus Professor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) has finished preparing a book length manuscript, ?The Quest for Peace between Israel and the Palestinians,? which will form the third in the trilogy of his books published by Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York, in the same series?Conflict And Consciousness: Studies In War, Peace, And Social Thought?as the former two.

LUCY DER MANUELIAN (Tufts University) introduced the Chicago premiere of her television film on Armenian history and art titled Lost Treasures of Christianity: The Ancient Monuments of Armenia followed by a slide lecture by her on Armenian architecture. The event was sponsored by the A.G.B.U./Chicago and Sisag Varjabedian Armenian School in February.
The third telecast of her film by NJN Public Television on its PBS network stations in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware, and also cable stations in New Jersey, registered on the Neilsen Ratings.
The Voice of America-Armenian Section broadcast an interview with her about experiences making the film during the Soviet period and later, while Armenia was under blockade.
In March, Der Manuelian lectured on Armenian Art and Architecture in Washington D.C. at the all-day Symposium on Armenian history and culture organized by the Armenian Language Lab and Resource Center of the Armenian Diocese.
At the Conference on Armenians of New England: Celebrating a  Culture and Preserving a Heritage held at Bentley College, she presented a paper titled ?Moses Gulesian and Saving the USS Constitution? and also chaired the session titled ?Architecture and Visual Arts.?
As part of the Armenian International Women?s Association celebration of Women?s History Month, Professor Der Manuelian presented a slide lecture titled  ?Puzzles, Power and Patronage: The Role of Armenian Queens and Empresses,? at the Armenian Cultural Foundation in Arlington, MA.
The Museum of Fine Arts of Boston presented the Boston premiere of ?Lost Treasures of Christianity: The Ancient Monuments of Armenia,? on May lst as part of its Film Program followed by a question and answer period by Der Manuelian about the making of the documentary, filmed partly during the Soviet period and partly while Armenia was under blockade.
The Armenian Library and Museum of America in Watertown, MA. showed the film on May 16 with a commentary by Der Manuelian.
In June, she presented two slide lectures in Armenia, one on medieval Armenian architecture and the other on ?Ani: The Fabled Capital of Armenia? at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan.  She also photographed archaeological sites, some recently discovered, and medieval churches in the regions of Vayk, Yeghegnadzor, Sisian, Goris, Ijevan, Martuni and Sevan.
In England, she presented her film at the London School of Economics on June 25, followed by a brief talk and discussion.
During the month of July, she presented a slide lecture on Armenian art and architecture to students in the AGBU Internship Program in New York, three lectures at Bradford College for the A.R.S. Summer Studies Program, and three lectures sponsored by the Armenian Language Lab and Resource Center of the Armenian Diocese
In September, San Francisco PBS Television broadcast her film followed by Philadelphia?s PBS Station WYBE?s broadcast on September 8. In the coming months, 58 PBS television stations in major cities across the country will broadcast the film including one of PBS?s premier stations, Boston?s WGBH-Channel 2
Professor Der Manuelian has also been involved in the project sponsored by the Armenian Library and Museum of America to publish introductory catalogues of the collections of museums in Armenia in collaboration with those museums.  The first publication was titled The State History Museum of Armenia, and the most recent one is The Armenian Genocide prepared jointly by the Genocide Museum of Armenia and ALMA.

BARLOW DER MUGRDECHIAN (California State University, Fresno) successfully applied for a grant from the United States Information Agency to fund a $104,000 Faculty and Business Development Program with the School of Business at Yerevan State University.
He was elected on September 11 as a delegate from the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America to participate in the election of the new Catholicos of All Armenians.

ARMEN GAKAVIAN (Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia) was a member of the Australian-Armenian delegation to the first Diaspora-Homeland Conference, September 22-23 1999, Yerevan.
He is also to deliver public lectures for the American University of Armenia Extension Program, Yerevan, in the Armenian language. The full texts will be published on the AUA?s website: Nov 8-Social Change and Nation-Building in Armenia; Nov. 9-The Armenian Genocide as a Lesson in the Human Condition; and Nov 10-Diaspora-Homeland Relations Towards the Twenty-First Century.

RICHARD HOVANNISIAN (UCLA) participated in the following conferences and meetings in April-May, 1999: Library of Congress Annual Armenian lecture, ?The Republic of Armenia, 1918-20 and ?Since 1991:  Does History Repeat Itself??; ?Henry Morgenthau and the Armenian Question after the Genocide,? Erevan; U.S.-Armenia Conference on ?Henry Morgenthau, the Armenian Genocide, and the U.S. Response,?  Armenian Academy of Sciences; ?The Use and Misuse of Propaganda,?  Wellesley College; ?The Armenian Genocide at the Turn of the New Century,? Northeastern University, Boston; ?Transition and Recovery from Genocide,?  Yale University; in June-August, 1999 ?How and What to Teach about the Armenian Genocide,? at Facing History and Ourselves summer teacher institutes in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Jose, Boston, and New York; lectures on the various aspects of the Armenian Genocide at Y.M.C.A. of Armenia; CSUF, Fresno; Worcester State College; Providence Public Library; Glendale Public Library;  Armenian Cultural and Educational Center, Watertown;  Hamazkayine Cultural Association of New York; St. Thomas Church, New Jersey; Armenian Professional Society of  Orange County; Armenian Business Council, Detroit.
He organized the 5th in the series of Historic Armenian Cites and Provinces at UCLA: Lesser Armenia?Sebastia/Sivas May 14 with more than 500 in audience.
He coordinated, moderated, and made a presentation in the UCLA extension program on October 9: ?Genocide in the Twentieth Century:  Confronting the Face of Evil.?
He was appointed member, editorial board, Human Rights Review, edited by Professor Thomas Cushman of Wellesley College.

ANAHID KASSABIAN (Fordham University) published an article with David Kazanjian, ?Melancholic Memories and Manic Politics: Feminism, Documentary, and the Armenian Diaspora,? in Feminism and Documentary, Walker and Waldman, eds., Minnesota UP, 1999.
She was recently elected chair of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, and David is currently a fellow at the John Carter Brown Library of Brown University.

VARTAN ZOHRAB MATIOSSIAN (Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires) has published ?The First Years of Kostan Zarian: From Caucasus to European Cities? (in Armenian), Handes Amsorya, 1-12, 1997, 429-459; ?Armenia en Colombia: como y por que??, Ararat (Buenos Aires), 24 de abril de 1999, 9; and ?Kostan Zarian and His Unfinished ?Bancoop??, Horizon - Literary Supplement, August 1999, 1-4.
He has published the following book reviews:  Alberto Douredjian y Daniel Karamanoukian, La inmigracian armenia en el Uruguay, Armenian Forum, Autumn 1998, 71-73 and A Catalan Novel on the Genocide, Ararat (New York), Autumn, 1998, 72.
He has written the following essays: ?Los armenios del ?Titanic??, ?Ararat? (Buenos Aires), 15 de mayo de 1999, 9 and ?Cleopatra, reina de Egipto,... y los armenios?, ?Ararat? (Buenos Aires), 25 de junio de 1999, 12.
He has translated Hovhannes Krikorian, Bad News from Paris, New Year - 95, 96, 97... etc., Raft, vol. 11, 1997, 42-43.

WILLIAM S. MESROBIAN, who was welcomed to membership in August l998, died on December 10, 1998 in Framingham, Massachusetts.  After graduating from Syracuse University, he received a master?s degree in astronomy from Wesleyan University. He continued his studies at the University of Pittsburgh. While in graduate school he also studied at the Byurakan Observatory in Armenia.
He taught astronomy at Wesleyan University, after which he was employed as a computer engineer. He was interested in Armenian prehistory as studied through ancient sites with scientific significance and had hoped to apply his particular expertise to this area of study.

DENNIS R. PAPAZIAN (University of Michigan, Dearborn) participated as speaker and panel chair at the conference entitled ?The Armenians in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 30 years of Armenian Studies? at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 24-26 May, 1999.  The title of his paper was ?Armenians of Jerusalem and Their Contribution to the Diaspora.?
He was also an invited as an individual participant in the Armenia-Diaspora Conference held in Yerevan, Armenia, September 22-24, 1999.  He was selected by the U.S. East Coast Delegation to chair one of the four sessions and was also selected by the delegation to supervise the preparation and to deliver the statement of the American East Coast delegation.
He was also elected at the Special Diocesan Assembly, held in New York on September 25, 1999, to be a delegate-elector at the Pan-Armenian Ecclesiastical Assembly to be held in Etchmiadzin, Armenian, October 26-27, 1999, to elect a successor to Karekin I, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

RUBINA PEROOMIAN (UCLA) participated in the Conference ?Armenians of New England,? April 9-10, New England Heritage Center, Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts with a paper: ?Hairenik and the Ever-Changing Concept of Armenian-American Identity.? The paper was read by Dr. Barbara Merguerian.
She delivered a series of lectures at Yerevan State University in Armenia, on the Armenian Genocide, history and literature, April-May, 1999.
She was a guest speaker at the vigil organized by the youth and student organizations, April 24, 1999, Tsitsernakabert, Yerevan.
She participated at the Conference on ?The Future of Genocide,? organized by the Association of  Genocide Scholars, June 13-15, Madison, Wisconsin and presented a paper: ?Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation.?
She gave a public lecture ?The Participation of the Armenian Church in the Ecumenical Movement and in World Council of Churches,? organized by the Board of Trustees of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Glendale, July 14, 1999.
She attended the World Council of Churches? Central Committee meeting August 26-September 3, 1999, in Geneva, Switzerland.

LORNE SHIRINIAN (Royal Military College of Canada) was appointed Head of the Department of English at the Royal Military College of Canada. He has a new book coming out: Survivor Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide (Reading, England: Taderon Press, 1999).
A new book of poetry is forthcoming for Christmas 1999?Rough Landing (Kingston: Blue Heron Press, 1999) and a scholarly study?Quest for Closure: The 1915 Genocide, the Armenian Community in Canada and the Federal Government (Kingston: Blue Heron Press, 1999)
He has an essay in the next issue of JSAS on Armenian Diaspora Film-as well as a book review of Peter Balakian?s translations of Siamanto?s poems Bloody News from a Friend.

ROBERT F. TAFT, S. J. (Pontificio Istituto Orientale) gave Lenten conferences to the Byzantine Catholic monastic community of the Badia Greca di Grottaferrata, founded before the East-West Schism, and to the students of the Russian College; participated in various colloquia and symposia at the Oriental Institute, at the Embassy of Egypt to the Vatican (on relations between the Catholic Church and Islam), at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington DC (on Byzantine Eschatology); organized the visit to the Oriental Institute of the Permanent Interprovincial Commission for the Society of Jesus? International Roman Institutions, and of the authorities and students of the newly-founded Collegium Orientale at the Catholic University of Eichstaett, Germany, and addressed both groups on the work of the Oriental Institute.
On Feb. 28 Rev. Dr. Borys Gudziak, Vice Rector of the Lviv Theological Academy of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, presented Fr. Taft with a medal, in the name of the authorities of the academy, in recognition of his successful efforts in gaining accreditation for the academy, which was granted by the Holy See on Oct. 30, 1998.
On March 26, as part of the series of events entitled ?Maestri dell?Oriente cristiano (Masters of the Christian East)? organized by the Centro di Studi Ezio Aletti, a filial institute of the Orientale, there took place in the Aula Magna of the Orientale the presentation of Fr. Taft?s new book, Oltre l?oriente e l?occidente. Per una tradizione liturgica viva, published by Lipa, the publishing house of the Centro Aletti. Msgr. Claudio Gugerotti, Subsecretary of the Vatican Oriental Congregation, and Prof. Stefano Parenti of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute S. Anselmo, spoke on various aspects of Taft?s work and thought.
Then Marko Ivan Rupnik, SJ, Director of Centro Aletti, held for the audience a wide-ranging interview eliciting from Fr. Taft his views on various topics. Vatican Radio and French Television were also present to interview Taft and record the event for later transmission.
In a letter of April 15, Prof. Edward L. Keenan of Harvard, Director of the Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies in Washingon DC, appointed Fr. Taft chairman of the Board of Senior Fellows of Dumbarton Oaks.
He has published ?Ekumenicheskaja nauka i katolichesko-pravoslavnyj spor ob epiklesise,? II Stranicy 4:1 (1999) 69 -81; Oltre l?oriente e l?occidente. Per una tradizione liturgica viva (Publicazione del Centro Aletti 21, Rome: Lipa 1999); ?One Bread, One Body: Ritual Symbols of Ecclesial Communion in the Patristic Period,? in Nova Doctrina Vetusque: Essays in Early Christianity in Honor of Fredric W. Schlatter, S.J.  Edited by Douglas Kries and Catherine Brown Tkacz (American University Studies, Series VII, Theology and Religion vol. 207, New York: Peter Lang 1999) 23-50; Storia sintetica del rito bizantino (Collana di pastorale liturgica 20, Citta del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1999); ?Reflections on ?Uniatism? in the Light of Some Recent Books,? Orientalia Christiana Periodica  65 (1999) 153-184; ?Women at Church in Byzantium: Where, When - and Why,? Dumbarton Oaks Papers 52 (1998) 27-87 (published summer 1999); ?The Missionary Effort of the Eastern Churches as an Example of Inculturation,? ContaCOR (Bulletin of the Collegium Orientale, Eichstaett, Germany), 1 (1999) 25-42 and several book reviews.


Back to Page 4

Forward to Page 6