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Merguerian named Kazan visiting professor for fall

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Historian, writer and editor Dr. Barbara J. Merguerian has been appointed the Henry S. Khanzadian Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies for the fall semester.

She will teach a course "The United States and the Armenians, 1800 to Present," focusing on the historic relations between the Armenians and Americans and include the story of the American missionaries to the Armenians, U.S. foreign policy as it relates to Armenia and the Armenians, and the impact of Armenian immigration to America.

Merguerian says she welcomes the opportunity of spending the fall semester at Fresno State.

"For all Armenian Americans, Fresno has a special meaning as the home of William Saroyan and as the site of one of the earliest and largest Armenian communities in America," she said.

Merguerian will give three public lectures in the fall semester on a single topic, which will later be published as a monograph.

A native of Cranston, R. I., Merguerian received her B.A. in International Relations from Brown University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Harvard University. She has taught history at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., and, most recently, International Relations and Women's Studies at Yerevan State University in Armenia.

Her major research interest in recent years has been the impact of the American missionaries on the Armenian communities of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, and she has published a number of articles on this subject.

She has also become increasingly interested in Armenian Women's studies, and is the co-editor of two collections of articles on this subject, Armenian Women in a Changing World (1995) and Voices of Armenian Women (2000).

Merguerian lives in Wellesley, Mass., with her husband, Arshag, an architect and native of Jerusalem. They have two married daughters.

Back to University Journal, 09/03/02 Issue