|
|
|
About
Barlow Der
Mugrdechian
- host of All Things Armenian
|
 Barlow Der Mugrdechian received his M.A. and C. Philosophy degrees from UCLA. where he majored in Armenian Language and Literature through the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures.
In 1985, he was hired at California State University, Fresno to teach Armenian language, literature, and culture courses through the Armenian Studies Program. For the past eighteen years he has taught Armenian language, history, literature, culture, church and a variety of courses on Armenia and the Armenians.
In December of 2000, Der Mugrdechian was honored with an honorary Doctorate Degree from Yerevan State University. YSU President Dr. Radik Martirosyan bestowed the honor.
In September 1999, Der Mugrdechian was elected as a delegate to the National Ecclesiastical Assembly in Holy Etchmiadzin and traveled to Armenian in October to participate in the election of the new Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin I.
In the fall semester of 1999, Fresno State was awarded a $104,000 grant for the purpose of conducting a Faculty Development Program in Business and Economics with Yerevan State University. Der Mugrdechian successfully applied for the grant and traveled to Armenia in 1999 to initiate the project. The grant was renewed for a three year period and was funded for an additional $300,000. Faculty from the Craig School of Business have assisted him in the project.
In 1997-1999 he was active in the USDA-Armenian Agricultural Academy-Fresno State Marketing Assistance Program. The Program involved selected faculty from both institutions. The goal was to reform Armenia's educational system in the area of agriculture.
Der Mugrdechian has frequently traveled to Armenia and in 1991 he was instrumental in the establishment of a link between Yerevan State University and California State University, Fresno.
In the summer of 2001, Der Mugrdechian led a three week "Armenian Summer Studies Program" for eighteen students from Fresno State. They visited Paris and Armenia.
In 1988 and 1990 he led a group of Fresno State students to Armenia for a one-month study program. During the past six years, seven students from Yerevan State University have also come to Fresno State to study. In 1986 he led a group of students for a one-month study trip in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
In 1996 and again in 1997 Der Mugrdechian was selected to direct the ARS Summer Studies Program in Bradford, Massachusetts. The Summer Studies Program provides an intensive three-week course of study in Armenian language and culture. From 1994-1996, and again in Fall 2001, Der Mugrdechian hosted the popular Armenian Studies Program television show Hye Talk, which aired weekly in the San Joaquin Valley on Continental Cablevision Channel 4.
In 2001, Der Mugrdechian was elected President of the Society for Armenian Studies. He also was the editor for the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, Volume 12. For the five years, 1997-2002, Der Mugrdechian was editor of the Newsletter of the Society for Armenian Studies, the international organization composed of scholars and teachers involved in the study of the Armenians. The Newsletter is published three times a year.
Der Mugrdechian translated Alice Navasargian's, Iran-Armenia: Golden Bridges. Twentieth Century Iranian-Armenian Painters. Ed. Shahen
Khachaturian. (AAA Publishing: Glendale) in 1997 and has published articles and book reviews in the area of Armenian literature and history.
For the past eighteen years he has been the advisor to the Armenian Students Organization on campus and advisor for the Hye
Sharzhoom/Armenian Action newspaper. In 1996 Der Mugrdechian received the 1995-1996 Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching.
|
|
