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Clark University News Hub, MA
Feb 4 2016
Clark University grants first-ever doctoral degree in Armenian Genocide Studies
February 4, 2016
Clark University is privileged to stand at the forefront in
establishing the Armenian Genocide as a distinct focus of doctoral
study, setting a landmark on Jan. 5, when Khatchig Mouradian became
the first student to complete a Ph.D. in Armenian Genocide Studies at
the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Mouradian defended his dissertation, Genocide and Humanitarian
Assistance in Ottoman Syria (1915-1917), before Professors Taner AkÒ«am
and Debórah Dwork, who served as co-directors of his dissertation
committee. Raymond Kévorkian, Director of the Nubarian Library in
Paris, served as the third committee member.
`This graduation marks a historic turning point in Armenian Genocide
research,' Akçam said during a celebration to honor Mouradian, held
Jan. 29 in the Strassler Center's Rose Library.
`He is not only the first Doctor of our Armenian Genocide track but
also the first doctorate in North America after so many years of
silence in the field.'
The event also celebrated Asya Darbinyan, a third-year doctoral
student who defended the prospectus of her dissertation, Russian
Response to the Armenian Genocide: Humanitarian Assistance for
Armenian Refugees on the Caucasus Frontline of WW1 (1914-1917).
Dwork, director of the Strassler Center, commented on both milestones:
`The award of the first Ph.D. in Armenian Genocide Studies is a huge
step forward in the field. Happily, the first recipient is followed by
a robust pipeline of students pursuing groundbreaking dissertation
projects. The Armenian Genocide continues to be beset by deniers.
These young scholars' research shows how risible such arguments are.
Scholarship trumps propaganda.'
Mouradian is currently a visiting assistant professor at the Division
of Global Affairs at Rutgers University and is the coordinator the
Armenian Genocide Program at Rutgers' Center for the Study of Genocide
and Human Rights (CGHR). He teaches courses on imperialism, mass
violence, and concentration camps in the history and sociology
departments at Rutgers. Mouradian is also an adjunct professor in the
philosophy and urban studies departments at Worcester State
University, where he teaches courses on urban space and conflict in
the Middle East, genocide, collective memory, and human rights.
Mouradian was the editor of the Armenian Weekly from 2007-2014. The
recipient of numerous awards, Mouradian held the Gulbenkian Armenian
Studies research fellowship in 2014 to study the Armenian community in
China in the 20th century. The Organization of Istanbul Armenians
awarded him the first Hrant Dink Freedom and Justice Medal in 2014.
Carolyn Mugar and her late husband John O'Connor '78, who was a Clark
University trustee, donated the first-ever endowed Chair in Modern
Armenian History and Armenian Genocide Studies at any university. They
challenged others to join them in supporting this innovative
professorship named in honor of Carolyn's parents Stephen and Marian
Mugar, as well as Robert Aram '52 and Marianne Kaloosdian. Clark
alumnus Robert Kaloosdian, a lawyer in Watertown, MA, and former
president of the Washington, D.C.-based Armenian National Institute,
is a leader in Armenian affairs. In 2002, the Kaloosdian Mugar Chair
was established in the History Department and as a constituent member
of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
`The award of the first Ph.D. in Armenian Genocide Studies is a huge
step forward in the field. Happily, the first recipient is followed by
a robust pipeline of students pursuing groundbreaking dissertation
projects. The Armenian Genocide continues to be beset by deniers.
These young scholars' research shows how risible such arguments are.
Scholarship trumps propaganda.' ~ Debórah Dwork
Taner Akçam joined Clark University as Kaloosdian/Mugar Professor in
fall 2008. A leading genocide scholar and an authority in the history
of political violence and torture in late Ottoman and early Republican
Turkey, Akçam is the first scholar of Turkish origin to acknowledge
the Armenian Genocide and to publish groundbreaking research on this
topic.
Clark University is committed to scholarship and inquiry that
addresses social and human imperatives on a global basis, and has
played a prominent role in the development of several academic
disciplines, including psychology, geography and interdisciplinary
environmental studies. The pioneering Strassler Center program in
Armenian Genocide Studies embodies the University's history of
academic innovation.
Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a
liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human
imperatives on a global scale. Nationally renowned as a college that
changes lives, Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher
education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is
Clark's pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal
arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences.
Clark's faculty and students work across boundaries to develop
solutions to complex challenges in the natural sciences, psychology,
geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide
studies, environmental studies, and international development and
social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the
University's motto: Challenge Convention. Change Our World.
Feb 4 2016
Clark University grants first-ever doctoral degree in Armenian Genocide Studies
February 4, 2016
Clark University is privileged to stand at the forefront in
establishing the Armenian Genocide as a distinct focus of doctoral
study, setting a landmark on Jan. 5, when Khatchig Mouradian became
the first student to complete a Ph.D. in Armenian Genocide Studies at
the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Mouradian defended his dissertation, Genocide and Humanitarian
Assistance in Ottoman Syria (1915-1917), before Professors Taner AkÒ«am
and Debórah Dwork, who served as co-directors of his dissertation
committee. Raymond Kévorkian, Director of the Nubarian Library in
Paris, served as the third committee member.
`This graduation marks a historic turning point in Armenian Genocide
research,' Akçam said during a celebration to honor Mouradian, held
Jan. 29 in the Strassler Center's Rose Library.
`He is not only the first Doctor of our Armenian Genocide track but
also the first doctorate in North America after so many years of
silence in the field.'
The event also celebrated Asya Darbinyan, a third-year doctoral
student who defended the prospectus of her dissertation, Russian
Response to the Armenian Genocide: Humanitarian Assistance for
Armenian Refugees on the Caucasus Frontline of WW1 (1914-1917).
Dwork, director of the Strassler Center, commented on both milestones:
`The award of the first Ph.D. in Armenian Genocide Studies is a huge
step forward in the field. Happily, the first recipient is followed by
a robust pipeline of students pursuing groundbreaking dissertation
projects. The Armenian Genocide continues to be beset by deniers.
These young scholars' research shows how risible such arguments are.
Scholarship trumps propaganda.'
Mouradian is currently a visiting assistant professor at the Division
of Global Affairs at Rutgers University and is the coordinator the
Armenian Genocide Program at Rutgers' Center for the Study of Genocide
and Human Rights (CGHR). He teaches courses on imperialism, mass
violence, and concentration camps in the history and sociology
departments at Rutgers. Mouradian is also an adjunct professor in the
philosophy and urban studies departments at Worcester State
University, where he teaches courses on urban space and conflict in
the Middle East, genocide, collective memory, and human rights.
Mouradian was the editor of the Armenian Weekly from 2007-2014. The
recipient of numerous awards, Mouradian held the Gulbenkian Armenian
Studies research fellowship in 2014 to study the Armenian community in
China in the 20th century. The Organization of Istanbul Armenians
awarded him the first Hrant Dink Freedom and Justice Medal in 2014.
Carolyn Mugar and her late husband John O'Connor '78, who was a Clark
University trustee, donated the first-ever endowed Chair in Modern
Armenian History and Armenian Genocide Studies at any university. They
challenged others to join them in supporting this innovative
professorship named in honor of Carolyn's parents Stephen and Marian
Mugar, as well as Robert Aram '52 and Marianne Kaloosdian. Clark
alumnus Robert Kaloosdian, a lawyer in Watertown, MA, and former
president of the Washington, D.C.-based Armenian National Institute,
is a leader in Armenian affairs. In 2002, the Kaloosdian Mugar Chair
was established in the History Department and as a constituent member
of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
`The award of the first Ph.D. in Armenian Genocide Studies is a huge
step forward in the field. Happily, the first recipient is followed by
a robust pipeline of students pursuing groundbreaking dissertation
projects. The Armenian Genocide continues to be beset by deniers.
These young scholars' research shows how risible such arguments are.
Scholarship trumps propaganda.' ~ Debórah Dwork
Taner Akçam joined Clark University as Kaloosdian/Mugar Professor in
fall 2008. A leading genocide scholar and an authority in the history
of political violence and torture in late Ottoman and early Republican
Turkey, Akçam is the first scholar of Turkish origin to acknowledge
the Armenian Genocide and to publish groundbreaking research on this
topic.
Clark University is committed to scholarship and inquiry that
addresses social and human imperatives on a global basis, and has
played a prominent role in the development of several academic
disciplines, including psychology, geography and interdisciplinary
environmental studies. The pioneering Strassler Center program in
Armenian Genocide Studies embodies the University's history of
academic innovation.
Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a
liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human
imperatives on a global scale. Nationally renowned as a college that
changes lives, Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher
education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is
Clark's pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal
arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences.
Clark's faculty and students work across boundaries to develop
solutions to complex challenges in the natural sciences, psychology,
geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide
studies, environmental studies, and international development and
social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the
University's motto: Challenge Convention. Change Our World.
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