Feb. 9 , 2007
Clark University Alumnus establishes fund
for study of the Armenian Genocide
 Worcester, Mass. - On February 9, the Board of Trustees of Clark University established the Agnes Manoogian Hausrath fund to support a doctoral student working in an area of Genocide Studies that will shed light on the Armenian Genocide. The fund was made possible by a $500,000 gift from Clark alumnus Bill Hausrath '53 in memory of his wife. Mr. Hausrath's mother-in-law was a survivor of the Genocide. As a child she witnessed her mother's death as the Armenians were forced from their homes and made to march into the desert.
Mr. Hausrath has long supported student scholarships at Clark. Growing up during the Depression his mother saved $.25 every week in a jar. She worked hard to save what may now seem like a small sum. It was enough for Mr. Hausrath to enroll as a freshman. The savings were depleted after his first year but he was able to remain a student at Clark thanks to a scholarship. He majored in business administration.
Mr. Hausrath is retired and lives in Wakefield, MA.
The Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies was established at Clark University in 1997 as the first and only institute of its kind. It is committed to offering excellent undergraduate education and superior graduate training in the hope of giving shape to a better future: learning to recognize genocidal ideologies before they take control and identifying strategies for deterrence. Once devoted solely to Holocaust scholarship, the mandate grew to include the Armenian Genocide. With the establishment of the Stephen and Marian Mugar and Robert Aram '52 and Marianne Kaloosdian Chair, the Strassler Center became home to the first endowed professorship in all of North America specifically dedicated to the study of the Armenian Genocide and the modern history of the Armenian people.
Professor Simon Payaslian, the first incumbent of the Kaloosdian/Mugar Chair, is an energetic teacher and scholar. Working under his instruction, students study the Armenian Genocide as a distinct subject and as a comparative case. Professor Payaslian recently published US Policy toward the Armenian Question and the Genocide.
Committed to fresh scholarship about the Armenian Genocide and renewed efforts to teach about it, Clark is eager to recruit more doctoral candidates with this focus. The Agnes Manoogian Hausrath fellowship will help to accomplish this goal. The mandate of the Strassler Center is clear: to fund graduate student fellowships, acquire research materials, and hire library staff able to catalogue Armenian language books in order to attract first-rate students and sustain their scholarship. Ninety years after the Armenian Genocide, denial of the historical record continues to be an issue around the globe. The Center's Ph.D. candidates are the future professionals who will advance the frontiers of knowledge and scholarship, and they will provide the well-researched and intelligent answers to deniers.
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