April 03, 2008
Preeminent expert on the Armenian Genocide to lecture at Clark University on April 22
Tuesday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Higgins University Center, Tilton Hall
Clark University’s Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies will present "Must We Still Remember? The Armenian Genocide as Prototype," a lecture by Richard Hovannisian, Professor Emeritus of Armenian and Near Eastern History, University of California, Los Angeles.
This free, public lecture will be followed by a reception.
The Armenian Genocide of 1915 was the most calamitous event in the long and turbulent history of the Armenian people. In many ways it also became the prototype of modern cases of forced population transfer and mass murder. Professor Hovannisian will analyze the murderous violence against the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in relation to subsequent genocides in the 20th and now in the 21st centuries.
A member of the UCLA faculty since 1962, Professor Hovannisian has organized the undergraduate and graduate programs in Armenian and Caucasian history and served as the associate director of the G.E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies from 1978 to 1995. He was the first to hold the post of Armenian Education Foundation Endowed Chair in Armenian History at UCLA.
Professor Hovannisian received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California, Berkley. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA. He is the author of "Armenia on the Road to Independence"; "The Republic of Armenia," Volumes I-IV; and "The Armenian Holocaust"; and has edited and contributed to many scholarly journals dedicated to Armenian history, politics and genocide. He serves on the board of directors of nine scholarly and civic organizations and has made numerous television and radio appearances.
Professor Hovannisian will serve as the Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Clark the week of April 14. He will deliver lectures in classes, as well as meet with doctoral students and faculty.
The mission of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies is to educate undergraduate and graduate students about genocide and the Holocaust; to host a lecture series, free of charge and open to the public; to use scholarship to address current problems stemming from the murderous past; and to participate in the public discussion about a host of issues ranging from the significance of state-sponsored denial of the Armenian genocide and well-funded denial of the Holocaust to intervention in and prevention of genocidal situations today.