US States News
January 18, 2007 Thursday 6:37 AM EST
MELIKIAN GIFT BOOSTS ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT
TEMPE, Ariz.
Arizona State University issued the following press release:
Arizona State University’s commitment to global engagement is
receiving a major boost in the form of a $1 million contribution by
two longtime Phoenix civic leaders and philanthropists, Gregory
Melikian and his wife Emma Ordjanian Melikian. Their gift will fund
the expansion of international programming at the university’s
Russian and East European Studies Center, a unit in the College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences that will be renamed The Melikian Center in
recognition of the university’s partnership with the Melikians.
Center programming features the internationally recognized Critical
Languages Institute, which offers intensive instruction every summer
in less commonly taught languages of Eastern Europe and Eurasia,
including Armenian, Albanian, Macedonian, Tatar and Uzbek. The
center’s strategic partnerships with major universities of the region
– notably its linkages with Yerevan State University, Moscow State
University, the University of Sarajevo, Ss. Kiril and Metodij
University (Macedonia) and the University of Pristina – have been
supported by grants from the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency
for International Development.
"This major contribution from the Melikians brings the study of
Eurasia and Eastern Europe into ASU’s wider scope of global
engagement that already includes important programming in China and
Mexico," says ASU President Michael M. Crow. "Programs like these are
at the heart of ASU’s global engagement efforts."
In 2001, an endowment from the couple led to the creation of The
Melikian Fund, which supports the study of Armenian language and
culture at ASU. In announcing this recent $1 million gift, center
director and ASU professor Stephen Batalden says the Melikians
generosity will make a difference in the lives of students and
faculty, a difference that often has transformative results.
"At a time when the geopolitical significance of the Eurasian Islamic
rim has never been greater, this gift from the Melikians will offer
students at ASU a unique research and language training opportunity
for the 21st century," Batalden says. "What the Melikians have done
for the next generation of leaders is to greatly expand the
opportunities for international exchange of scholars, for research
and study abroad, and for critical language training."
In commenting on the growing importance to understand the history,
language and culture of Eurasia and Eastern Europe, Gregory Melikian
says, "What better way to communicate than to speak each other’s
language. These are critical languages, and there is a critical need
in the world today for people who can speak these languages
fluently."
He and his wife Emma are of Armenian descent and between them speak
numerous languages, including Russian and Armenian.
"Our world is shrinking," notes Emma Melikian. "And, in order to
understand all people of the world, and participate in global
engagement, our future generation has to speak critical languages and
know history to help America in the world arena," she says.
This latest gift by the Melikians follows a history of commitment and
giving to Arizona State University. In addition to the creation of
The Melikian Fund, Gregory Melikian previously donated to the
university’s Special Collections eight World War II dispatches,
including a copy of the message sent by Supreme Allied Commander
Eisenhower announcing the end of World War II in Europe. Melikian, an
Army Signal Corps Sergeant at the time, was tasked with sending the
original high speed radio transmission of the message, a copy of
which he saved in plain text on a Signal Corps form.
Gregory Melikian, who says with a chuckle that as a senior citizen he
has always admired longevity, began his long-term relationship with
Arizona State University in the 1970s, while serving on the board of
the Friends of Eight, a volunteer organization at the university’s
PBS-affiliated television station – Eight/KAET.
The Melikians are owners of the historic Hotel San Carlos in downtown
Phoenix and have been generous supporters of education and the arts
in Arizona. Gregory Melikian has been a board member of the Phoenix
Symphony and served as president of the Arizona Opera Company. Emma
Ordjanian Melikian has served on the board of the Asian Arts Council
of the Phoenix Art Museum. She is the founding president of Thank You
America Foundation, an organization in support of educational
opportunities for homeless and abused children of Arizona. For that,
she has received the George Washington Medal of Honor from the
Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge in 1999, the Outstanding
Achievement Award from the Daughters of the American Revolution and
the Alpha Delta Kappa Woman of Distinguished Award in 2002. She also
has been active in the National Society of Arts and Letters for more
than 20 years.
Additionally, the Melikians are among the original donors to the
Armenian Cultural Center in Scottsdale. Their three sons and a
daughter – Robert, Richard, James, and Ramona – have attended Arizona
State University.
More information about The Melikian Center and ASU’s Russian,
Eurasian and East European Studies program is available at (480)
965-4188 or online at