AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:
PRESS RELEASE
Monday, October 13, 2008
AGBU Virtual College Presented To Armenian Public
On Sunday, September 28, 2008, hundreds of individuals gathered in
Yerevan, Armenia’s Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall to watch the
presentation of AGBU’s highly anticipated educational resource, the AGBU
Armenian Virtual College (AVC), which is slated to launch in January
2009.
The AVC presentation was attended by various high-ranking members of the
Armenian government, including Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Education
and Science Minister Spartak Seyranian, Culture Minister Hasmik
Poghossian, AGBU President Berge Setrakian, and various AGBU donors,
including London-based Armenian benefactor Vatche Manoukian,
American-Armenian philanthropist Albert Boyadjian, and members of the
AGBU Central Board Vasken Yacoubian and Ruben Keshishian. The event was
also attended by a host of local Armenian intellectuals and academics
with a particular interest in scientific and educational innovation.
The AVC presentation was jointly organized by AGBU and Public Television
of Armenia and the event was hosted by commentator and spokesman Artak
Alexanian. During various breaks in the evening’s presentation, audience
members were treated to performances by various renowned Armenian pop
stars, including Lilit Pipoyan, Arsen Grikorian, Hayko, Shushan
Petrossian and the Empiray rock group.
AVC Coordinator and AGBU Silicon Valley Chairman Yervant Zorian was on
hand to make an extensive presentation about the online program about
its significance for AGBU’s educational mission.
AVC is an Internet-based accredited distance learning program that aims
to facilitate Armenian studies through new technologies. AVC provides
Armenian courses in history, language and culture (architecture,
geography, fine arts and music) and allows participating students to
choose from six languages of instruction: Western and Eastern Armenian,
English, Russian, French and Spanish. AVC will tailor lessons to suit
each student’s needs, thus ensuring that Armenians from around the
world, regardless of their age, country of residence or knowledge level,
will benefit from the resource.
During the presentation, the audience was treated to live online chats
with potential AVC students in Moscow, San Francisco and Damascus, which
demonstrated the program’s remarkable potential to serve the global
Armenian community.
In addition to AGBU’s extensive support of AVC, the program was also
made possible through the involvement of computer programmers and
Internet specialists from Yerevan State University and the National
Academy of Sciences of Armenia. For more information about AVC, please
visit
Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians on six continents.