This article has originally appeared in the University of California
Newsletter and is reprinted with permission
( news/ouruniversity/12_08/)
PRESS RELEASE
December 15, 2008
American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 5th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576
Contact: Gaiane Khachatrian
E-mail: Gaiane@auac.net
UC partners with the American University of Armenia
The American University of Armenia hopes its new academic center will
further strengthen its ties to UC, whose academic leaders helped launch the
graduate school after a 1988 earthquake.
The American University of Armenia doubled its enrollment capacity with the
November dedication of a new academic building. Now supporters are hoping to
strengthen connections with University of California faculty and students.
Those connections run deep. Without UC’s two decades of assistance, the
university might not exist.
"At the founding of the AUA, the affiliation with UC gave the assurance for
a few supporting organizations and individuals that our university was being
provided with advice and oversight from a major university system in the
U.S.," said Haroutune Armenian, president of the American University in
Armenia.
His university still depends on UC expertise to develop academic and
administrative procedures, he said.
That working relationship began in the aftermath of Armenia’s devastating
1988 earthquake. Striking on a frigid Dec. 7, the quake wrought massive
destruction as high-rise buildings, schools, hospitals and factories
crumbled in heaps, killing 25,000 people and displacing more than 500,000.
UC Berkeley engineering professor Armen Der Kiureghian traveled to Armenia
as a member of a U.S. recovery team.
Still a Soviet Republic, Armenia welcomed international humanitarian aid and
the expertise of engineers like Der Kiureghian as the tiny country struggled
to recover.
"One idea that came up was setting up an American system of higher
education," said Der Kiureghian. "I wrote a proposal. At the time there was
a thaw in Soviet relations, and people’s interest in Armenia was
heightened."
Mihran Agbabian, a UC Berkeley engineering alumnus and University of
Southern California professor, and Stepan Karamardian, formerly dean of the
Graduate School of Management at UC Riverside, joined Der Kiureghian in
approaching the Armenian government about founding an American-style
graduate-level university. The Armenian General Benevolent Union, an
international fraternal organization, agreed to fund it. In 1990, then-UC
Provost William Frazer led a fact-finding mission of UC academics and
administrators to Armenia. The following year UC Regents approved an
affiliation with the American University of Armenia in the capital city of
Yerevan.
The university opened its doors on Sept. 21, 1991, the same day Armenia
declared its independence. Agbabian became its first president and Der
Kiureghian the first dean of the College of Engineering, fulfilling those
duties via fax, e-mail and three visits per year. UC administrators and
faculty have continued to serve on the advisory board, and Armenian, the
university’s president, is a professor in residence at UCLA’s School of
Public Health.
The university has 275 students enrolled in master’s programs in
engineering, English, public health, law, political science and
international affairs and business and management. In addition, the
university offers extension courses. All classes are taught in English. The
Western Association of Schools and Colleges accredits the university, which
now has about 1,500 alumni.
"The graduates are really agents of change," said Der Kiureghian." They are
intermediaries between the country and global companies. The university has
been a real model for the region."
Although the university is not part of the UC Education Abroad Program,
students can attend the university on their own. In summer 2009, the
university is offering a special four-week summer session with courses in
human rights, global security, health care and other topics. The Armenian
General Benevolent Union is offering scholarships for students of Armenian
descent, an opportunity Der Kiureghian is hoping UC students will take
advantage of.
Der Kiureghian, an ethnic Armenian from Iran, said visiting the country
provided a valuable experience to learn about his culture and heritage.
There are also opportunities for visiting research scholars and faculty. For
more information contact, Bruce Janigian, vice president development and
government relations, at bruce@janigian.com.