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    Categories: 2019

600 Guests Celebrate the USC Institute of Armenian Studies 15th Anniversary 

For Immediate Release

October 4, 2019

USC INSTITUTE OF ARMENIAN STUDIES
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California, USA
Contact: Syuzanna Petrosyan, Associate Director
Armenian@usc.edu | 213.821.3943

600 Guests Celebrate the USC Institute of Armenian Studies 15th Anniversary 

“The USC Institute of Armenian Studies has been doing outstanding work for 15 
years,” said Amber Miller, Dean of USC Dornslife College of Letters, Arts and 
Sciences. “This work is central to one of our key research themes, ‘Identity 
and Culture in a Changing World.’” 

Dean Miller spoke to the 600-plus guests gathered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel 
on Sunday, September 29. The gala was hosted by the Institute’s Leadership 
Council to celebrate 15 years of championing education, innovation, and 
thoughtful change.

The evening highlighted the Institute’s work and presented a vision for 21st 
century scholarship and innovation – a commitment to producing and supporting 
research on post-genocide issues, on the global Armenian Diaspora, and on the 
Republic of Armenia. Over the last five years, the Institute has broken new 
ground by strategically funding research in areas that are crucial to Armenia’s 
development, and creating massive, world-class platforms where research and 
intellectual conversation can take place, among qualified specialists and with 
an eager and curious audience.

Since its inception, the Institute has benefited from the continuous support of 
the community.
Many of those supporters were honored during the Gala.

The Institute recognized the support of families who have funded endowments 
that support research and programming: Cabayan Family Foundation, Karapetian 
Family Foundation, Vartkes and Lucine Kassabian Family Endowment, Kazanjian 
Foundation Endowment Fund, Keyan Scholarship Fund, Kofdarali Endowment Fund, 
Melkonian Family Scholarship Fund, Nadjarian Endowment Fund, Nayasargian 
Endowment Fund, and Tufenkian Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund. This year, the 
Baghdassarian Family Foundation and Bayramyan Family Endowment Fund were added 
to the list of donors.
 
Following the USC marching band’s performance, the evening’s unique polished 
program began with a warm welcome by Gala Banquet Committee co-Chairs, Lori 
Muncherian and Diane Cabraloff. Charles Ghailian, chairman of the Institute’s 
Leadership Council, one of the founders of the Institute, and together with his 
family a generous supporter of the Institute, also welcomed and acknowledged 
the decade-and-a-half long support of the Institute by members of the 
community, and most importantly, from the institutions that are important to 
Armenian life in the Diaspora.   

Director Salpi Ghazarian spoke on the intrinsic place this unique Institute can 
have in the lives and work of each organization and institution in Armenian 
life.  “The Institute is about making connections -- a meaningful connection to 
the past, a collaborative connection among innovators,  strategic connections 
between Armenia’s policymakers and the research that is essential to policy. 
The active and substantial support of the community will make it possible for 
the Institute to continue and expand this essential work.”

The Institute’s Academic Council, Professor Daniel  Mazmanian, formerly dean of 
the Price School of Policy, Professor Donald Miller, formerly head of the 
School of Religion, and Professor Manuel Pastor, the Turpanjian Chair of Civil 
Society and Social Change, and director of the USC Center for the Study of 
Immigrant Integration took the stage. They recognized Mr. and Mrs. Gerald and 
Patricia Turpanjian, benefactors of the Institute, for their early and 
sustained championing of the Institute as testimony of unwavering faith in 
nation and education. The Turpanjians have established two chairs that bear 
their family’s name: the Chair in Contemporary Armenian Studies and the Chair 
in Civil Society and Social Change. 

The evening’s program revolved around the Institute’s groundbreaking program 
and those who make that programming possible. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian 
shared a message to recognize the Innovation Generation, as represented by Nina 
Achadjian, principal at Index Ventures and founder of HIVE ventures, and Ara 
Mahdessian and Vahe Kuzoyan, co-founders of Service Titan, a software company 
with an estimated value of over $1.5 billion, and recently recognized by Forbes 
as one of the top 15 cloud-based solutions in the world. 

Next, former US Ambassador to Armenia John Marshall Evans, a member of the 
Institute’s National Council, reinforced the value of the Institute’s DISPLACED 
PERSONS PROJECT. A number of the three dozen DPs who have been interviewed by 
the Institute were recognized for entrusting their stories, documents, and 
memories to the Institute, for further use by researchers.  

Another Institute program that reaches beyond the university into the public 
square is the Institute’s MEDIA CENTER, made possible with the support of 
Varant and Hoori Melkonian. To recognize this generous and visionary gift, Apo 
Boghigian, the new director of the Civilitas Foundation and CivilNet, shared a 
message on the significance and impact of media (traditional and social) in the 
world, and especially for the Armenian world. 

The USC POLICY FELLOWS program, an Institute collaboration with the government 
of Armenia and the City of Los Angeles was introduced by Councilmember Paul 
Krekorian whose office makes the program possible. The Institute recognized the 
JHM Foundation for their support of this program as an expression of their 
belief in the importance of strategy and planning for Armenia. Accepting the 
recognition on their behalf were the two current Policy Fellows Armine 
Chakhalyan from Armenia and Haik Mayilyan from Karabakh. 

Finally, the newest of the Institute’s programs was introduced -- THE USC 
TACORI CENTER -- a multipurpose location, just 20 minutes from Yerevan that 
will become an important regional conference and retreat center. This is 
affirmation of the Institute’s commitment to advancing scholarship about and in 
Armenia. Armenia’s Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Varuzhan 
Nersesyan, sent a message thanking the Tacorian Family for their vision and 
commitment. 

The program included selections from SOUND STORIES --  a unique collaboration 
between the Element Band and the Institute, first performed at INNOVATE ARMENIA.
 
About the Institute
 
Established in 2005, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies supports 
multidisciplinary scholarship to re-define, explore and study the complex 
issues that make up the contemporary Armenian experience – from post-Genocide 
to the developing Republic of Armenia to the evolving Diaspora. The Institute 
encourages research, publications and public service, and promotes links among 
the global academic and Armenian communities.

 
 






Anna Tamamian: