The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA has selected Taner Akçam as the inaugural director of its Armenian Genocide Research Program. The program will provide a home for scholarly activities relevant to the genocide, including opportunities for institute-affiliated postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and visiting researchers.

Akçam is the Kaloosdian and Mugar Professor in Modern Armenian History and Genocide at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies of Clark University in Massachusetts. He is widely recognized as one of the first scholars of Turkish descent to write extensively on the Ottoman-Turkish Genocide of Armenians in the early 20th century, according to the institute. Many of Akçam‘s publications constitute an unprecedented examination of secret documents that show the deliberate nature of the Armenian Genocide.

“Taner Akçam has a demonstrated track record of groundbreaking research and mentored some of the most remarkable young scholars in the field of Armenian Genocide studies,” said Ann Karagozian, the inaugural director of the Promise Armenian Institute and a distinguished professor of engineering.

“His dedication and passion for advancing this field make him the ideal person to establish and carry out this new research program at UCLA.”  

Read the news release about Akçam’s appointment.