USC Institute of Armenian Studies Announces Chitjian Researcher Archivist

For Immediate Release
 

April 1, 2019

 
USC INSTITUTE OF ARMENIAN STUDIES
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California, USA
Contact: Syuzanna Petrosyan, Associate Director
[email protected] | 213.821.3943


USC Institute of Armenian Studies Announces Chitjian Researcher Archivist 
 
Los Angeles, Calif. –The USC Institute of Armenian Studies has named Gegham 
Mughnetsyan as the Institute’s Chitjian Researcher Archivist. The naming is in 
honor of long-time Institute donor, philanthropist and distinguished community 
member Sara Chitjian. 

She was one of the Institute’s first donors and supporters. Miss Chitjian 
believes in the value of education and scholarship to achieve fairness and 
justice. She taught that as a teacher, she supports that as a philanthropist.

Sara Chitjian was born in Mexico City in the family of Ovsanna and Hampartzoum 
Chitjians who were survivors of the genocide. The family relocated to East Los 
Angeles in 1935. Miss Chitjian graduated from UCLA in 1956 and began a teaching 
career at the Los Angeles Unified School District which lasted for 34 years. 
 
In retirement Miss Chitjian has dedicated her time to the archiving of the 
Armenian Genocide, specifically through the documentation of a rich and complex 
family history. Her father Hampartzoum was a great storyteller and one of those 
who told his family story countless times to various scholars, journalists, 
photographers and filmmakers. He was also a regular in Miss Chitjian’s 
elementary school classes where he helped children from a variety of 
backgrounds begin to understand genocide. It helped that Mr. Chitjian was a 
child survivor and his memories were those of a child, making his stories very 
relatable to children and young people. 
 
Gegham Mughnetsyan, Institute research associate since 2016, received his 
undergraduate degree from University of California, Berkeley in Peace and 
Conflict studies where his focus was on US foreign policy toward Nagorno 
Karabakh. Mr. Mughnetsyan went on to complete his graduate degree at the 
American University, in Washington DC, where he studied International Affairs. 
 
At USC, Mr. Mughnetsyan works with post-genocide diasporan archival materials. 
The work entails documentation, translation and collection building.  
 
Since February of 2018, Mr. Mughnetsyan has been leading an oral history 
initiative tasked with recording, translating, transcribing the stories, and 
digitizing archival documents about the community of Armenian displaced persons 
who, in the course of World War II, were uprooted from their homes in the 
Nazi-occupied regions of the Soviet Union, ended up in a refugee camp in 
Germany and, after the war, found refuge in the United States. 
 
These are just two of the more-than-dozen programs at the USC Institute of 
Armenian Studies.
 
“The current work of the researcher archivist at the Institute reflects the 
spirit of Sara Chitjian’s life-long dedication to Armenian archives – 
especially as they relate to genocide and the post-genocide period -- and the 
naming of the position is a fitting tribute to her legacy,” said Institute 
Director Salpi Ghazarian whose relationship with Miss Chitjian goes back 
decades. “Miss Chitjian was my 6th grade math teacher; her father was one of 
the first to tell his life story first to J. Michael Hagopian, then to me as a 
student in Professor Richard Hovannisian’s UCLA class, later again to our team 
at the Zoryan Institute. Each of these interviews was more extensive than the 
last. Miss Chitjian’s mother’s journey, too, is invaluable.  Recognizing the 
importance of remembering that generation and their stories, Miss Chitjian has 
dedicated her life to helping others remember. We are indebted to her.”   
 

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.
 
For inquiries, write to [email protected] or call 213.821.3943