FRESNO, CA - This fall 2000 semester is one of the best ever for Fresno State's Armenian Studies Program and its four faculty members: Dr. Richard Hovannisian, Henry S. Khanzadian Kazan Visiting Professor of Armenian Studies, Dr. Dickran Kouymjian, Haig & Isabel Berberian Professor of Armenian Studies, Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Lecturer in Armenian Studies, and Van Der Mugrdechian, part-time Lecturer. This is, by far, the best year for enrollment in the past 23 years of Armenian Studies.

Some 170 students are registered in eight sections of Armenian Studies courses, well above the five-year average of 134 students per semester. In the past nine semesters, Armenian Studies courses have been offered to 1,201 registered students. This semester, nearly 100 students or 60% are non-Armenian -- an extraordinary statistic, which makes it clear that our Armenian Studies course offerings have become incorporated into the general university curriculum. It is also the first time that two sections of Armenian Studies 20, The Arts of Armenia, is being offered to the entire sophomore class of the Smittcamp Honors College, 48 of the top students in the University.

We have had more applicants for our scholarships than ever; 51 students have been awarded some $31,400 from endowed Armenian scholarship funds. This increased interest in Armenian Studies is further reflected by the eight students who graduated last year with the officially recognized 25-credit Minor in Armenian Studies.

We are particularly pleased to welcome to our Program and campus, Dr. Richard Hovannisian of UCLA, who is serving as the first incumbent of the Henry S. Khanzadian Kazan Visiting Professorship of Armenian Studies. In addition to a semester course on the Armenian Genocide and Its Denial, A series of three public lectures by Prof. Hovannisian began in October and will end this month. In conjunction with this exceptional examination of the Armenian genocide, we have invited three specialists for our lecture series: Dr. Israel Charny, Director of the Institute of Genocide Studies, Jerusalem; Dr. Yair Auron, The Open University of Israel; and Hilmar Kaiser, European University, Florence.

This year's most distinguished guest was His Holiness, Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, who visited CSUF on October 23. He presented an address to the university community entitled "The Ecological Crisis, Its Causes and Implications: A Christian View." A public luncheon and meeting with students followed.