1997_03 The Daily Collegian March 1997

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March 1997
Hye Sharzhoom
A Semester at Berkeley
By Dr. Dickran Kouymjian
What was it like to teach at
Berkeley? I have been asked that
many times since returning to
Fresno. Not much*liffcrent than
teaching at Fresno State. The best
students in my classes at the Uni¬
versity, of California were about
the' same as the best students at
Fresno State, except that there were
proportionately more of them in an
average class up there.
The teaching load is more
merciful at Berkeley, usually two
courses instead of the four at Fresno.
But each course is four credits in¬
stead of the three here and meets
four hours a week, so it is eight
hours of lectures versus twelve at
CSUF. Classes are on the whole
bigger and so is the campus and the
student body, twice the size. The
greatest difference seems to be the
general seriousness of purpose one
feels at UCB. and I suppose at any
UC campus, because they are uni¬
versities which are considered re¬
search institutions awarding the
doctorate in nearly every discipline.
Thus, even on the undergraduate
level die competition is clearly fell.
Students want their money's worth
(tuition is several umeshigher lhan
ai Fresno State) and insist on gel¬
ling it.
At the beginning of the semes¬
ter the average student shops around
attending up to ten courses in the
first two or three weeks or multiple
sections of the same course before
finally deciding which one offers
the best instruction. I was warned
by staff and faculty that class size
in the first weeks can be in Hated by
as much as 50% and was even dis¬
couraged from taking attendance
and reporting absences.
Student attitudes toward work
and grading are both similar to
Fresno State and different. There
was ihe same complaining about
grades. On die other hand written
assignments were handed in re¬
markably promptly, with students
demanding precision about due
dates. Students also made much
more use of oil'wc hours, to such a
point that I had to schedule a sign
up sheet some weeks.  Some stu¬
dents came back over and again
setting up a barely disguised pri¬
vate tutorial.
This seriousness seemed to be
a reflection of students as-inter¬
ested in getting an education as
getdng their degrees. I was pleas¬
antly^ surprised during my first
weeks on campus in August and
September to have been asked by
secretarial and administrative staff.
"Is there anything else we can do
for you to make sure you are giving
ourstudenis the best education they
can get?" This is a literal quotation
that was repeated three times to me
from three different sectors of the
campus and I
wondered if it
was in the
policy manual,
a kind of greet¬
ing like grocery
store clerks
who say hello
to each custom¬
ary at the cash
register. I dis¬
covered it was -
a genuine con¬
cern.
Berkeley
has its prob¬
lems, for sure.
[was told that il
has the lowest
graduation rate in die UC system
and that probably many fewer fresh¬
man finally end up with their de¬
grees lhan Fresno State students*
My specific experiences in¬
volved my duties as die second
William Saroyali Visiting Profes¬
sor of Armenian Studies. This en¬
dowed chair program has been try¬
ing for a decade to raise sufficient
private funds to establish a regular
fulltime position at VC Berkeley,
similar to the ones at UCLA and
Fresno State. In 1995 ihe> had
enough ol an endowment to invite
a professor lor one semester, dius
creating a visiting position until
such time as die endowment al¬
lowed for a regular pro lessor. Ad¬
ministratively I was in four differ¬
ent sections of the university with
four separate mailboxes! The
Saroyan Chair is housed in ihe
Slavic and East European Studies
Program. whicrVin turn is part oi
International and Area Studies. I
taught an upper division English
Department course on William
Saroyan (only Appropriate Concern-
ing the clever naming oi ihe chair I
and a second course on Armenian
Cinema in die Film Studies Pro¬
gram, part oi the Department oi
Rhetoric Each department inte¬
grated me wholly and offered me
office space, a mailbox, an e-mail
address, but unfortunately a com¬
puter only with great difficulty.
Among ihe rewards of the ex¬
perience was leaching William
Saroyan to English majors, a rare
occurrence for the Saroyan course
which at Fresno State is listed only
under Armenian Studies. 1 was not
surprised dial some English majors
had never read Saroyan. but I was
disturbed that several confessed dial
they had never heard ofhim. Of my
24 students, mostly English ma¬
jors, only four were Armenian. En¬
couraged by their enthusiasm for
the subject and the quality of their
writing and thinking. I decided to
organize a Saroyan conference to
commemorate the 15th anniversary
oi the author's death. With class
help, one student handled the pub¬
licity, anotlier the conference pro¬
gram, we were able to invite die
world's leading Saroyan scholars
lor a conference entitled "Saroyan
Plus Fifteen" held on campus on
November 15.
Since die conference has been
widely reported on. even in H\e
Sharzhoom, I wish only to relate
that aspect oi it that was the most
interesting to me. At first I thought,
some of these studeniscould present
papers on Saroyan as good as ihose
of die professors being invited so
why not extend ihe conference one-
day to have a student session'.'Class
participation was optional and ex¬
tra credit Five students (all upper
division English majors) were will¬
ing to uy it. Eventually, only two
stuck it out. Michael Kovacs mk\
Michael Kloster. but they were
joined by a third student. Micah
Jendian from San Diego State, who
had taken my Saroyan course in
Fresno. In the end. I judged it
would be segregation to put the
three on a sepa¬
rate student
panel and in¬
sisted that their
papers be inte¬
grated into regu¬
lar sessions ol
the conference.
Certainly
this was one ol
the most positive
experiences dur¬
ing my Berkeley
stay. All the stu¬
dents were be¬
hind their class¬
mates, who. ap-
prehensive
about being on
the same platform with die very-
experts whose books they were
quoting, wrote and rewrote their
essays. They had a dry run in class
with heavy questioning and criti¬
cism. I assured them continually
that the work they were doing was
as good as the experts and dial the
level of their own preparation would
be on a par with that of the scholars
present. In fact the three students,
two undergraduates from Berkeley
and one graduate from San Diego.
gave what were recognized by ev¬
eryone as three of the best papers in
the conference. A member oi
Berkeley's own English Depart¬
ment also read a paper on SarTiyan
and the conference raised the con¬
science of English literature spe¬
cialists, especially a new crop ol"
them, toward the merits ol
Saroyan's craft.
The experience in the film
course was somewhat different, but
equally surprising. A weekly show¬
ing and lecture in a large audio
visual auditorium on Monday
nights attracted 40 to 50 students,
including in this course a large num¬
ber of Armenian community audi¬
tors. The regular students were
almost all film majors. 15 out of 25.
only five of diem Armenians. Ob¬
viously, film majors just look at
movies differently than non-film
majors. Thus, when discussing a
film like Queen Christina directed
by Rouben Mamoulian and star¬
ring Greta Garbo. they found Ar¬
menian connections that I never
saw myself in the direction.
Mamoulian never made a single
film with Armenian content in it.
yet the non-Armenian students es¬
pecially continued to develop
themes that turned around exile and
Diaspora. This happened time and
again with other films. On the
odier hand, some Armenian audi¬
tors always wanted to turn discus¬
sion of Armenian language films
or even films b\ Atom Egoyan or
William Saroyan toward us Arme¬
nian nationalist content, thus, on
more lhan i me occasion I was lorced
to move the post-film discussion
toward the cinematographic quali¬
ties ol a film. In a film course with
determined film majors the quality
of filming, scripting, acting, and
overall cohesivenessispnmary, and
political or national messages sec¬
ondary. The auditors hopefully
learned something from the extraor¬
dinary input of young film special¬
ists who had never previous!) see(
a film by or about Armenians.
Ultimately die most valuable
pan of such a teaching experience
is to once again leave your home
institution, your own students, to
see how things are done elsewhere
It affords new perspectives and tires
one up with new energies
In mid-December I discovered
I had a fifth mailbox in the Program
on undergraduate studies, and even
though I found my first three pay
vouchers two months late in my
fourth mailbox. I lust didn't have
the courage to go across campus to
empty one more. Who knows what
I missed''
Two Major Supporters of Armenian Studies Pass Away
Widun a week during the last
days of February and the first days
of March death came to Isabel
Berbenan and Meline Kalfayan.
Their names were familiar (p hun¬
dreds oi students and supporters of
the Armenian Studies Program.
The first endowed chair in Arme¬
nian Studi.es and the first chatr to
become operative on the campus ol
California State University. Fresno
bears the name of Haig and Isabel
Berbenan. I have had the honor to
be the first incumbent of thai chair,
named alter the Berbenans thanks
to a most generous donation from
Isabel and Haig's daughter Dianne
and son-in-law Dr. Arnold
Gazarian. Next year will mark the
tenth anniversary of the Berberian
endowment.
Mrs. Berberian had been in
failing health for many months.
Her husband had passed away in
1987 and she continued her life in
Modesto surrounded by- the
Gazarians and her four grandchil¬
dren: Janalee married to Brian
Melikian. Michelle married to Dr.
John Arakehan. Ren a married to
Wayne Rutledge. and Alyssa. The
Berbenans. both Isabel and Haig.
were characterized by discretion
and gentleness. Their attachment
to the Fresno community, includ¬
ing Armenian institutions like the
church and the Armenians Studies
Program and their generosity to it.
isreflectediivthecontinuing public
service of the Gazarians. Arnold
Gazanan serves as the Chair of the
Armenian Studies Program Advi¬
sory Board and together with
Dianne have stood behind us at all
limes. I also had the good fortune
lo teach two of Isabel Berbenan's
grandchildren. Rena and Alyssa
• In one ol those unlucky coin¬
cidences that life seems to reserve
lor us. Meline Kallayan passed
away the day oi Mrs Berbenans
funeral She had been in and out the
hospital frequently these past
months, but seemed each time to
bounce hack with her perennial
optimism. She and .her husband
Sarkis (Sam) Kallayan established
a special endowment fund in 1991
tor the support of the newly created
Center for Armenian Studies on
the CSU Fresno campus. The Sarkis
'and MelinC Kallayan Center for
Armenian Studies includes in it the
John Garabedian Director's office,
the Sahatdnan Library, and the
Avedian Archives. As the first
•Director of the Kalfayan Center
and the Armenian Studies Program
tl houses. I have fell assured of the
future of Armenian Studies at
Fresno Slate due in part to the
Kallayan endowment which will
continue to benefit in die years and
decades to eome through the
Kalfayan's estate.
Sarkis Kalfayan served for six
years as the first Chair of the Arme¬
nian Studies Program Advisors
Board and he and Meline have
stood steadfast in their support of
Armenia and Armenian Studies
More than once in difficult mo¬
ments, whether it be the need lor
computers at our sister institution,
Yerevan State University, or aid to
bring over exchange students from
Armenia. Sarkis and Meline were
ready to help.
Meline wa* active in commu¬
nity affairs as member ol the East¬
ern Star. Daughters of the Nile, and
Daughters of the Vartan. I had the
pleasure ol MdinC's gracious hos¬
pital it) more than oikc I also had
met her lather, the scholar Hovaness
Babessian. at the Cilician
Catholicosaie in Amelias. Leba¬
non while he was doing research in
the late 1950s.
On behalf oi the Armenian
Studies Program, its faculty, stall.
and students, and in the name ol the
Advisory Board. I would like lo
extend our deepest condolences to
Dianne and Arnold Gazarian and
their family and to Sarkis Kal layan.
and to thank them for their constant
suppon ol our work
Dickran Kouymjian
Haij: & Isabel Berberian Professor ol
Armenian Studies
Director. The  Sarkis and    Meline
Kalfayan (."enter for Armenian
Studies