2003_03 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper March 2003

              March 2003
Hye Sharzhoom
3
Student from Armenia Pursues MBA at Craig School of Business
Hakop Tat aryan
staff writer
For the past several years, the
Armenian Studies Program at CSU
Fresno has been establishing close
ties with Yerevan State University
and the Armenian Agricultural
Academy. During this time, outstanding students from Armenia
have been able to study at Fresno
State. The Armenian Studies Program has generated different scholarships for these outstanding students. Students from Fresno have
also had the opportunity to study in
Armenia while receiving credit at
Fresno State.
The Armenian Studies Program at CSU Fresno would like to
introduce Vahan Papyan. At the
age of twenty-one, Vahan recently
earned his Bachelor of Arts in Finance from the Armenian Agricultural Academy. Last semester,
Vahan was admitted to the renowned Craig School of Business
graduate program at Fresno State
where he plans to earn an MBA
degree. His impressive GMAT and
hi gh T OEFL scores guaranteed that
he would be one of the top candidates for the MBA program.
"We are delighted to have
Vahan in our program. He not only
has exceptional quantitative skills,
he also adds yet another dimension
to a hallmark of our program — our
global perspective" said Mark
Keppler, the director of the business graduate program at Fresno
State.
Vahan's enrollment to the
MBA program is unprecedented.
Unlike his predecessors, who took
a variety of classes at Fresno State,
Vahan is the first student from Armenia to be enrolled in the graduate program at the Craig School of
Business.
Armenian Studies professor
Barlow Der Mugrdechian met
Vahan on his first trip to America.
A few semesters aeo, Vahan was a
visiting student taking a variety of
classes at Fresno State. Der
Mugrdechian was very impressed
with Vahan's capabilities and advocated his admittance to Fresno
State.
"I felt that Vahan encompassed
abundant amounts of talent, and
was an exceptional student as well,"
Der Mugrdechian commented. The
Armenian Studies Program assisted
Vahan in various ways, including a
scholarship.
"I thank the Armenian Studies
Program profusely, for withouttheir
help I would not have had the opportunity to study in the Craig
School of Business graduate program, " Vahan stated.
Prolific author Michael J.
Arlen would describe Vahan as
"prosperous, vigorous, and robust."
Vahan has worked extremely hard
to grow to be the person he is now.
He has studied and taught in the
Armenian Agriculture Center,
worked at the HSBC Bank in Ar-
Dr. Chookaszian on "Art of Armenia"
m enia,
and
speaks
fluent
Russian
as well as
English
to go
along
with his
native
language
of Armenia. Now
he is
working
harder
then ever atthe Craig School graduate program, and plans to earn his
MBA degree in the field of finance.
Vahan said he plans to graduate in the next couple of years.
After graduating he wants to return
to Armenia and give something
back to his country's economy.
V ahan' s dedi cati on i s c ertai nly ad-
mirable, for with a MBA degree in
Finance he could easily have a lu-
Vahan Papyan is studying for his MBA at Fresno State.
crative career in the United States.
However, his mind and heart are
set on returning to Arm eni a after he
finishes his studies.
Vahan's family is currently in
Armenia. He misses them dearly
and they are always in his heart and
in his prayers. His determination is
what drives him from day to day.
We are all proud of you Vahan.
Dr. Levon Chookaszian
Mandy Estrada
staff writer
Dr. Levon Chookaszian is the
author of a monograph, more than
200reviews and article s f or se veral
scholarly journals, as well as numerous entries for international encyclopedias and reference texts.
Numerous members of the community gathered at St Paul Armenian Church at 7:30 PM, on February 10, to attend a brilliant lecture
given by Dr. Chookaszian on "Art
in Medieval Armenian and the
Balkans." The lecture was part of
the Armenian Studies Program
Spring 2003 Lecture Series and was
co-sponsored by St. Paul Armenian Church.
CSU Fresno's Dr. Dickran
Kouymjian, Director of the Armenian Studies Program, introduced
Chookaszian and discussed his contributions to Armenian art research
and briefly listed some of his
achievements.
This introducti on was foil owed
by a brief background given by Dr.
Chookaszian about past, present,
and future projects he is leading or
involved in. Chookaszian has been
a SOROS Research Fellow at the
Center for Advanced Study in the
Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Arts in
Washington, D.C. and
is currently in the process of concluding his
monograph on the medieval artist Toros
Roslin. Dr.
Chookaszian is presently the Director of the
UNESCO Chair of Armenian Art History at
Yerevan State University in the Republic of
Armenia.
Chookaszian has
also been a regular participant in the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) lecture series and has examined a vast range of
issues in ancient and
medieval Armenian art.
He has spent years researching and writing about numerous topics in Armenian art of
the medieval era. Chookaszian's
field of expertise is in manuscripts
and manuscript illuminations and
he has published about Armenian
art works such as manuscripts, portraits, khatchkars (stone-crosses),
miniatures, and modern Armenian
artists.
The lecture was exceptionally
interesting. Chookaszian, utilizing
a Power Point presentation, showed
several images from the Adrianople
Gospel (1007AD), now in Venice
at the Mekhitarist Congregation,
discussing when they had been
painted, where they had been executed, and the Gospels' relationship to Armenia. Some examples
of the scenes shown included the
"Portrait of St. Mark and St. Matthew, " "St. Gregory the Illuminator," also found in Venice, followed by many other exquisite
works. Dr. Chookaszian also
brought along with him quite a few
manuscript reproductions, painted
by hand in Armenia, for sale. At
the conclusion of his lecture, Dr.
Chookaszian answered questions
from the public.
When asked what he expected
from the people that attended these
lectures, he stated that, "I would
like people to become more aware
and educated about all that Armenian art and related art has to offer
to the world." He also commented
that these works were very significant to understanding the evolution
of Christian art.
All this came to its finale with
coffee, tea, pastries, and a lot of
discussion. I found Chookaszian to
be a very eloquent gentleman who
gets to the point and makes his
lectures as well as the topic interesting enough to inspire you to go
out and do your own research.
Armenia Elections
Staff Report
Armenia's Central Election
Commission published the final
official results of the February 19
presidential election which show
President Robert Kocharian failing
to win an outright victory.
According to the official figures, Kocharian garnered 49.5 per-
c ent of som e 1.4 milli on votes. T hi s
is 0.3 percent less than the preliminary figure cited by the CEC on
February 20. The threshold for a
first-round win is 50 percent plus
one vote.
Kochari an' s main chall engers,
Stepan Demirchian and Artashes
Geghamian, remained in second
and third places with 28.2 percent
and 17.6 percent of the vote respectively. Another opposition candidate, Aram Karapetian, came in a
distant fourth with about 3 percent.
Veteran opposition politician
Vazgen Manukian, who nearly became Armenia's president in 1996,
received less than one percent.
An election runoff between
President Kocharian and second
place finisher Demirchian will take
place on Wednesday, March 5.
• Armenians On the Internet •
Armen Postoyan
Staff Writer
Armenian Sites on the Internet
Address:
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This site is intended to educate the Armenian people on many different aspects of Armenian
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ranging from sports to various Armenian newspapers around the world.
Main Categories:
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ArmeniaNow
Address:
www.ArmeniaNow.com
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