The University of California, Berkeley (Source: The Daily Cal)
On the occasion of Santoukht Mikaelian’s retirement from her position as Lecturer in Armenian Language at the University of California, Berkeley, the Armenian Studies Program (ASP) takes the opportunity to thank her for her many years of service and dedication.
In cooperation with the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, we have carried out a long search to find a new instructor. We are delighted to announce that Dr. Hasmig Seropian will be joining our program in Fall 2015 as Lecturer in Armenian Language. Dr. Seropian will be teaching two courses at Berkeley in the Fall: Introductory Armenian (1A) and Continuing Armenian (101A). In Spring 2016, she will teach the second set of courses in these sequences, Introductory Armenian (1B) and Continuing Armenian (101B).
Dr. Seropian, who was born in Aleppo, holds a M.A. in Education from the American University of Beirut and a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley. She has taught Armenian over the years both at Berkeley and Stanford University. She has also done extensive research in Armenian and has a draft grammar of spoken Western Armenian. Dr. Seropian was the principal developer of a computer-based one-year college-level course in Armenian at Stanford. Currently, she is very interested in complementing the human interaction in the classroom with online instruction that pulls together the various sources of content for both Eastern and Western Armenian.
In Spring 2016, Dr. Myrna Douzjian will join the program as the Varnum Paul Visiting Lecturer. She will teach two courses in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures: “Survey of 20th Century Western and Eastern Armenian Literature” and “Survey of 20th Century Russian Literature.” We are delighted to be expanding our course offerings beyond language and history to include the study of literature.
Dr. Douzjian holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has published translations of contemporary Armenian poetry and drama, and her articles on diaspora Armenian culture appear regularly in the syndicated column, Critics Forum. She has contributed a chapter to the edited volume, Armenian Philology in the Modern Era: From Manuscript to Digital Text, in which she
examines the politics of 20th century Armenian literary publication. Her current research focuses on critical approaches to the study of world literature and post-Soviet Armenian and Russian cultural production. Dr. Douzjian has taught courses in literature, composition, literary theory, and film at UCLA, Temple University, and California State University, Fresno.
We warmly welcome Dr. Douzjian and Dr. Seropian to our program, and encourage students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to take advantage of the rare opportunity to study both the Armenian language and literary culture at Berkeley.
Last but not least, the ASP would also like to thank Professor Levon Abrahamian, our first Varnum Paul Visiting Professor, who offered a very successful course entitled “Modern Discourse on Armenian Identity” in the Department of Anthropology in Spring 2015. This course was jointly offered by the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.
The ASP has scheduled the following classes in 2015-2016.
Fall 2015:
Armenian 1A: Introductory Armenian
Instructor: Dr. Hasmig Seropian, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Armenian 101A: Continuing Armenian
Instructor: Dr. Hasmig Seropian, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
History 177A: Armenia from Ethnogenesis to the Dark Ages
Instructor: Prof. Stephan Astourian, Department of History
Spring 2016:
Armenian 1B: Introductory Armenian
Instructor: Dr. Hasmig Seropian, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Armenian 101B: Continuing Armenian
Instructor: Dr. Hasmig Seropian, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Survey of 20th Century Western and Eastern Armenian Literature
Instructor: Dr. Myrna Douzjian, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Survey of 20th Century Russian Literature
Instructor: Dr. Myrna Douzjian, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Graduate Seminar: Comparative Genocides
Instructor: Prof. Stephan Astourian, Department of History
Source: Asbarez
Link: New Appointments and Expansion of the Armenian Studies Program at U.C. Berkeley
