PRESS RELEASE
UCLA Department of History
Tel: 310-825-3375
Attached photograph: Vice Provost Patricia Turner and Professor
Richard Hovannisian
Courtesy of Beverly Yanuaria
RICHARD HOVANNISIAN RECEIVES UCLA HONORS COLLEGIUM DISTINGUISHED TEACHING
AWARD
UCLA-On May 23, Professor Richard Hovannisian was named the recipient
of the UCLA Eugen Weber Honors Program Distinguished Teaching Award
for his years of service to the honors division. He has been singled
out for his motivational teaching, especially of the Honors
Comparative Genocide colloquium, which has steadily won the praise of
students, who attest that the course has deeply influenced them to
strive for human rights and the prevention of the crime of genocide.
The Rose Gilbert Honors Spring Tea was opened by Vice Provost for
Undergraduate Education, Patricia A. Turner, who spoke of the
excellence of teaching and student scholarship at UCLA. Assistant Vice
Provost for Honors, G. Jennifer Wilson, then lauded Professor
Hovannisian for his inspirational work, reading three examples of the
student evaluations that described the instructor and the course in
superlative terms. She invited Hovannisian to the podium to receive
his award. In thanking the Honors Program, the professor reflected on
the role of the late UCLA Dean of Social Sciences Eugen Weber, a world
renowned historian of Western Civilization, and of Mrs. Rose Gilbert,
an outstanding teacher of English at Palisades High School, where she
helped develop the writing skills of Raffi, Armen, and Ani Hovannisian
and then to the next generation through Raffi’s son Garin. Rose
Gilbert, who was present at the awards ceremony and continued to teach
into her nineties, is a major benefactor of the scholarship programs
at UCLA.
Although Richard Hovannisian is now an emeritus faculty member at
UCLA, he is recalled annually to interact with bright, motivated
students in the comparative study of genocide, with the Armenian
Genocide being one of the major subjects.