PRESS RELEASE
July 14, 2011
American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 12th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576
Contact: Gaiane Khachatrian
Email: [email protected]
AUA GRADUATION: 20 Years of Advancement
Twenty Years of Advancement” was the slogan as the American University
of Armenia (AUA) celebrated its 20th anniversary year, and held its
19th Graduation and Commencement Ceremonies during the last week of
June.
Festivities began on Friday, June 24, with a graduation party at
Ashtaraki Dzor, where AUA faculty and staff congratulated the Class of
2011, and celebrated the occasion of their graduation with dinner,
music and dance. The party brought together about 300 graduates,
alumni, past and present faculty, and staff.
On Sunday, June 26, 2011, AUA held its Commencement Ceremony in the
large auditorium of AUA’s main building on 40 Baghramyan Avenue in
Yerevan. The gathering of well over 1000 included parents and spouses
of the graduates and many distinguished guests, all assembled to honor
the graduating class of 2011.
The Commencement Exercises began with the ceremonial procession of the
class of 2011, the President of AUA, the Deans of the Colleges and the
faculty. This was followed by the anthems of the Republic of Armenia
and the United States of America. An invocation was then given by His
Grace Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian, Director of the Publishing Center of
the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, and Representative of his Holiness
Garegin II, Catholicos of All Armenians.
AUA President, Dr. Bruce Boghosian, then welcomed the graduates, their
families, faculty and many distinguished guests. In the course of his
address, President Bruce Boghosian stated, “Remember that the highest
expression of your patriotism is your willingness to help your fellow
citizens. This means that, even as you begin your careers, you should
find ways to volunteer your time and energy to help this country’s
public institutions grow and thrive. This is what we mean by ‘active
citizenship.’ Civic engagement is the glue that binds a country and
its people together, and that makes the whole greater than simply the
sum of its parts. AUA has always and will always endeavor to create
‘active citizens’ who will make a difference in the future of
Armenia.”
Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian, Taisei Professor of Civil Engineering at the
University of California, Berkeley, Founding Dean of AUA’s College of
Engineering, and member of AUA’s Board of Trustees, then conveyed
greetings to AUA on behalf of the University of California. AUA has
been an affiliate of the University of California since its inception
in 1991. Indeed, the University of California is one of the
organizations that founded AUA, along with the Armenian Ministry of
Education and Science and the Armenian General Benevolent Union.
Commencement addresses were delivered by Deputy Minister of Justice of
RA, Mr. Emil Babayan, and Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the USA,
Mr. Bruce Donahue.
During his address, Deputy Minister Babayan stated, “We no longer have
the right to again abuse God’s favor and treat our independent
Republic with the same lack of attention. Dear graduates, the
responsibility to maintain our independence, bought at the price of
our people’s sacrifices, is now also yours.”
During his address, Chargé d’Affaires Donahue stated, “My message is
simple. I challenge you today to become active citizens, to make your
communities and workplaces better, to make a difference. You will face
decisions at every step of your professional and personal journey –
hiring choices you make at your business, the values you teach your
children, how you treat the disadvantaged, whether you put integrity
above gain – and they all conspire to create the world you live in.”
Valedictorians Ms. Nonna Kamalyan and Mr. Addeh S. Hovassapian then
spoke on behalf of the students of the Class of 2011.
After this, 202 motivated men and women were presented by their
respective Deans and called to the stage to receive Master’s Degrees
in Business Administration, Political Science and International
Affairs, Public Health, English Programs, Law, Industrial Engineering
and Systems Management and Computer and Information Sciences. These
new graduates join AUA’s 1,928 alumni for a total of
2,130. Seventy-four of them now have two master degrees from AUA.
The graduates concluded the exercises by throwing their caps in the
air. Warm words of congratulations were exchanged during an open
reception that followed.
AUA graduates now occupy important leadership positions, such as
Deputy Minister of Justice, Deputy Minister of Defense, Ambassador to
India, as well as many high-level directors and leaders of private
corporations and international organizations.
AUA Accomplishments
Description: Description: of
Health Sciences was selected by the Ministry of Health, USAID and
other international organizations to evaluate the nationwide child
health care state certificate program. It also continues its efforts
on the goal of a tobacco-free Armenia.
Description: Description: of
Law held the first Intellectual Property Moot Court for law students
throughout Armenian here at AUA.
Description: Description: of
Business and Management, in cooperation with the University Curriculum
Committee reviewed, completed and implemented a new business
curriculum, designed to accommodate the needs of working
professionals, including a new 2.5 year professional MBA program with
evening classes.
Description: Description: of
Political Science and International Affairs, together with the US
Embassy, launched a new cycle of the Mentoring Program for Women that
pairs professional women with AUA students.
Description: Description: Acopian
Center for the Environment developed, implemented and is in the
process of publishing a Biodiversity Monitoring System as a tool for
monitoring the exploitation of natural resources, such as forests,
open grasslands and wetlands in Armenia.
Description: Description: team of
cryptography researchers and students from our Computing and
Information Sciences program in the College of Engineering initiated
collaborative research projects with NTX Research and the Volkswagen
Foundation in Hanover, Germany.
Description: Description: team of
computer-aided design students led by an Industrial Engineering and
Systems Management faculty member carried out a collaborative design
of a novel wind turbine, together with colleagues at Florida State
University.
Description: Description: Department
of English Programs convened a very successful conference on language
assessment and research methods in May 2011, including distinguished
scholars from UCLA and Cal. State U. LA. The conference had 130
attendees, all of whom were English teachers in Armenia.
Description: Description: Turpanjian
Rural Development Program through its field offices in Shirak and
Tavush Marzes and in Nagorno Karabagh has so far trained over 675
rural entrepreneurs and helped over 145 businesses in villages.
Description: Description: a
generous donation from the Turpanjian Family Foundation, the digital
Library of Armenian classics and Western Armenian literature developed
a marketing program that is having implications to the marketing of
digitized Armenian cultural artifacts.
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Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia is affiliated with
the University of California system and is accredited by the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges, one of the six regional
accrediting bodies recognized by the US Department of Education.
Through teaching, research and public service, AUA serves Armenia and
the region by supplying high quality education in seven different
major fields, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting democratic
governance.
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