Established in 1987, the Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History at the Department of History serves as a landmark position in the teaching and scholarship of Armenian history at UCLA. With recognition to its inaugural holder, Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian, whose name the title is honored after, the Chair provides undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to engage in Armenian historical study of the homeland and the diaspora from a holistic, world-historical or global history methodological perspective, with emphasis on early modern and modern periods. The chair is currently held by Dr. Sebouh D. Aslanian who, outside the classroom, organizes a number of research conferences, lectures, and other related events on campus including, most recently, Armeno-Indica: Four Centuries of Familiarity and Friendship in the spring of 2023.
The Program in Armenian Languages and Culture, housed within the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (NELC), is the heart of Armenian language research and instruction at UCLA. With all three major standards of the language included in its breadth of classes, including Classical, Modern Eastern, and Modern Western, the program also provides a range of courses on Armenian cultural expressions such as poetry, drama, and film. Its collaboration with the Department of Music also introduces a new, cross-listed introductory course in Armenian Music. The program also hosts the annual Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies, founded in 2002 as an international research conference for graduate students in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
On an undergraduate level, the program provides eligible students with the opportunity to complete its minor in Armenian Studies, as well as a concentration in Armenian for those completing the NELC department’s major in Middle Eastern Studies. Graduate degrees are also offered in Armenian Studies at both the M.A. and Ph.D. levels.
Directing the program is the Narekatsi Chair in Armenian Studies. Founded by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) in 1960, it is considered the oldest endowed chair at UCLA and one of the first established in Armenology in the United States. The chair is currently held by Dr. Peter Cowe, whose research interests and expertise span the fields of medieval Armenian history, modern Armenian nationalism, and Armenian film and theater.
The Kachigian Family Lectureship
The Kachigian Family Lectureship in Armenian Language and Culture, endowed by the estate of siblings George and Alice Kachigian, supports the research, development, and application of cutting-edge language revitalization and preservation techniques in the field of Armenian studies. Ongoing projects by inaugural Kachigian Family Lecturer Dr. Hagop Kouloujian include his Language in Action project at UCLA, establishing and encouraging creative literacy in Western Armenian on an accessible, student level.
Directed by Dr. Kristine Martirosyan-Olshansky, the Armenian Lab within the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA is a collaborative research space dedicated to the archaeology and early history of Armenia. Hosting a number of ongoing research projects, the lab provides students and community members the opportunity to engage in archaeological survey and study of the region.
Founded by Dr. Zaruhy Sara Chitjian in partnership with the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, the UCLA Research Program in Armenian Archaeology and Ethnography was first established in 2013 as a means to connect Armenian material with developing interdisciplinary studies in the Social Sciences and Humanities, as well as to continue the legacy of Armenian cultural heritage preservation at UCLA.
The program’s ethnographic branch is working to catalogue and digitize the Hampartzoum and Ovsanna Chitjian Collection and Archives. Its archeological branch includes the Armenian Lab, a collaborative research space dedicated to the archaeology and early history of Armenia.