Richard g. Hovannisian

RICHARD G. HOVANNISIAN

Richard G. Hovannisian is Professor of Armenian and Near Eastern History and Immediate Past Holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Distinguished Chancellor’s Fellow at Chapman University in Southern California. A native of California, he received his B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of California, Berkeley, and Ph.D. in history from UCLA. A member of the UCLA faculty since the 1960s, he has organized both the undergraduate and graduate programs in Armenian history and served as the Associate Director of UCLA's Center for Near Eastern Studies from 1978 to 1995. He became the first Holder of the AEF Chair in 1986. He has also served as a distinguished visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley; California State University, Fresno; Florida Atlantic University; Clark University in Worcester; and the University of California, Irvine.

Professor Hovannisian is a Guggenheim Fellow and has received many honors for his scholarship, civic activities, and advancement of Armenian studies. He is a founder and six-time president of the Society for Armenian Studies and serves on the editorial boards of five journals and on the boards of directors of ten scholarly and civic organizations. He has given hundreds of lectures and participated in numerous international forums and in the media on Armenian issues. Richard Hovannisian represented the State of California on the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) from 1978 to 1994, and has served as a consultant to the California State Board of Education, authoring the chapter on the Armenian Genocide in the State's Social Studies Model Curriculum on Human Rights and Genocide.

Dr. Hovannisian is the recipient of the Medal of Mesrop Mashtots from His Holiness Karekin II of the Great House of Cilicia in 1982, Medal of Saints Sahak and Mesrop from Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II in 2001 and a Pontifical Encyclical in 2013, and Knight of Cilicia from His Holiness Aram I in 2001. In 1990, Richard Hovannisian became the first social scientist living abroad to be elected to the Armenian National Academy of Sciences. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from Yerevan State University (1994) and Artsakh (Karabagh) State University (1997). He has been honored by the Armenian Educational Foundation, Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Facing History and Ourselves Foundation, Jewish World Watch, Hamazkayin, Tekeyan, and Nor Serount Cultural Associations, Armenian National Committee, Western Diocese of the Armenian Church, California State University, and has received commendations from the US Congress, California State Legislature, Los Angeles City Council, Fresno City Council and County Board of Supervisors for his achievements during fifty years of teaching, research, writing, and lecturing worldwide about Armenian history, culture, and current issues.

Richard Hovannisian has published the following works:

Armenia on the Road to Independence (1967).

The Republic of Armenia, 4 volumes (1981-1996);

The Armenian Holocaust (1980);

The Armenian Image in History and Literature (1981),

The Armenian Genocide in Perspective (1986),

The Armenian Genocide: History, Politics, Ethics (1992);

The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, 2 volumes (1997);

Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide (1998);

Enlightenment and Diaspora: The Armenian and Jewish Cases (1999);

Looking Backward, Moving Forward: Confronting the Armenian Genocide (2005);

The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies (2007);

and several other books on Near Eastern history, society, and culture.

He is currently editing and contributing to a series of volumes on historic Armenian cities and provinces. Those published to date include:

1. 
   Armenian Van/Vaspurakan
   
2. 
   Armenian Baghesh/Bitlis and Taron/Mush
   
3. 
   Armenian Karin/Erzerum
   
4. 
   Armenian Tsopk/Kharpert
   
5. 
   Armenian Lesser Armenia and Sebastia/Sivas
   
6. 
   Armenian Tigranakert/Diarbekir and Edessa/Urfa
   
7. 
   Armenian Cilicia
   
8. 
   Armenian Pontus: The Trebizond-Black Sea Communities
   
9. 
   Armenian Constantinople
   
10. 
    Armenian Kars and Ani
    
11. 
    Armenian Smyrna/Izmir
    
12. 
    Armenian Kesaria/Kayseri and Cappadocia