Conferences

Conferences presented at

18-19 March 2016-"Empire, Politics, and War: The Armenian Genocide Within the Context of the Ottoman Empire." Organized by Barlow Der Mugrdechian and Umit Kurt. Presentation of "A Survivor's Memoir: Siranoosh My Child," by Barlow Der Mugrdechian.

22 November 2015-Middle East Studies Association, organized and chaired a panel on “Towards an Understanding of Identity: Ottoman Armenian Art, Literature, and Music.” Sponsored by the Society for Armenian Studies. Denver, Colorado.

21 November 2015-Society for Armenian Studies conference, “The Impact of the Armenian Genocide,” gave a paper on “The Impact of the Genocide on Armenian-American Literature.” Denver, Colorado.

3-5 October 2014-SAS 40th Annual Workshop, Yerevan, Armenia. Paper “The Theme of Genocide in Armenian-American Literature.”

16-19 October 2013-2nd International Conference on Armenian Studies, “Armenian Studies and the Challenges of Modern Times” organized by the Armenian Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia. Participated and presented a paper on “The Theme of Genocide in Twentieth Century Armenian-American Literature.”

11-13 October 2013-Middle East Studies Association (MESA) 47th Annual conference. Participated in the SAS Annual Meeting and Executive Council Meeting held in New Orleans, LA.
Organized and chaired a panel on “A Re-Evaluation: Armenian Art and Architecture in 18th and 19th Century Constantinople.”
Chaired a roundtable on “New Strategies and Methodologies for Teaching of Modern Armenian Language, Part 2.”

17-19 November 2012-Middle East Studies Association (MESA) 46th Annual Conference. Participated in the SAS Annual Meeting and Executive Council Meeting held in Denver, CO.
Organized and chaired a panel on “History and Community: The Armenians of Lebanon and Syria.”
Organized and chaired a roundtable on “New Strategies and Methodologies for Teaching of Modern Armenian.”

1-4 December 2011- Middle East Studies Association (MESA) 45th Annual Conference. Participated in the SAS Annual Meeting held in Washington, D.C.

4 November 2011-Presented a paper on “Living with Genocide: Armenian Culture in the Post-genocide Period,” at the Third International Conference on Genocide held at California State University, Sacramento.

13-16 October 2011-Participated in the “State of Armenian Studies” workshop at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Sponsored by the University of Michigan, Armenian Studies Program.

20 November 2010-Middle East Studies Association (MESA) 44th Annual Conference. Der Mugrdechian organized and chaired a panel on “Grappling with the Memory of the Genocide: Turkish and Armenian Responses.”

9 October 2010-3rd Annual Middle East Studies Conference, Fresno State. Der Mugrdechian organized a panel on “The Armenian Genocide: Literary and Historical Perspectives” and presented a paper on “Memory and Identity in Post Genocide Armenian-American Literature.”

24 November 2009-Middle East Studies Association (MESA) 43rd Annual Conference. Der Mugrdechian organized a panel on “Remembrances and Reconciliation: Themes in Armenian and Turkish Literature” and presented a paper on “Memory and Identity in Fethiye Çetin’s Memoir My Grandmother.”

2-3 October 2009-Gave a paper on “The Role of the University in the Community” as part of the YSU 90th anniversary conference,” Yerevan, Armenia.

16-19 April 2009-Gave a paper on “Genocide, Identity, and Memory in Post-Genocide Armenian-American Literature,” at the Workshop on Armenian Literature, held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and organized by the Armenian Studies Program there.

26-28 March 2009-Participated in a Panel on Armenian Chairs and Program Directors as part of the Society for Armenian Studies 35th Anniversary Conference, “Armenian Studies at a Threshold,” held at UCLA.

18-20 September 2008-Participated in a major workshop on “The Status of Armenian Studies,” held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Representing the Society for Armenian Studies.

23 March, 2007-Gave a paper on “William Saroyan: Discovering Meaning Out of Dislocation and Exile” as part of the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature in the United States (MELUS), 21st Annual Conference, Fresno, California.

November 18-19, 2006-Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
Organized a panel: “Historical Memory and Identity: Exploring the Impact of the 1915-1916 Events in Armenian and Turkish Literature” and gave a paper on “Three Apples Fell from Heaven: Memory and Identity in Post-Genocide Armenian Literature.”

Nov. 19, 2006-Chaired a panel on “Narrative and Identity in the Armenian Press, 1850-1923.” Sponsored by the Society for Armenian Studies. MESA Conference.

November 19-21, 2005-Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
Organized a panel: “Ninety Years: The Armenian Genocide in Literature, Memoir, and Film” and gave a paper on “Across the Chasm: From Catastrophe to Creativity.”

September 24, 2005-Participated in an international conference on “The 1600th Anniversary of the Armenian Alphabet,” UCLA, and gave a paper on “The Political Situation in Armenia Prior to the Discovery of the Armenian Alphabet” organized by the Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural Association.

November 21, 2003-presented a paper on “Higher Education Reform: The Case of the Faculty of Economics at Yerevan State University,” as part of a panel “Education and Family in Post-Soviet Armenia” at the Annual Conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies held in Toronto, Canada.

October 2003-Attended the First International Conference on Armenian Studies, held in Yerevan, Armenia. Participated as President of the Society for Armenian Studies.

October 4-6, 2002-National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (Belmont, MA)-was invited to present a paper on “The Society for Armenian Studies: A 28 year view, 1974-2002” as part of an international conference, “Rethinking Armenian Studies: Past, Present, and Future."

June 10, 2002-Presented a discussion on the Armenian genocide as part of the San Joaquin Valley History/Social Science Project, “One Out of Many” summer institute held at Fresno State.

March 20-21, 2002-Presented a paper, “Issues in Language Pedagogy: Armenian” at the 5th Annual Mid-Eastern Conference at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

November 19, 2001-Discussant for a panel “Constructions of the Feminine in Modern Armenian Literature,” at the 35th Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, held in San Francisco.

March 20, 1999-Chaired a panel at the “Saroyan at Ninety” conference organized by the Armenian Studies Program, California State University, Fresno.

Dec. 6-10, 1995-Presented a paper, “Across the Chasm: From Catastrophe to Creativity,” at the 30th Annual Conference of the Middle East Studies Association, Washington, D.C.

Nov. 20, 1994-Presented a paper, “Formation of an Armenian-American Identity: Peter Najarian’s Daughters of Memory” at the 29th Annual Conference of the Middle East Studies Association, Phoenix, AZ.

Nov. 19, 1994-Presented a paper, “Formation of an Armenian-American Identity: Peter Najarian’s Daughters of Memory” at the 20th Anniversary conference of the Society for Armenian Studies. UCLA.

May 7, 1989-Presented a paper on “Armenians in California Agriculture,” as part of a symposium on “Ethnicity in California Agriculture.” Session 1-“Americans All: Variety in Ethnic Agriculture.” Sponsored by the Western Jewish History Center of the Magnes Museum. University of California, Berkeley.

May 15, 1988-Public Humanities Conference-Cultures in Transition-Immigration in the Central Valley. “Image and Memory: Armenian Survivors in the San Joaquin Valley.” Moderated the panel discussion. Sponsored by the California Council for the Humanities. Fresno, California.