ARS "Norian" Youth Connect Program
Investing in our Youth
The ARS Summer Studies Institute began in 1971 as a three-week intensive educational program that focused on Armenian language, history, literature, music, art, film, and etc. The program even granted 3 college credits to students who participated.
Aside from its academic aspect, the program offered Armenian college students from all over the world a chance to meet, connect, engage, and discuss the similarities and differences between their own hometowns and their own educational background. The program drew a diverse student body even from countries such as Canada, France, and Russia.
Over the years the program has changed to meet the challenges of today's students.
In 2010, the Program was redesigned and offered as a one-week program. Dr. Asbed Kotchikian headed it successfully rotating between different cities like Boston, New York, and Chicago. In 2014, Dr. Khatchig Mouradian was assigned the Program Director and has since led the program. Twice a year, the ARS Youth Connect Program takes place in New York (March) and in New England (Connecticut or Boston). Hundreds of students have participated over the years, taking with them important lessons and unforgettable memories.
Both the Summer Studies and the current program have been made possible by the Norian Endowment Fund which has been created through the generous donation of Alice Norian and her sister Doris Norian-Lenz, who had a strong belief to promote Armenian Studies in the United States.
Program Director
Dr. Khatchig Mouradian
Khatchig Mouradian is a lecturer in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS) at Columbia University in the City of New York.
Mouradian is the author of articles on genocide, mass violence, and unarmed resistance, the co-editor of a forthcoming book in late Ottoman history, and the editor of the peer-reviewed journal The Armenian Review. Mouradian holds a PhD in History from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University and a graduate certificate in Conflict Resolution from UMass Boston. He is the recipient of a Calouste Gilbenkian Research Fellowship to write the history of the Armenian community in China in the 19th and 20th centuries (2014). He is also the recipient of the first Hrant Dink Justice and Freedom Award of the Organization of Istanbul Armenians (2014). He serves on the Executive Committee of the Society of Armenian Studies (SAS) since 2015. Dr. Mouradian has been serving as the Program Director since 2013. Due to his ongoing efforts, he was also awarded the ARS Agnouni Award in 2018.
Stephanie Ayanian,
Filmmaker
"What Will Become of Us"
Dr. Houri Berberian,
Historian at UC Irvine
Raffi Khatchadourian,
Investigative Journalist
The New Yorker
Dr. Vikrant Yadav
post-doctoral fellow
Yale University
Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian
Professor - Oxford University
Dr. Jennifer Dixon
Professor - Villanova University
Dr. Ora Szekely
Professor - Clark University
Matthew Karanian
Photographer
Presentations from
Sipan Ohannesian of ANCA,
Nairi Krafian of Oknooshoon,
and Lily Torossian of H-pem
Heghnar Z. Watenpaugh
Author of "The Missing Pages: The Modern Life of a Medieval Manuscript from Genocide to Justice"
Mari Manoogian
MI House of Representatives
Alexandra Boghosian
a graduate research fellow in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at Columbia University
Christina Mehranbod
ARS UN Coordinator
Nancy Kricorian
Author of "Zabelle," "Dreams of Bread and Fire," and "All The Light There Was"
