1996_05 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper May 1996

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HYE SHARZHOOM
Armenian Action
^U3 eUPcMIMJ
May 1996
Vol. 17, No. 4 (54)
Supplement to The Collegian
Henry S. Kazan Endows $300,000 For New CSUF Professorship
In a moving press conference on
April 8, California State University, Fresno President, Dr. John
Welty,formally announced the gift
of $300,000 made by Victoria and
Henry Kazan of Juno Beach,
Florida for the establishment ofthe
Henry S. Khanzadian Kazan Professorship inModernArmenian and
Immigration History.
Dr. Dickran Kouymjian,
ofthe Armenian Studies Program,
Introduced the honored guests with
these words:
"Victoria and Henry
Kazan met and married in New
York. Both are from Sebastia, the
modem city of Sivas, in east central
Turkey. They were among the rare
Armenians who had left the Ottoman Turkish Empire before 1915
and thereby survived theGenocide.
Henry Kazan was from the village
of Zara, about 30 miles east of
Sebastia. At age eight, he and his
mother were sent to America by a
grandfather who booked passage
in steerage. He just missed the
annihilation of the Armenians.
Everyone left in Zara was killed;
there were no survivors.
"Growing up as an immigrant boy in the Armenian ghetto
of Manhattan's east side, Henry
Kazan quickly mastered English,
American ways, and picked up
"street smarts". He was an outstanding student, but had to stop
going to day school in order to
support the family. He continued
his studies at night, finishing high
school and then enrolling at New
York University, completing a BA
in History entirely through night
schcolcourses. Hedidn'tstop there,
earning his law degrees, both LLB
and JD, again at night, at St. John's
University, after which he was admitted to the New York Bar.
"After serving in the US
Army during World War n, he
worked in the coal mining business
in Pennsylvania and then landed
the final job of his career with the
NuTone Company, maker of electrical household products and lighting fixtures. Through tenacity and
hard work, he eventually became a
regional sales director and an important NuTone stockholder.
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Photo by Moysis Nicolaou
From left to right: Dr. Alex Gonzalez, Or. John Welty, Mrs. M.
Victoria Kazan, Mr. Henry S. Kazan, Dr. Dickran Kouymjian, and
Dr. Peter Klassen.
"Victoria and Henry
Kazan are "hooked" on higher education. Three of their nieces and
nephews, who they treat as their
own children, are academics in the
humanities and social sciences.
Henry Kazan would have been a
history professor if he had had a
choice. Perhaps this helps explain
why the Kazans feel so strongly
about endowing a professorship in
Armenian, immigration, and Genocide history. Henry Kazan could
think of no better way to invest
some of his and Victoria Kazan's
money than in a permanent endowment for teaching and research in
precisely those subjects which have
shaped their lives for the past eight
decades. Fresno State is fortunate
that the Kazans' horizons reached
3000 miles west of the Atlantic
Ocean."
Mr. Kazan then explained
why he and his wife came so far to
enhance Armenian Studies at Frsno
State. "The reason I am here is
simple," he said, addressing the
press and television, "Fresno State
has the best and most active Armenian studies program in the country. I was approached by my alma
mater New York University, but
they could not offer me what I
wanted... For the last several years,
I have been trying to combat the
Turkish government's saying that
there was no genocide. I know
there was one. I escaped it by 15
months."
A Day with Henry Kazan
By Sean Clark
Our lives are the sum of
the experiences which we go
through. The hardships, joys, tri-
See KAZAN, Page 8
Professor Kouymjian Chosen For ILC. Berkeley Chair     Armenian Professor Wins Award
Staff Article
v
:■:■-::
University of California
Berkeley has decided upon Dr^
Dickran Kouymjian as the second
Saroyan Professor of Armenian
Studies. The endowed chair, officially called The William Saroyan
and Krouzian Visiting Professor of
Armenian Studies, brings a distinguished Armenian specialist to the
Berkeley campus in each fall semester to offer acourse in his or her
area of specialization. It was formally established last year thanks
to the long term efforts ofthe U.C.
Berkeley Armenian Alumni Association and a series of community
wide annual fund drives.
Thanks to an endowment
from Krikor Krouzian and Zovinar
Davidian-Krouzian of San Francisco, the program got started in the
fall of 1995. Prof. Richard
Hovannisian, of UCLA, taught a
course in modem Armenian history.
The U.C. Berkeley decided in consultation with Prof.
Armen Der Kiureghian, the highly
motivated campus coordinator for
the Saroyan Professorship, and
Prof. Kouymjian mat a course on
William Saroyan would be most
appropriate for a program named
after the famous Fresno writer. It
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Dr. Kouymjian with painting by
William Saroyan.
will be offered under International
and Area Studies (IAS 150, Section 2) and cross-listed as English
166 (Special Topics) on Mondays
and Wednesdays from 2-4 P.M. in
155 Kroeber Hall. Emphasis will
be on Saroyan's dramatic works,
his films, unpublished plays, memoirs from his last years, and his
unwavering anti-establishment
views.
Dr. Kouymjian has also
agreed to offer an Armenian film
course on Monday evenings from
7-10 P.M. in 142 Dwinelle Hall.
The course entitled Armenian Film
will be listed as IAS 150, Section 1
and cross listed as Film Studies
160, National Cinema. Particular
attention will be given to famous
Armenian directors Bek-Nazarov,
Mamoulian, Paradjanov,Peleshian,
andEgoyan,without neglecting the
works of lesser known contemporary Armenian filmmakers. Several directors of documentaries and
feature films will be invited to
present their creations personally.
For furtherinforrnation on
these courses and enrollment for
students and the general public,
contact the Center for Slavic and
Eastern European Studies at Berkeley, (510) 642-3230.
After teaching at Columbia University, the American University of Beirut, the American
University in Cairo, the American
University in Paris, the University
of Paris-Sorbonne, and Yerevan
State University (on a Fulbright
Lectureship), Dickran Kouymjian
will lend his talents to U.C. Berkeley, commuting back and forth to
attend to his Fresno State duties.
When asked about the new challenge, he reflected that the value of
any teaching experience rests on
the relationship established between the professor and the class.
"Students anywhere — Fresno,
Berkeley, Paris—need to be motivated and engaged, made to feel
that they too can add to the understanding of a subject, and contribute to theintellectualprocess which
is the defining experience of a university."
Staff Article
Barlow Der Mugrdechian ofthe
Armenian Studies Program was
selected to receive the Provost's
Excellence in Teaching Award for
Faculty Service.
The formal announcement of the
award was made by Dr. Alexander
Gonzalez, Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs at a reception honoring the recipient
The Faculty Service Award was
one of four awards for Excellence
in Teaching announced by die Provost
The Faculty Service Award is
given annually for outstanding service to the University community
and the community-at-large'. Activities include participation and
contribution to department, school,
and University committees, and
documented contributions to the
community-at-large which are related to one's discipline or position.
Der Mugrdechian was honored
for his activities and interactions
with the greater Fresno community.
The Hye Talk TV show in particular has achieved great success
within the community. Hye Talk is
a half an hour TV show sponsored
by the Armenian Studies Program
and hosted by Der Mugrdechian.
His Holiness Karekin I, Catholicos
of All Armenians, was a guest in
February.
An Exhibit at the Fresno Art
Museum on the Armenian Genocide which was set up in March and
April of this year and a Photographic Exhibit which was mounted
at the Henry Madden Library at
Fresno Statewere also mentioned.
Der Mugrdechian's frequent
community speaking engagements
and the time and energy devoted to
the annual Armenian Studies Banquet were also cited by the Provost
in a letter which announced the
award. 	
Inside...
April 24,
Commemoration
CD Review
Khatch Vartan