Photo by Gabriel Dillard. Fresno State’s Armenian Studies Program is marking its 50th anniversary this school year.

Fresno State’s Armenian Studies Program is marking its 50th anniversary with a yearlong series of events highlighting its history and ties to the Central Valley’s Armenian community.

The program has roots dating back to 1960, when UCLA professor Richard Hovannisian taught an extension course at Fresno State. Dr. Louise Nalbandian began teaching Armenian history through the department in 1967 before expanding to language and culture courses. 

After Nalbandian’s death in 1974, Armenian studies courses were inactive for about two and a half years. Fresno State hired Dr. Dickran Kouymjian in 1977 to establish the Armenian Studies Program. Under his leadership, Armenian studies courses became part of the university’s general education curriculum. 

Barlow Der Mugrdechian joined the program in 1985 and became its coordinator after Kouymjian retired in 2008.

The anniversary year, which kicked off at the beginning of the school year,  opened with “Asa Oshagan: Armenian Diasporic Trajectories: Los Angeles, Beirut, Artsakh and Fresno,” a photo exhibition looking at Armenian communities across four locations.

The exhibit runs through Sept. 30 at the Fresno State’s Library’s Leon S. Peters Ellipse Gallery. A reception is set for 4 to 6 p.m. on Sept. 13 and admission is free. 

The exhibition includes a collaboration documenting some of Fresno’s oldest Armenian families. 

“What he (Oshagan) is doing is beginning to document the oldest Armenian families in Fresno and taking photos of some of those family members,” Der Mugrdechian said in a Fresno State news release.

Other anniversary events include a Sept. 25 book talk, an international conference on Oct. 23-24 and a musical performance on Oct. 30 featuring operatic soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian. 

The program maintains ties to the community through public lectures, film screenings, art exhibitions and scholarships. It currently has 47 named scholarships supporting students each year.