ARPA INSTITUTE

18106 Miranda St., Tarzana CA 91356 . PHONE/FAX (818) 881-0010

Nalbandyan 7, #1, Yerevan, Armenia. Tel: (374 2)545538 (39), Fax:151167

 Presents: Lecture/Seminar

                           By Onnik Keshishian

“A Conversation on Armenian Education in the Diaspora”

Thursday, September 3, 2009, 7:30PM

Merdinian Auditorium, 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

Directions: On 101 FY Exit Woodman, go North 1 block, turn Right on Riverside Dr. 

Abstract: In 1964, the first Armenian Day school in the United States (US) was established in Encino California with twelve students. For years it had about a hundred students. In the following few years, a number of other day schools were established throughout the US and Canada. The lecture will be a conversation concerning the purpose, need, efficacy and utility of the Armenian schools in the Diaspora, and a very cursory look into the Armenian schools through the post genocide era. The intention is to raise certain pertinent questions and suggest approaches to some solutions. It will not be a polemical discourse on the subject. Some of the ideas that will be discussed will cover the lack of a coordinated educational plan or activity in our school system, such as the Prelacy Schools. The latter has a Board of Regents, which organizes the school calendar; sets up teachers` orientation and appoints or “anoints” school principals. Each school runs its own affair independently/autonomously; with no coordination among the schools. Furthermore, there is a lack of communication between these schools, and especially none among the various Armenian schools under varying communities. (Prelacy, ABGU, Mekhitarist, Sisters Academy, etc).  There does not seem to be even cursory contacts among the Armenian schools in different parts of the United State. Finally some comments on the future of these schools and the Armenian language in the Diaspora.

Dr. Onnig Keshishian, completed his doctoral studies at the Claremont Graduate University, California. He has taught Political Science and International Relations at the Idaho State University, State University of New York at Potsdam and in Plattsburgh, NY.  At both institutions, he also taught Armenian history and politics. He was a National Science Foundation Fellow at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in “Mathematical Applications in Political Science IV.” At Potsdam, with Prof. Bertman, Dr. Keshishian established Agora, a journal in humanities and social science.  He has read papers and chaired at various conferences at univer