Gerard Libaridian

Jirair Libaridian currently holds the Alex Manoogian Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He specializes in Armenia, the Caucasus, and the Near East. From 1991 to 1997, Dr. Libaridian served as adviser, and then senior adviser to the former President of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrossian, as First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (1993-1994). He is a founding member of the Zoryan Institute (1982) http://www.zoryaninstitute.org/ . He taught previously at a number of universities, and has lectured and written extensively.

Education: ◦1987 Ph.D., History, University of California, Los Angeles ◦ B.A. 1969, California State University, Los Angeles

Awards: ◦1999 Alumnus of the Year (Social Sciences), California State University, Los Angeles ◦ 2000 Man of the Year, Knights of Vartan

Grants: ◦1999 Arthur D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research and Writing Grant

Article

article from California Courier Online Edition, August 23, 2007 needing to be incorporated into this page.

Prof. Gerard Libaridian Appointed New Director of Armenian Studies Program at University of Michigan

ANN ARBOR, MI - The appointment of Professor Gerard J. Libaridian as the new director of the Armenian Studies Program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, was announced last week by Prof. Mark Tessler, the Director of the University's International Institute.

In his new responsibilities Dr. Libaridian will succeed Professor Kevork Bardakjian who has served in that position for more than a decade. Dr. Bardakjian is Marie Manoogian Professor of Armenian Language and Literature. Dr. Bardakjian's most recent work, `A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature: 1500-1920' (Wayne State University, 2000), is now considered the standard in the field. In a special letter written on behalf of the International Institute which houses the Armenian Studies Program and a large number of regional study centers, Professor Tessler thanked Dr. Bardakjian for his unusually long and fruitful service.

With two endowed chairs, lecture series, conferences and special projects, the Armenian Studies Program at the University of Michigan is considered one of the best programs in the Diaspora. In addition to Bardakjian and Libaridian, the core faculty for the Armenian Program on the Ann Arbor campus includes the highly respected historian Ronald Suny, the first holder of the Alex Manoogian Chair in Modern Armenian History and founding director of the Armenian Studies Program. Suny is currently Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Social and Political History and Professor Emeritus of Political Science and History, University of Chicago. His latest work, The Cambridge History of Russia, Volume iii: The Twentieth Century, was released in 2007.

The University of Michigan system also houses, on its Dearborn campus, the Armenian Research Center founded by Dr. Dennis Papazian, and currently led by Professor Ara Sanjian.

Prof. Tessler stated that Professor Libaridian's appointment, for the usual three year term, to begin on September 1, 2007, was based on recommendations from relevant faculty and administrators in the University system and that the change of directorship was routine for such centers and programs.

Prof. Libaridian has been teaching at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor since 2001. He holds the Alex Manoogian Chair of Modern Armenia History; his courses cover Armenian and Caucasus history and politics. In addition to his teaching in the Department of History, Libaridian is affiliated with the Center for Russian and East European Studies, the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies and the Center for European Studies.

Prior to his return to academia, Libaridian served in the administration of the first President of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrossian, from 1991-1997. Priorto his work in Armenia he was director (and co-founder) of the Zoryan Institute for Contemporary Armenian Research and Documentation in Cambridge, Mass., editor of the Armenian Review and director of the ARF/Dashnaktsutiun Archives in Boston. He has taught and published extensively.

Libaridian's 1999 The Challenge of Statehood was published in English, Armenian, French and Turkish. His latest book, Modern Armenia (2004) has just been released in paperback; a French edition of the volume is expected to be released in Paris in September. Libaridian is currently working on two new volumes: "Anatomy of Conflict. Nagorno Karabagh and the New World Order" and "In the Search of the Savior: Armenian Liberation Ideology from the 16th to the 19th Centuries."

Books

• Modern Armenia. People. Nation. State (2004)
• The Challenge of Statehood. Armenian Political Thinking since Independence (1999)
• Armenia at the Crossroads: Democracy and Nationhood in the Post-Soviet Era

Gerard J. Libaridian received a Ph.D. degree in history from the University of California, Los Angeles.