Teaching his cultural heritage

Professor discovered passion for all things

Armenian in college

By Travis Ball
The Collegian

At Fresno State Barlow Der Mugrdechian teaches students about an ancient culture and in his 22nd year with the university, the Armenian Studies professor is creating a history of his own.

“I think people are attracted to a culture that is old, number one. It is over 3,000 years old,” Der Mugrdechian said about Armenia. “The thousands of year history brings with it experience in various areas like art and literature and music and history, which is interesting to give a background of how people lived thousands of years ago and how that’s connected to what people are doing today.”

As a cornerstone in Der Mugrdechian’s saga, the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State has become a culture of its own.

“Our program has been here over 40 years,” Der Mugrdechian said. “People know about this program, people in our field know about it.” There are only about a dozen other universities in the United States that offer Armenian studies, he said, and Fresno State probably has the most active undergraduate program.

For a program that offers only a minor, Armenian Studies has been busy: summer trips to Armenia, an honors program, the Armenian Students Organization, the Hye Sharzhoom newspaper and even a partnership with Yerevan State University in Armenia. As the adviser for the Hye Sharzhoom and the Armenian Students Organization for the last 22 years, Der Mugrdechian has been instrumental in it all.

“Everything we do is part of the university. We feel that what we do is helping the entire university life,” Der Mugrdechian said. “I’m kind of tied in with the university.”

The relationship between Der Mugrdechian and Fresno State goes beyond his time as a professor.

He graduated from the university with a degree in biology and a minor in chemistry. While at Fresno State, Der Mugrdechian took language and art courses in Armenian Studies, and later got his master’s degree in Armenian Language and Literature from UCLA.

It was a trip to Armenia for a summer program in 1978 that led Der Mugrdechian down a path towards teaching that he didn’t see coming. “I’m pretty sure that was it that sparked an interest to take more courses and get more involved in Armenia.”

Although Der Mugrdechian didn’t find a greater passion for Armenian studies until college, he’s always been connected with his culture.

“As I grew up I had an identity, I knew that I was Armenian and that was an important part of who I was,” Der Mugrdechian said. It was in 1881 that the first Armenians settled in the United States, he said. Der Mugrdechian, who was born in Fresno, said the city was the location for the first community of Armenians in California, and his grandparents were part of that immigrant generation.

Der Mugrdechian has visited Armenia more than 20 times, and he enjoys the trip because it provides an atmosphere where everything is Armenian. “The culture, it is different than being here in America.

There’s a different pace to the life, it is a little bit slower lifestyle.”

Now at Fresno State Der Mugrdechian is trying to get his students to see the joy in seeing where they come from firsthand.

“I think it’s been almost unanimously just a great experience, they really think it’s one of the best things that they ever did,” Der Mugrdechian said about students traveling to Armenia. He said it has awakened a greater awareness in those students and helped them become closer to Armenia.

For Der Mugrdechian a big question is, “why not?” Take a few Armenian studies courses, why not? He said other than UCLA and Berkeley, Fresno State is really the only place where you can go and do it in California. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re Armenian or not. “You’re here at the university, it fills GE courses, so why not take it?”

Grigor Kyutunyan, president of the Armenian Students Organization, was born in Armenia and said the opportunity to go back is available at Fresno State. Kyutunyan, a junior majoring in business with a minor in Armenian Studies, said Der Mugrdechian knows a lot about the Armenian culture and is learning a lot more. “He knows what he’s talking about.”

For Der Mugrdechian the saying, “seeing is believing,” holds a lot of truth.

“If you’ve learned about something or heard about something all your life, and then you finally go it’s different than what you expect,” Der Mugrdechian said about seeing Armenia. “It’s different and better in many ways than anything you can learn about in a classroom. That’s why it’s important for students to go, to see what there is, that way they’ll understand that this is a real place.”

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