Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

SCSU president Mary Papazian proud of Armenian Heritage

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • SCSU president Mary Papazian proud of Armenian Heritage

    SCSU president Mary Papazian proud of Armenian Heritage

    September 29, 2012 - 12:36 AMT


    PanARMENIAN.Net - Mary A. Papazian, who was inaugurated as the
    president of Southern Connecticut State University, will seek to
    ensure that her university is a highly significant player in the
    higher education landscape of Connecticut and will prepare students
    for a knowledge-based economy in the years ahead.

    `Public universities like Southern (Connecticut State University) must
    lead the way in showing that what we can accomplish here is vitally
    important to the future of our society,' Papazian said.

    `We must make it clear to the public, to the business community, and
    to the political establishment that investing in an institution like
    Southern is not only an investment in the students who attend the
    university, but also by extension, it is an investment in the whole
    community and - and this isn't overstating it - in the very future of
    America.'

    Papazian outlined her vision for SCSU during her inauguration Friday,
    Sept 28, held at the university's Lyman Center for the Performing
    Arts. She is the 11th president of the school in its storied 119-year
    history. She is the second woman to become president at Southern,
    following Cheryl J. Norton, who served from 2004 to 2010. She is also
    believed to be the first Armenian- American woman to lead a U.S.
    university, says a press release received by PanARMENIAN.Net

    Lewis J. Robinson Jr., chairman of the state Board of Regents for
    Higher Education, presided over the ceremony and administered the
    investiture charge to Papazian.

    Guests also included the Rev. Khajag Barsamian, archbishop of the
    Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, and Rouben
    Mirzakhanian, rector of the Armenian State Pedagogical University in
    Yerevan, Armenia.

    Papazian, 53, is an accomplished scholar, particularly with regard to
    British literature. Among her other interests are Armenian history and
    culture.

    She and her husband, Dennis Papazian, have two daughters, Ani and
    Marie. They reside in Woodbridge.

    `Together, we will work to ensure that Southern continues to develop
    into an outstanding, comprehensive, public university of significant
    value to the local community, the state that supports us, and indeed,
    our nation at large,' Papazian said.

    Speaking of her Armenian heritage, she said: `In the United States,
    the Armenians form a small, tightly-knit community, primarily born out
    of the tragic genocide of the early 20th century in which three
    quarters of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire were
    annihilated,' Papazian said.

    `Our roots as Armenians lie in a society and rich culture that span
    thousands of years. The King James Bible says that the Ark of Noah
    landed on the mountains of Armenia (Genesis 8:4), and I might suppose
    that in one sense all of us are Armenian. Because of our shared past,
    we all of Armenian ancestry have common interests and a strong
    connection to each other.'

Working...
X