Richard G. Hovannisian is Professor of Armenian and Near Eastern History at the University of California, Los Angeles. He served as the Associate Director of the G.E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies from 1978 to 1995. A member of the UCLA faculty since 1962, he has organized the undergraduate and graduate programs in Armenian and Caucasian history. Dr. Hovannisian, a native of Tulare, California, received his B.A.(1954) and M.A.(1958) degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D.(1966) from UCLA. He was also Associate Professor of History at Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles, from 1966 to 1969. In 1987, Professor Hovannisian was appointed the first holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History at the UCLA. Dr. Hovannisian is the author of Armenia on the Road to Independence (1967, 1969, 1974, 1982); The Republic of Armenia, Volume I (1971, 1974, 1982, 1996), and Volume II (1982, 1996), Volumes III-IV (1996); The Armenian Holocaust (1980); has edited and contributed to The Armenian Image in History and Literature (1981), The Armenian Genocide in Perspective (1986), The Armenian Genocide: History, Politics, Ethics (1992); The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, 2 volumes (1997); Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide (1998), Enlightenment and Diaspora: The Armenian and Jewish Cases (1999), Armenian Van/Vaspurakan (2000), Armenia at the Dawn of the Century (2000), Taron/Moush and Baghesh/Bitlis (2001), Kharperpt/Tsopk (2002)  and seven books on Near Eastern society and culture. He has also published more than fifty scholarly articles.

DR. R.G. HOVANNISIAN'S ENDURING CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF ARMENIAN. NEAR EASTERN AND CAUCASIAN HISTORY

Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian: Jubilee Celebration Honoring More Than Four Decades of Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Armenian, Near Eastern and Caucasian Studies

DAILY BRUIN: Banquet Honors Hovannisian, Begins a Two-Day Conference - Sold-out Event Lauds Accomplishments of Department Founder
By Brooke Dodson


UCLA TODAY: Professor Richard G. Hovannisian - Pioneering Scholar in Armenian History - Professor Hovannisian Marked his 40th Year as a Teacher
By Meg Sullivan

DAILY BRUIN: Exhibit Encourages a Dialogue with History
By Kathleen Mitchell

Richard Hovannisian is a Guggenheim Fellow and has received many honors for his scholarship, civic activities, and advancement of Armenian Studies. His biographical entries are included in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Writers' Directory, and a number of other scholarly and literary reference works. Dr. Hovannisian is a founder and three-time president of the Society for Armenian Studies and represented the State of California on the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE) from 1978 to 1994. He serves on the board of directors of nine scholarly and civic organizations, including the Facing History and Ourselves Foundation; the International Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide; International Alert; the Foundation for Research on Armenian Architecture; and the Armenian National Institute (ANI). He is a member of the editorial boards of the Armenian Review, Ararat, Human Rights Review, Journal for the Society for Armenian Studies, and Mitk, and has made numerous television and radio appearances on issues relating to the Armenian people and Armenian, Near Eastern, and Caucasian history. He has been honored by His Holiness Karekin I with the Medal of St. Mesrop Mashtots for his advancement of Armenian Studies. In 1990, Richard Hovannisian was elected to the Armenian Academy of Sciences, becoming the first social scientist living abroad to be so honored. He has received honorary doctorates from Yerevan State University (1994) and Artsakh State University (1997). In 1998, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the First Republic, Dr. Hovannisian was presented the Movses Khorenatsi medal and award by the President of the Republic of Armenia. On November 9, 2001 a Jubilee honorary celebration marked more than 40 years of Dr. Hovannisian's truly exemplary academic and personal life as a scholar, teacher, mentor and a friend. In 2002, the President of Artsakh on behalf of the people of Nagorno-Karabagh personally presented to Dr. Hovannisian the Republic's Medal of St. Mesrop Mashtots.