Professor Richard Hovannisian Inducted into Accademia Ambrosiana of Milan

MILANO — UCLA. Professor Richard Hovannisian of UCLA and the Shoah Foundation at USC has been elected to the prestigious Accademia Ambrosiana of Milan for his contributions to the study of Armenian and Near Eastern history. The Biblioteca Ambrosiana, which houses an enormous collection of books and more than 30,000 manuscripts in many languages, together with the renowned art gallery, the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, and the Accademia Ambrosiana were established in the early seventeenth century by Cardinal Federico Borroeo in honor of the patron saint of Milan, St. Ambrosius.

Richard Hovannisian will be inducted into the academy during its Annual Assembly, November 9-11, 2015, in Milan. His inaugural lecture, to be delivered in the Sezione Armena, is titled “Evolution of the Historiography of the Armenian Genocide from 1920 to 2015.” Several other specialists in various fields of Armenian studies will make presentations in the Near Eastern division of the Accademia.

Prior to traveling to Italy, Richard Hovannisian will be at Chapman University on October 13 to serve as a discussant in a symposium on “Looted Art: Stealing Cultural Heritage.” On October 18, he will deliver the keynote address at Marquette University in Milwaukee, with joint sponsorship of the United Armenian Commemorative Committee and Armenian churches of Wisconsin; on October 19, he will make a presentation for the AGBU in Chicago on the Armenians of Gesaria/Kayseri and Asia Minor; on October 20, he will speak to the Armenian church community of Nashville, Tennessee; on October 21, he is the keynote speaker at Middle Tennessee State College’s Holocaust Center in a three-day conference on the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust; and on October 23, he will participate in a panel at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, on the continuing impact of the Armenian Genocide. He will join Professors Alan Whitehorn, Ervin Staub, and Khatchig Mooradian, under the auspices of the United Armenian Commemorative Committee and with the assistance of the Armenian university students of Toronto.