Professor Kevork B. Bardakjian was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He received his first degrees in Armenian studies from the University of Yerevan and his D.Phil. from Oxford University, England. As a Senior Lecturer and Armenian Bibliographer he taught Armenian literature, language, culture and history at Harvard University and at the Harvard Extension from 1974 to 1987. In 1987, he became the first holder of the newly-established Marie Manoogian Chair of Armenian Language and Literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and founded, directed, and taught at, the University of Michigan Summer Armenian Institute in Yerevan, Armenia (1988-2009). From 1995 to 2007, he was Director of the Armenian Studies Program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Professor Bardakjian has been active in the Society for Armenian Studies and a number of other professional societies, has served on the editorial boards of some Armenian studies journals, has published many books and articles and has lectured extensively in the US and abroad. Professor Bardakjian is a Fellow of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences and is currently President of the Society for Armenian Studies.