Dr. Simon Maghakyan Named 20th Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies

FRESNO — Dr. Simon Maghakyan, a political scientist known for his pioneering forensic and theoretical research on heritage and security, has been named the 20th Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno for the Fall 2024 semester.

“It is a humbling honor to hold the distinguished position of Kazan Visiting Professor,” stated Dr. Maghakyan. “Being entrusted with a position inaugurally held by the late Richard Hovannisian – the giant of modern Armenian studies – is a heavy yet heartwarming responsibility. At Fresno State, I look forward to exploring heritage and conflict with students, faculty, and the at-large community, including assessing stakeholder agency in the present and future of the indigenous material past in post-genocide Turkey and Azerbaijan.”

“We are happy to welcome Dr. Maghakyan for the fall semester,” said Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Berberian Coordinator of the Armenian Studies Program. “Dr. Maghakyan will provide students with an opportunity to learn more about the significance of Armenian cultural monuments and efforts to erase or distort their historical importance.”

In addition to serving as the 20th Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno, Dr. Maghakyan is a Community Scholar at the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Studies, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford. Previously, he was affiliated with Tufts University, the University of Colorado, Denver, and Cranfield University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Defense and Security, focusing on heritage crime. His practical experiences range from founding Heritage Intel consultancy to spearheading Colorado’s capitol genocide memorial.

Maghakyan’s publications include a Hyperallergic exposé of Nakhichevan’s cultural erasure, acclaimed as “groundbreaking” by Forbes and “rock-solid” by The Guardian. His analyses have been featured by the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Time. His forthcoming book, Sovereign Heritage Crime: Security, Autocracy, and the Material Past, is a critical heritage studies element of Cambridge University Press.

As the 20th Kazan Visiting Professor, Dr. Maghakyan will teach an upper-division course titled “Armenian Heritage and Conflict in Fall 2024,” and will give three public lectures at Fresno State on the past, present, and future of Turkey’s Armenian past. His first public lecture will take place on September 27, the fourth anniversary of the start of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.