YEREVAN — The American University of Armenia (AUA) has announced the establishment of the J. Barkev M. Kassarjian Program, a five-year initiative promoting the faculty’s professional development and teaching excellence at the University. Made possible by a major gift from the J. Barkev M. Kassarjian Charitable Trust, the Program will enable AUA to better prepare its faculty with specialized content and a targeted approach, promoting entrepreneurship and transforming knowledge into applied thinking. This will make learning more relevant to professional practice.
This groundbreaking program aims to implement its initiative by promoting case-based education for graduate management studies at the Manoogian Simone College of Business and Economics (CBE), as well as the Zaven P. and Sonia Akian College of Science and Engineering (CSE). It focuses on building appreciation, skills, and adoption of case-based education, thereby incorporating experiential learning and practicum into graduate education. The Program aims to focus on quality case studies that resonate with students connected to both Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. Its overall goal is to bring the best of entrepreneurial education to educators in Armenia and to facilitate the adoption of innovative techniques and approaches in the classroom.
Highlighting the numerous ways the Program will be beneficial, CBE Dean Dr. Vache Gabrielyan comments, “Case teaching is a staple of business education. Enriching studies at AUA with cases grounded in Armenian and Diaspora realities will enhance our students’ educational experience, making it richer and more context-aware. Not only will we discuss cases in the classroom that students can better relate to, but we will also employ the most advanced approaches and techniques, fostering active discussions and better absorption of core concepts.”
Another key component of the Program involves inviting renowned professors from around the world to visit AUA for a set period each year. During their visit, they will deliver workshops and lectures on topics of interest to AUA students, as well as assist with case writing and analysis.
As the inaugural professor to conduct the first series of lectures, Dr. Sam Hariharan, a former colleague of J.B. Kassarjian at Babson College, shares how he came to participate in the faculty master class on case teaching and case writing at AUA. With over four decades of experience in the field, he explains how case discussions take students on a journey of exploration and discovery through which they learn to cope with decision-making in real-world situations with incomplete and sometimes conflicting information. “They learn to structure challenging complex managerial problems, pose probing questions, identify key assumptions, generate multiple feasible options for actions, and finally, decide on a course of action based on chosen criteria,” Dr. Hariharan says, adding, “Good case discussions teach participants how effective managers think, analyze, and act. Good facilitation of case discussions enables participants to learn these skills as active participants in the learning process.”
Kassarjian’s aim was to emphasize the richness of the case method to faculty members in Armenia, building their trust and appreciation for the value that teaching and writing case studies can create for both students and faculty engaged in case discussions. The trustees of the J.B. Kassarjian Charitable Trust felt that AUA was the perfect environment to begin the work Kassarjian envisioned.
When developing his approach to teaching, Dr. Hariharan felt that, rather than lecturing faculty members on how to teach cases, it would be more effective to “get faculty members excited about the case method by demonstrating how case discussions flow spontaneously, guided by the directions the class chooses to take, albeit with the facilitation and intervention of the discussion leader so that the learning objectives are realized.” With the participation of both undergraduate and MBA students, he demonstrated the effectiveness of increased student engagement and learning. In one of the sessions, he utilized a case study, co-authored by J.B. Kassarjian, on WineWorks, an Armenian company, with key executives from the company and the other co-author, AUA professor Michael Kouchakdjian, present in the classroom.
“I think student engagement and learning also increase when they are discussing companies and businesses they are familiar with, whose products they use, and are eager to learn more about. Additionally, well known, successful brands — both local and global — are often of great interest to participants and serve as good analogies when they develop business ventures or strategies in their professional pursuits,” Dr. Hariharan adds that the benefits of using case studies on Armenian enterprises and entrepreneurs include, “First, it increases participant engagement and learning, given that they are likely to be familiar with the context in which the business operates. Second, the possibility of bringing executives from the business being discussed into the classroom significantly enhances the quality of the discussion and creates the possibility for future engagement with the business, potentially becoming a recruiter from the school. Third, the faculty member writing the case may have the potential to engage with the business for research or professional development.”
Citing the example of how nearly all top global B-schools extensively use case studies in both business education and executive training, Dr. Hariharan believes increasing the use of case studies in AUA programs will distinguish the University’s business program from others in Armenia and the region. Furthermore, he feels that this approach will better prepare students for their future roles as managers and executives. “Cases authored by AUA faculty and published by AUA can increase the visibility of the University in the region. It can help deepen the links between AUA and the local enterprises and their executives. Such links may help AUA students find internships and career opportunities, which in turn may increase AUA’s attractiveness for potential students. Finally, the deeper relationships can help the University develop executive programs, and help AUA faculty in many ways, including their teaching and consulting, and especially in applied research,” he explains.
Sevanne Kassarjian, trustee for the Trust, explains that their primary goal is to support educators in entrepreneurial leadership and graduate education in partnership with AUA. This aligns with the Trust’s overarching aim to deepen the global reservoir of Armenian talent and original thinking while supporting the training of faculty and institutions in related fields. “Through these efforts, the J. Barkev M. Kassarjian Charitable Trust and AUA will work together to prepare educators with content (cases) and the approach (case method and other educator programs) for a classroom setting that promotes entrepreneurship and builds beyond knowledge acquisition into applied thinking, thereby making learning more relevant to professional and cultural dilemmas they will face,” she explains.
The Program, set to continue for the next five years, will include an organized annual competition for case writing by faculty. Additionally, AUA faculty will have the opportunity to attend the Price Babson Seminar in Entrepreneurial Education (SEE Program) at Babson College, and the International Management Teacher’s Academy (IMTA) at the Bled School of Management. AUA is grateful for the partnership of the J. Barkev M. Kassarjian Charitable Trust and looks forward to sharing updates on the Program’s successful outcomes in the future.
