Annual Alice K. Norian Lecture
Date: Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 5:30PM
Location: School of Social Work, Zachs Community Room, 1798 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford, CT. Get directions.
Agenda:
5:30 pm Reception
6:00 pm Lecture
Speaker:
Harut Sassounian, Publisher & Editor, California Courier
“They Shall Not Perish: The Story of the Near East” Exhibit will also be on display in the Zachs Community Room on April 28, 2016. The Exhibit will be moved to UConn Storrs campus after the lecture, and will remain on display in Laurel Hall until September 20, 2016.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Harut Sassounian is a publisher, syndicated columnist, TV commentator, political analyst, author, award-winning documentary producer, lecturer, and human rights activist. He has been involved in international diplomacy for several decades. He is a specialist on the Middle East, particularly on the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Armenian Genocide, and Turkey-Azerbaijan issues.
He is the President of the Armenia Artsakh Fund and its predecessor, the United Armenian Fund, which have procured and distributed over $730 million of humanitarian aid to Armenia and Artsakh (Karabagh) since 1989.
As Senior Vice President of Kirk Kerkorian’s Lincy Foundation, Mr. Sassounian supervised $242 million of infrastructure projects in Armenia.
Since 1983, Mr. Sassounian has been the publisher and editor of The California Courier newspaper. His weekly commentaries, translated into half a dozen languages, appear in over 200 publications and websites around the world, including the Huffington Post.
He served as a delegate to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, for 10 years from 1978 to 1988. He represented human rights organizations at the U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, the Human Rights Commission, and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Mr. Sassounian worked as an international marketing executive for Procter & Gamble in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1978 to 1982.
He has a Master’s degree in International Affairs and a Certificate in Middle East Studies from Columbia University in New York, and an MBA from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles.
Mr. Sassounian is the author of Armenian Genocide: The World Speaks Out, 1915-2015, Documents and Declarations (2015, published in English and Arabic), and Armenia-Turkey Protocols: Treat or Trick (published in Arabic).
He is the Executive Producer of the award-winning documentary: “Armenia: Bittersweet Freedom.”
For his humanitarian efforts he has been decorated by the Presidents of Armenia and Karabagh, and leaders of the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic Churches. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Read more about Harut Sassounian’s column in The California Courier.