Tweet
AMB. DJEREJIAN TO SPEAK AT 'NAJARIAN ENDOWED LECTURE' IN BOSTON'S FANEUIL HALL
Armenian Weekly
September 26, 2012
The third annual K. George and Carolann S. Najarian, M.D. Endowed
Lecture on Human Rights will be held on Thurs., Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at
Boston's historic Faneuil Hall. Free and open to the public, the
lecture is an endowed public program of the Armenian Heritage
Foundation, the sponsor of the Armenian Heritage Park on Rose
Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston.
Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian In celebration of the opening of the
Armenian Heritage Park and of the central theme of the Greenway-the
immigrant experience-it is fitting that this year's speaker is
Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian, the founding director of the James
A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and a former U.S. ambassador
to Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic.
A first generation Armenian-American and the son of survivors of the
Armenian Genocide. Djerejian is an outstanding example of the kind
of achievement, leadership, public service, and commitment to human
rights. Djerejian has also worked to assist Armenia and Artsakh in
their transition to democracy and peace.
Djerejian served in the U.S. Foreign Service under eight presidents,
from John F. Kennedy to William J. Clinton (1962-94). Prior to his
nomination by Clinton as U.S. ambassador to Israel (1993-1994), he
was assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in both
the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations (1991-93). He was
the U.S. ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic (1988-91) and also
served as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and deputy press
secretary for foreign affairs in the White House (1985-86). After his
retirement from government service in 1994, he became the founding
director of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at
Rice University.
His book, Danger and Opportunity: An American Ambassador's Journey
Through the Middle East, was published by Simon & Schuster in September
2008. Djerejian has been awarded the Presidential Distinguished
Service Award, the Department of State's Distinguished Honor Award,
and numerous other honors, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor
and the Anti-Defamation League's Moral Statesman Award.
He is also a recipient of the Association of Rice Alumni's Gold Medal,
the group's most prestigious award, for his service to Rice University.
In 2011, Djerejian was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, and named to the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie
Corporation of New York by its president, Dr. Vartan B. Gregorian.
"We are honored and pleased that the ambassador has accepted our
invitation to speak in this inaugural year of Armenian Heritage Park,"
said Dr. Carolann S. Najarian, who with her husband George endowed
this lecture series in honor of her father, Avedis Abrahamian.
The lecture series was inspired by the New England women and
men-intellectuals, politicians, diplomats, religious leaders, and
ordinary citizens-who, beginning in the 1890's at Faneuil Hall, heard
the eye-witness accounts of the atrocities taking place against the
Armenian minority of the Ottoman Empire during World War I and were
called to action. Distinguished Bostonians, among them Julia Ward Howe,
Clara Barton, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Alice Stone Blackwell,
heard these accounts and were moved to assist the Armenians. As
a result, the American Red Cross launched its first international
mission with Clara Barton bringing aid to the Armenians.
Philanthropists nationwide raised over $100 million in aid. This was
America's first internationally focused human rights movement. Peter
Balakian's The Burning Tigris (HarperCollins, 2003) made many aware
of this New England history.
The lecture is being offered in partnership with historical and
academic institutions, and human rights organizations. The purpose of
the endowed series is to advance understanding of human rights issues
and the societal abuses faced by millions today, and to increase
awareness of the work of individuals and organizations dedicated to
eliminating these injustices so that we are all more actively engaged.
Governor Deval L. Patrick and Mayor Thomas M. Menino are honorary
chairs.
Co-chairs representing their participating organization are Charlie
Clements, executive director, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy,
Harvard Kennedy School of Government; Martha F. Davis, Ph.D., faculty
director, Northeastern School of Law, Human Rights, and the Global
Economy; David Hollenbach, S.J., director, Boston College Center
for Human Rights and International Justice; Michael A. Grodin,
M.D., and George J. Annas, JD and MPH co-directors, Global Lawyers
and Physicians Working Together for Human Rights, Boston University
School of Public Health; Shant Mardirossian, chairman of the Board,
Near East Foundation; Margot Stern Strom, founder/executive director,
Facing History and Ourselves; Adam Strom, director of research
and development, Facing History and Ourselves; Deborah W. Nutter,
Ph.D., senior associate dean, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy,
Tufts University; Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Ph.D., acting director,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Human Rights and Justice; and
Joshua Rubenstein, northeast regional director, Amnesty International
USA.
The lecture's inaugural speaker in 2010 was Kerry Kennedy, founder
of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights based in
Washington. The 2011 speaker was Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life hero
of the acclaimed film "Hotel Rwanda" and the president and founder
of the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation.
The endowed lecture is a public program of the Armenian Heritage Park
on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston, a gift to the City
of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from the Massachusetts
Armenian-American community. The park commemorates lives lost during
the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 and all genocides, and celebrates
the immigrant experience and contributions made to American life
and culture.
Serving on the Lecture Committee are Dr. Carolann Najarian, George
Najarian, Dr. Joyce Barsam, Phyllis Dohanian, Dr. Linda Kaboolian,
Audrey Kalajian, and Barbara Tellalian.
The Armenian Heritage Foundation, sponsor of the Armenian Heritage
Park, is a non-profit organization founded to secure the designation
and to raise funds to design, develop, and construct the park
and endow its public programs, including this annual lecture,
the reconfiguration of the park's sculpture, and its ongoing care
and maintenance. The Board is comprised of representatives from
13 parishes and 25 cultural organizations within the Massachusetts
Armenian-American community. Honorary chairs of the foundation are
Sheriff Peter Koutoujian and Registrar Rachel Kaprielian; the president
is James Kalustian.
For more information on the Armenian Heritage Park and its program,
visit www.ArmenianHeritagePark.org.
Armenian Weekly
September 26, 2012
The third annual K. George and Carolann S. Najarian, M.D. Endowed
Lecture on Human Rights will be held on Thurs., Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at
Boston's historic Faneuil Hall. Free and open to the public, the
lecture is an endowed public program of the Armenian Heritage
Foundation, the sponsor of the Armenian Heritage Park on Rose
Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston.
Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian In celebration of the opening of the
Armenian Heritage Park and of the central theme of the Greenway-the
immigrant experience-it is fitting that this year's speaker is
Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian, the founding director of the James
A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and a former U.S. ambassador
to Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic.
A first generation Armenian-American and the son of survivors of the
Armenian Genocide. Djerejian is an outstanding example of the kind
of achievement, leadership, public service, and commitment to human
rights. Djerejian has also worked to assist Armenia and Artsakh in
their transition to democracy and peace.
Djerejian served in the U.S. Foreign Service under eight presidents,
from John F. Kennedy to William J. Clinton (1962-94). Prior to his
nomination by Clinton as U.S. ambassador to Israel (1993-1994), he
was assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in both
the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations (1991-93). He was
the U.S. ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic (1988-91) and also
served as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and deputy press
secretary for foreign affairs in the White House (1985-86). After his
retirement from government service in 1994, he became the founding
director of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at
Rice University.
His book, Danger and Opportunity: An American Ambassador's Journey
Through the Middle East, was published by Simon & Schuster in September
2008. Djerejian has been awarded the Presidential Distinguished
Service Award, the Department of State's Distinguished Honor Award,
and numerous other honors, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor
and the Anti-Defamation League's Moral Statesman Award.
He is also a recipient of the Association of Rice Alumni's Gold Medal,
the group's most prestigious award, for his service to Rice University.
In 2011, Djerejian was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, and named to the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie
Corporation of New York by its president, Dr. Vartan B. Gregorian.
"We are honored and pleased that the ambassador has accepted our
invitation to speak in this inaugural year of Armenian Heritage Park,"
said Dr. Carolann S. Najarian, who with her husband George endowed
this lecture series in honor of her father, Avedis Abrahamian.
The lecture series was inspired by the New England women and
men-intellectuals, politicians, diplomats, religious leaders, and
ordinary citizens-who, beginning in the 1890's at Faneuil Hall, heard
the eye-witness accounts of the atrocities taking place against the
Armenian minority of the Ottoman Empire during World War I and were
called to action. Distinguished Bostonians, among them Julia Ward Howe,
Clara Barton, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Alice Stone Blackwell,
heard these accounts and were moved to assist the Armenians. As
a result, the American Red Cross launched its first international
mission with Clara Barton bringing aid to the Armenians.
Philanthropists nationwide raised over $100 million in aid. This was
America's first internationally focused human rights movement. Peter
Balakian's The Burning Tigris (HarperCollins, 2003) made many aware
of this New England history.
The lecture is being offered in partnership with historical and
academic institutions, and human rights organizations. The purpose of
the endowed series is to advance understanding of human rights issues
and the societal abuses faced by millions today, and to increase
awareness of the work of individuals and organizations dedicated to
eliminating these injustices so that we are all more actively engaged.
Governor Deval L. Patrick and Mayor Thomas M. Menino are honorary
chairs.
Co-chairs representing their participating organization are Charlie
Clements, executive director, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy,
Harvard Kennedy School of Government; Martha F. Davis, Ph.D., faculty
director, Northeastern School of Law, Human Rights, and the Global
Economy; David Hollenbach, S.J., director, Boston College Center
for Human Rights and International Justice; Michael A. Grodin,
M.D., and George J. Annas, JD and MPH co-directors, Global Lawyers
and Physicians Working Together for Human Rights, Boston University
School of Public Health; Shant Mardirossian, chairman of the Board,
Near East Foundation; Margot Stern Strom, founder/executive director,
Facing History and Ourselves; Adam Strom, director of research
and development, Facing History and Ourselves; Deborah W. Nutter,
Ph.D., senior associate dean, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy,
Tufts University; Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Ph.D., acting director,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Human Rights and Justice; and
Joshua Rubenstein, northeast regional director, Amnesty International
USA.
The lecture's inaugural speaker in 2010 was Kerry Kennedy, founder
of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights based in
Washington. The 2011 speaker was Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life hero
of the acclaimed film "Hotel Rwanda" and the president and founder
of the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation.
The endowed lecture is a public program of the Armenian Heritage Park
on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston, a gift to the City
of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from the Massachusetts
Armenian-American community. The park commemorates lives lost during
the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 and all genocides, and celebrates
the immigrant experience and contributions made to American life
and culture.
Serving on the Lecture Committee are Dr. Carolann Najarian, George
Najarian, Dr. Joyce Barsam, Phyllis Dohanian, Dr. Linda Kaboolian,
Audrey Kalajian, and Barbara Tellalian.
The Armenian Heritage Foundation, sponsor of the Armenian Heritage
Park, is a non-profit organization founded to secure the designation
and to raise funds to design, develop, and construct the park
and endow its public programs, including this annual lecture,
the reconfiguration of the park's sculpture, and its ongoing care
and maintenance. The Board is comprised of representatives from
13 parishes and 25 cultural organizations within the Massachusetts
Armenian-American community. Honorary chairs of the foundation are
Sheriff Peter Koutoujian and Registrar Rachel Kaprielian; the president
is James Kalustian.
For more information on the Armenian Heritage Park and its program,
visit www.ArmenianHeritagePark.org.