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VARTAN GREGORIAN RECEIVES DEAN'S MEDAL AT TUFTS
NEWS | JUNE 5, 2014 2:01 PM
________________________________
By Alin K. Gregorian
Mirror-Spectator Staff
MEDFORD, Mass. -- Dr. Vartan Gregorian brought the dichotomy that
defines him -- stellar academic and intellectual achievements and
supreme low-key and humorous attitude -- to a formal luncheon at Tufts
University on May 22, when he received the Fletcher School Dean's
Medal, from Tufts University President Anthony P. Monaco. The award is
given by the dean to honor those who have demonstrated distinguished
service to education and to the school's greater mission of promoting
peace, prosperity and justice in the world.
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Dean Admiral James Stavridis
introduced Gregorian and enumerated his achievements.
"He has received 70 honorary degrees" during the course of "a life
that is original in every sense and American in every sense," Stavridis
said. "He is a scholar, historian and great friend of this community."
Gregorian is the president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, a
grant-making institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911. Prior
to his current position, which he assumed in June 1997, Gregorian
served for nine years as the president of Brown University.
Born in Tabriz, Iran, to Armenian parents, he got his PhD from
Stanford. He was the founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
at the University of Pennsylvania in 1974 and four years later became
its provost until 1981. Gregorian served as a president of the New
York Public Library, bringing it back from the brink of bankruptcy.
Gregorian is the author of The Road to Home: My Life And Times, Islam:
A Mosaic, Not A Monolith, and The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan,
1880-1946.
He serves on several boards including the National September 11
Memorial and Museum, and the American Academy in Berlin. He has been
decorated by the French, Italian, Austrian and Portuguese governments.
In 1986, Gregorian was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and
in 1989 the American Academy and the Institute of Arts and Letters'
Gold Medal for Service to the Arts. In 1998, President Clinton awarded
him the National Humanities Medal. In 2004, President Bush awarded
him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civil
award. In 2009, President Obama appointed him to the White House
Fellowships Commission.
The luncheon was sponsored by the Tavitian Scholarship Program at the
Fletcher School, which has been funded for the past dozen years by
Aso Tavitian's Tavitian Foundation. The program sponsors midcareer
professionals from Armenia to get a six-month training course at
Fletcher. There are currently about 200 graduates of the program
in Armenia.
Tavitian expressed his pleasure at hosting Gregorian. "He is an
individual that I really and truly admire," he said. He also spoke
about the 15 students from Armenia at the Fletcher School. "They are
the future of Armenia," he said.
Gregorian spoke at length about the history of philanthropy and
the difference between philanthropy and charity. "They are really
different sides of the same coin," he said, with charity having a
religious inspiration and philanthropy a secular one.
He traced the history of civil society and philanthropy to the 17th
century, when groups formed to fight fires and to light street lamps.
Universities, he said, were early recipients of philanthropy. Close
to home, he said, John Harvard donated his immense library and land
in Cambridge toward the formation of a university that would bear his
name. Yale similarly was founded by philanthropic donors. Benjamin
Franklin, Gregorian said, was also a pioneer in the field, founding
in Philadelphia, among many other things, the first public library
in the world.
Gregorian said that the most famous proponent of free trade and
small government, Adam Smith, was a dedicated and early advocate of
charitable giving as an obligation for the wealthy.
Gregorian compared and contrasted the most famous modern American
names in charitable giving, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.
The former, he said, approached giving from a religious point of
view, as a Baptist. The latter, he explained, did so from a secular
approach to better society. The list of donations by Carnegie is awe
inspiring, ranging from founding 5,400 public libraries in the US,
to Carnegie Melon University, the Palace of Justice at The Hague,
and even 7,200 organs to churches throughout the country.
He also paid tribute to two donors in the audience, Carolyn Mugar
and Tavitian.
"They have ideas, they invest and they see the results," he said.
He added, "I hope that those Armenians that are here will start that
tradition of community organizing in Armenia."
The program ended with a toast to Gregorian by Artur Hovsepyan,
one of the Tavitian scholars, and questions from the audience.
The Tavitian scholars are: Armen Aslikyan, Artashes Avagyan, Alina
Aznauryan, Sargis Deghoyan, Azat Gabrielyan, Arthur Hovsepyan, Anna
Kartshikyan, Hayk Makhasyan, Karen Mukhsyan, Hovhannes Nikoghosyan,
Lilit Petrosyan, Zaruhi Postanjyan, Hayk Tutunjian, Artak Yergenyan
an Hayk Zayimtsyan.
- See more at:
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2014/06/05/vartan-gregorian-receives-deans-medal-at-tufts/#sthash.iZZvDRSX.dpuf
NEWS | JUNE 5, 2014 2:01 PM
________________________________
By Alin K. Gregorian
Mirror-Spectator Staff
MEDFORD, Mass. -- Dr. Vartan Gregorian brought the dichotomy that
defines him -- stellar academic and intellectual achievements and
supreme low-key and humorous attitude -- to a formal luncheon at Tufts
University on May 22, when he received the Fletcher School Dean's
Medal, from Tufts University President Anthony P. Monaco. The award is
given by the dean to honor those who have demonstrated distinguished
service to education and to the school's greater mission of promoting
peace, prosperity and justice in the world.
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Dean Admiral James Stavridis
introduced Gregorian and enumerated his achievements.
"He has received 70 honorary degrees" during the course of "a life
that is original in every sense and American in every sense," Stavridis
said. "He is a scholar, historian and great friend of this community."
Gregorian is the president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, a
grant-making institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911. Prior
to his current position, which he assumed in June 1997, Gregorian
served for nine years as the president of Brown University.
Born in Tabriz, Iran, to Armenian parents, he got his PhD from
Stanford. He was the founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
at the University of Pennsylvania in 1974 and four years later became
its provost until 1981. Gregorian served as a president of the New
York Public Library, bringing it back from the brink of bankruptcy.
Gregorian is the author of The Road to Home: My Life And Times, Islam:
A Mosaic, Not A Monolith, and The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan,
1880-1946.
He serves on several boards including the National September 11
Memorial and Museum, and the American Academy in Berlin. He has been
decorated by the French, Italian, Austrian and Portuguese governments.
In 1986, Gregorian was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and
in 1989 the American Academy and the Institute of Arts and Letters'
Gold Medal for Service to the Arts. In 1998, President Clinton awarded
him the National Humanities Medal. In 2004, President Bush awarded
him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civil
award. In 2009, President Obama appointed him to the White House
Fellowships Commission.
The luncheon was sponsored by the Tavitian Scholarship Program at the
Fletcher School, which has been funded for the past dozen years by
Aso Tavitian's Tavitian Foundation. The program sponsors midcareer
professionals from Armenia to get a six-month training course at
Fletcher. There are currently about 200 graduates of the program
in Armenia.
Tavitian expressed his pleasure at hosting Gregorian. "He is an
individual that I really and truly admire," he said. He also spoke
about the 15 students from Armenia at the Fletcher School. "They are
the future of Armenia," he said.
Gregorian spoke at length about the history of philanthropy and
the difference between philanthropy and charity. "They are really
different sides of the same coin," he said, with charity having a
religious inspiration and philanthropy a secular one.
He traced the history of civil society and philanthropy to the 17th
century, when groups formed to fight fires and to light street lamps.
Universities, he said, were early recipients of philanthropy. Close
to home, he said, John Harvard donated his immense library and land
in Cambridge toward the formation of a university that would bear his
name. Yale similarly was founded by philanthropic donors. Benjamin
Franklin, Gregorian said, was also a pioneer in the field, founding
in Philadelphia, among many other things, the first public library
in the world.
Gregorian said that the most famous proponent of free trade and
small government, Adam Smith, was a dedicated and early advocate of
charitable giving as an obligation for the wealthy.
Gregorian compared and contrasted the most famous modern American
names in charitable giving, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.
The former, he said, approached giving from a religious point of
view, as a Baptist. The latter, he explained, did so from a secular
approach to better society. The list of donations by Carnegie is awe
inspiring, ranging from founding 5,400 public libraries in the US,
to Carnegie Melon University, the Palace of Justice at The Hague,
and even 7,200 organs to churches throughout the country.
He also paid tribute to two donors in the audience, Carolyn Mugar
and Tavitian.
"They have ideas, they invest and they see the results," he said.
He added, "I hope that those Armenians that are here will start that
tradition of community organizing in Armenia."
The program ended with a toast to Gregorian by Artur Hovsepyan,
one of the Tavitian scholars, and questions from the audience.
The Tavitian scholars are: Armen Aslikyan, Artashes Avagyan, Alina
Aznauryan, Sargis Deghoyan, Azat Gabrielyan, Arthur Hovsepyan, Anna
Kartshikyan, Hayk Makhasyan, Karen Mukhsyan, Hovhannes Nikoghosyan,
Lilit Petrosyan, Zaruhi Postanjyan, Hayk Tutunjian, Artak Yergenyan
an Hayk Zayimtsyan.
- See more at:
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2014/06/05/vartan-gregorian-receives-deans-medal-at-tufts/#sthash.iZZvDRSX.dpuf