UCLA alumna Zaruhy Sara Chitjian has donated $2 million to the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology to establish the first permanent research program in Armenian archaeology and ethnography at a major American university.

Chitjian also donated a significant collection of artifacts, documents and books related to the history and material culture of Armenia and to the Armenian diaspora after the Armenian genocide of 1915–23.

The Hampartzoum and Ovsanna Chitjian Collection and Archive of Armenian Ethnographic Artifacts and Documents, named in honor of Chitjian's parents, will be housed at the Cotsen Institute and digitized, giving scholars around the world access to this important resource.

"With the work at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, the Armenian identity and Armenian people — past and present — can be respected and appreciated for the contributions of their 3,000 year history," Chitjian said. "Studying the ethnographic artifacts of recent age is an important means of understanding the past of this still thriving culture."