Over 200 guests attended a June 1 Los Angeles banquet honoring the 30^th anniversary of Prof. S. Peter Cowe’s scholarly career and the 45^th anniversary of the Narekatsi Chair in Armenian Studies at UCLA.

The event was organized by the 30^th Anniversary Committee and the Friends of UCLA Armenian Language and Culture Studies, in support of the expansion of the Armenian Studies program and particularly Western-Armenian instruction at UCLA.

The guests included community leaders, scholars, and Armenology students, and a number of academics from Armenia, Europe, and the Americas who were participating in a UCLA conference organized by Dr. Grigor Areshian on “Current  Practices in Armenian Studies: the Creation and Visibility of New Knowledge.”  

In his opening address, Ben Charchian said, “At UCLA, walking around the campus, learning that the language you speak is thousands of years old and your alphabet is over 1,600 years old, you hold your head up high. Prof. Cowe was instrumental in instilling in me, and hundreds of other students, that sense of pride.”

An early highlight of the banquet was the ritual presentation of haggis, a traditional Scottish dish, as a surprise tribute to Prof. Cowe’s Scottish descent.

Next, an encyclical from Catholicos Aram I, congratulating Prof. Cowe on his achievements as an outstanding Armenologist, was read by Right Rev. Fr. Boghos Tinkjian.  

Prof. Cowe flanked by a group of present and former Armenology students. (Photo by Yerevan Studio).