What We Carry: An Armenian Journey through Memory, Place and Belonging
Annual Armenian Independence Day Lecture
Thursday, October 22, 2026 @ 7 PM
Speaker: Dr. Mary A. Papazian
St. John Armenian Apostolic Church | St. Vartan Room
22001 Northwestern Highway
Southfield, MI 48075
The talent of Armenia’s people is a major resource the country can multiply, and achieving that takes deliberate work. Armenia’s push to build a technology economy, defend itself, and ensure the survival of its young democracy all draw on that same resource, which must be cultivated through schools, universities, teacher training, and governance reforms. With cultivated talent, Armenia can build the technological capacity that increasingly defines modern security and develop the educated citizens its democracy needs to endure. Dr. Papazian’s talk will draw on her work with universities, governance structures, ministries, and science and technology councils in Armenia. She will show where that cultivation is taking hold, why the pipeline still leaks, and what work remains to ensure Armenia’s future success.
Dr. Mary A. Papazian is a distinguished Armenian-American higher education leader and a leading advocate for Armenian scholarship and science. She serves as Chair of the Executive Board of the Armenian Society of Fellows, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology, a member of the Prime Minister of Armenia's Council on Science and Technology, a trustee of Haigazian University in Beirut, Lebanon, and a board member of the National Association of Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).
A former two-time university president who led San José State University and Southern Connecticut State University, she now serves as Senior Fellow and Senior Consultant at the Association of Governing Boards for Universities and Colleges, Senior Education Advisor at CodeSignal, and a Global Fellow at the University Design Institute at Arizona State University.
Her service to the Armenian community has been honored by His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II, the Armenian Ministry of the Diaspora, the Knights and Daughters of Vartan, and the Khachatur Abovian Armenian State Pedagogical University.
