In 1986 the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair of Modern Armenian History was established at the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) with a half a million dollars collected from the AEF board members, general membership, and friends.

The Chair was established following a rich tradition of teaching Armenian language and history courses at UCLA that dates back to the early 1960s. Initially endowed by the Armenian Educational Foundation (AEF), the Chair was known under that name during the tenure of its first holder, Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian. It was renamed in Dr. Hovannisian’s honor upon his retirement in 2011 in recognition of his fifty years of teaching and scholarship at UCLA. Following an international search, the Department of History at UCLA selected Dr. Sebouh D. Aslanian as the first Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian history.

The Chair provides undergraduate- and graduate-level training in Armenian history for all periods beginning with antiquity but with an emphasis in the early modern and modern periods. It provides special attention to highlighting the interactive elements in Armenian history and stresses the importance of a world historical or global history methodological perspective in understanding the history of the Armenian people in both the homeland and in the diaspora.

In addition to its pedagogic activities in the classroom, the Chair also organizes annual conferences, a lecture series entitled “Armenia and Armenians in Global history: Cross-Cultural Encounters and Exchange from Antiquity to the Modern Period,” and other events aimed at fostering a critical and scholarly forum where leading scholars of Armenian and world history make their latest findings accessible to the interested public. The Chair was involved in organizing and participating in the Armenian Genocide Centennial Commemoration in 2015 which was held in Istanbul, Turkey.

AEF Chair in Modern Armenian History chair donors;

• Mr. & Mrs. Haigaram and Alice Arakelian
• Mr. Jack & Margaret Arakelian
• Mr. & Mrs. Abraham and Asdghik Arzerounian
• Mr. & Mrs. Mike and Layla Boyajian
• Mr & Mrs. Arshak & Eleanor Dickranian
• Mr. & Mrs. Gagik and Knar Galstian
• Mrs. Siroon Hovannisian
• Mr. & Mrs. Martik & Janet Hovsepian
• Mr. & Mrs. Vahe & Mariam Karapetian
• Mr. & Mrs. Levon & Maral Kirakosian
• Mr. & Mrs. Vatche and Tamar Manoukian
• Mr. & Mrs. Henry and Nora Sahagian
• Mr. & Mrs. Mehran & Seda Boukhanian
• Mrs. Margaret Shatikian