Concord Resident Earns Fulbright Fellowship

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Anna Ohanyan

EASTON, MA (05/29/2012)(readMedia)-- Concord resident Anna Ohanyan, an associate professor of political science at Stonehill College in Easton, has earned a Fulbright Fellowship Award to Armenia where she will spend the 2012-2013 academic year both teaching and conducting research.

Ohanyan's goal while teaching in Armenia will be to diversify instructional technologies in higher education. She will work with the Yerevan State Linguistic University (YSLU) to introduce two new courses and will also collaborate with its new Center for Quality Assurance, which focuses on establishing tools and policies of quality control as well as developing and implementing learning assessment standards. Ohanyan plans to assist the Center with professional development programs for faculty.

"I will be working with my colleagues at YSLU to develop programs for regular professional development seminars which will help establish a culture of continuous learning and discovery of innovative teaching tools that may be used by instructors in their teaching," says Ohanyan, who was born in Armenia.

Topics for the seminars will range from course development to skills-based learning and writing infusion to prospects of student autonomy and empowerment in the learning process she notes.

One of the courses she plans to introduce while teaching at YSLU is her International Organizations course which she has taught at Stonehill since her arrival in 2005.

"Graduates of YSLU are often recruited to work for international organizations and NGOs that are active in Armenia and for such students, a background on the workings of international organizations as well as of the economic, social, and political dimensions of globalization, will be a significant compliment to their educational experience," says Ohanyan.

On the research end, she plans to continue her investigation on regionalism in politically divided areas such as the South Caucasus region. Her research this summer and during her time in Armenia will focus on the involvement of the Regional Cooperation Council in the Balkans and the role of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation organization in Armenia and its neighboring countries.

Through a grant from Civil Society, Education and Media Development (IREX), Ohanyan will travel to the Balkans this summer for fieldwork and in the fall, will begin conducting interviews in Armenia.

"Professor Ohanyan has set a high bar with her scholarship and teaching. Since her arrival we have seen a steady increase in the numbers of students wishing to pursue careers with nongovernmental organizations or post graduate work in the area of peace and conflict studies. We are thrilled that her excellent work has been recognized with a Fulbright Fellowship," said Peter Ubertaccio, professor and chair of Stonehill's Political Science Department.

At Stonehill, she actively works with the Center for Teaching and Learning, which supports faculty in their roles as educators and facilitates collaboration among faculty members at the College.

Ohanyan established the multidisciplinary minor Peace and Conflict, which has attracted a growing number of students at Stonehill. As part of the program, she developed three new courses.

She has served as a Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University from 2002-2004 and at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2007.

Ohanyan is the author of "NGOs, IGOs, and the Network Mechanism of Post-Conflict Global Governance," published in 2008. She has published widely on transnational politics, international organizations and peacebuilding in such post-conflict settings such as Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan and Abkhazia.

Ohanyan has also served as a consultant for numerous organizations such as the United Nations Foundation, the World Bank, the National Intelligence Council Project at the University of Maryland, the U.S. Department of State, the Carter Center and USAID.

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