Book talk by Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian, President Emeritus of the American University of Armenia.
Thursday, January 29, 2026
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Engineering VI, Tannas Alumni Suite
The presentation will start with a brief description of the December 7, 1988, Spitak earthquake that instigated the idea of founding the American University of Armenia. As a co-founder of AUA, Der Kiureghian tells the story of how the university was established during a most difficult time in the recent history of Armenia, and how it evolved and advanced during the subsequent three decades. The book also chronicles AUA’s affiliation with the University of California and its being the first university outside the United States to be accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Armen Der Kiureghian is President Emeritus of the American University of Armenia and Taisei Professor of Civil Engineering Emeritus of the University of California, Berkeley. His teaching and research are in risk and reliability of constructed facilities, stochastic structural dynamics, and earthquake engineering. Among other awards, he is a recipient of the American Society of Civil Engineer’s Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, Alfred M. Freudenthal Medal, Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award, and George Winter Medal. For his efforts in advancing education in Armenia, he was awarded the Movses Khorenatsi Medal by the Government of Armenia and the Saint Sahak-Saint Mesrob Medal by His Holiness Garegin II, Catholicos of All Armenians. Der Kiureghian is an elected foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, and an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.
Sponsor(s): The Promise Armenian Institute, Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, The B. John Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences at UCLA, The American University of Armenia, National Association for Armenian Studies and Research NAASR, Ararat-Eskijian Museum, UCLA Armenian Students' Association