AUA APPOINTS NEW DEAN OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, PROF. DOUGLAS H. SHUMAVON

In March 2000, the Board of Trustees of the American University of Armenia (AUA) approved the appointment of Professor Douglas H. Shumavon as AUA’s new Dean of Political Science and International Affairs. Prof. Shumavon is not new to AUA, having taught on several occasions at AUA and is acutely familiar with the political system and culture of Armenia. He has extensive international teaching and consulting experience, in addition to numerous publications in the field. He succeeds Professor Nikola Shahgaldian who recently retired from the deanship due to health reasons. Professor Shahgaldian pioneered the Political Science program and steered it successfully into the 21st Century.

Prof. Shumavon received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, his M.A. from the American University in Washington D.C., and his B.A. from California State University, Fresno. Besides his 20 years experience as a Professor of Political Science, Prof. Shumavon has been Vice-Chair of the Political Science Department at the Miami University, Ohio. He is currently the Principal Investigator for a USIA Partnership Grant between Miami University and AUA which will concern itself with the study, analysis and teaching of budgeting and revenue enhancement.

Dean Shumavon has already begun to outline strategies to meet future program needs. “There should be a healthy tension between a traditional disciplinary-directed curriculum and a curriculum driven by the kinds of skills employers of our graduates seek. Both of these should direct the kind of faculty that are hired and the kinds of courses that are offered,” stated the new dean.

The School of Political Science and International Affairs was established in 1993 to introduce Western education in Political Science in Armenia. After years of ideological thinking permeated by communism, there was a need to develop a new understanding and approach to knowledge based on the objective analysis of information. The School seeks to provide the educational foundation for the establishment of an open, pluralistic and democratic society in Armenia and, by extension, to provide the institutional framework for greater openness and communication in the region.