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Junior Faculty Development » Alumni Success Stories

JFDP alumni Meri Avetisyan and Aleksander Khechumyan consider 2009 a very fruitful year for themselves both professionally and personally.

In 2009 JFDP alumna Meri Avetisyan was a psychology visiting scholar at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychology. Meri is an assistant professor at the Department of Psychology and Social Pedagogy at Armenian State Pedagogical University after Kh. Abovyan. Through Meri's initiative and assistance a Memorandum of Agreement was signed between her home university and her US host university after completing JFDP program. She hopes that two universities will develop many collaborative projects in future.

Participation in the JFDP was a powerful incentive to 2008 alumnus Aleksander Kchechumyan's desire to continue education at high-ranking universities in his chosen field. During the first months of 2009 Aleksander applied and was accepted to two US universities - The State University of New Jersey, Rutgers and Michigan State University. He also became a finalist of the International Human Rights Law Advanced Certificate Program at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and was awarded the OSI/Chevening FSO scholarship to study LLM in International Human Rights Law in Humans Rights Centre at University of Essex. In the end, Aleksander decided to attend the University of Essex, but he did not travel alone.

Meri and Aleksander met each other in early June 2009 at the Welcome Dinner when JFDP alumni gathered to meet newly returned fellows. This professional connection very quickly grew into a personal relationship and the two married in September 2009.

Last October Meri Avetisyan and Aleksander Khechumyan temporarily moved to the United Kingdom where Aleksandr is pursuing his LLM degree at University of Essex hoping to contribute his knowledge to advancing human rights protection in Armenia. Meri also continues her professional development at University of Essex. As a visiting fellow, she currently collaborates on departmental project entitled "Individual variations and observers consistency in unfamiliar face identification".

Artur Apresyan, 2009 JFDP, is an associate professor at the State Linguistic University after V. Brusov, Chair of English Communication. He was hosted by the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Minnesota as a visiting faculty in Linguistics from January though May 2009. Artur Apresyan was appointed as Head of Chair of English Minor at YSLUafter finishing JFDP and returning back from the US. In the last few months, he has managed to publish two manuals "How to Write a Research Paper (for BA and MA students majoring in English)" and "Practical Translation Skills for MA Students (Advanced Level)." He also has also participated in a number of conferences, workshops and round-table debates on foreign language teaching methodology and contemporary problems of linguistics and philology.

Vardan Mkrtchyan, 2009 JFDP alumnus, teaches History of Theatre at the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinema. He studied Arts Management at the Florida State University School of Theatre. In August 2009, almost immediately after completing the JFDP program and returning back to Armenia, Vardan Mkrtchyan received an offer to take the position of Executive Director at Hamazgayin State Theatre. He was also asked to become the Head of Student Theatre of Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinema. He enjoys the work he's undertaken now and hopes to achieve desirable changes in performance art management in Armenia.

On October 31, 2009 JFDP Alumni Gayane Grigoryan and Armine Aghabekyan participated in the AELTA 11^th Convention -- Smart Alternatives in ELT-- in Yerevan, Armenia. They made a presentation for the conference participants attending Q& A Open Discussions session. Through a PowerPoint presentation they shared their JFDP experience, presented the program goals and objectives, and spoke of the application and selection process and after-program ongoing contacts and collaboration activities.