Manoogian Simone initially developed, circumspectly, official relations with Armenia’s Soviet government, while simultaneously channeling much of the AGBU’s humanitarian aid through the Araratian diocese, then headed by future Catholicos Karekin II. But she also made overtures to the leadership of the Karabagh Movement after its members were set free in summer 1989 (they had been taken into custody in Moscow in December 1988, a few days after the Spitak earthquake). It was in this period that Manoogian Simone was elected president of the AGBU. According to a source close to Alex Manoogian, she had served notice of her intention to devote herself to the Union’s program in Armenia even before the earthquake struck, with no thought of taking the reins of the organization. But the sudden importance that Armenia now acquired made her election to the presidency of the AGBU a kind of natural extension of the work she had been doing in Yerevan. The political transformations in progress in the USSR augured the grueling socio-economic transition ahead. The most acute observers had already understood that Armenia was cruelly lacking in the kind of qualified personnel required to reform the ... Read all
The main building of the American University of Armenia, which opened its doors in fall 1991.
(AGBU arch./ Yerevan).
Graduation ceremony at the American University of Armenia (AGBU arch./ Yerevan).
A graduating class of the American University of Armenia
(AGBU arch./ Yerevan).
Armenia and the Presidency of Louise Manoogian Simone