The first celebration ushering more anticipated tributes to mark the 70th Anniversary of Haigazian University, located in Beirut, Lebanon, was held by the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA) on March 4, 2025, in Paramus, New Jersey. Alumni and friends gathered for an elegant dinner hosted by the AMAA’s recently appointed CEO/Executive Director Serge D. Buchakjian, and his wife Anita.
Upon warmly welcoming Rev. Paul Haidostian, PhD, President of Haigazian University, Mr. Buchakjian, an alumnus of Haigazian, referenced the University’s unique position as the only Armenian University in the Diaspora, qualifying it as “the jewel of the higher education system of the AMAA in the Middle East.” He underscored the accomplishments of the guest of honor during his illustrious tenure of 23 years in challenging times as “the definition of resilience,” and his authoritative status as “when he talks, people listen.”
Rev. Dr. Haidostian is an AMAA scholar, academic, and a minister of the Armenian Evangelical Church. He is also Acting President of the Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East, President of the Armenian Evangelical World Council, and one of the Presidents of the Middle East Council of Churches. He enjoys the esteem of the Lebanese religious and political community, as well as the secular contingency of believers from all denominations whom he reaches in fluent Arabic through his ministry.
Following the opening prayer delivered by Rev. Joseph Garabedian, Pastor of the Armenian Presbyterian Church of Paramus, NJ and an AMAA Board member, Rev. Dr. Haidostian gave a presentation, highlighting 70 years of Haigazian University’s major achievements.
He began with the founding of Haigazian University, named after Armenag Haigazian, a theologian, musician, academic, and linguist who became a victim of the Armenian Genocide. The University reflects “resurrection in action,” especially since it has continued its mission despite many challenges. The President singled out Elizabeth Webb, an American missionary who witnessed the massacres in Adana, and was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Haigazian University. She purchased two buildings and offered them to the Congregational Church to educate Armenian girls in Lebanon. Those were the original accommodations that were later developed to become the current locale of Haigazian University.
Today, of the 600 students who attend the University each year, 43% are Armenians from all over the world. On average, 120 students graduate annually. Armenian and Non-Armenian Impartiality, in a multi-ethnic environment where students may have different political persuasions, is a welcome haven that Haigazian University provides everyone. It is where students leave everything behind and focus on academia.
The Haigazian (then College) Rocket Society launched the first rocket in the Middle East in the 1960s under the presidency of the University’s Founding President Rev. Dr. John Markarian. The launching is detailed in a documentary as well as in the global media including the Smithsonian magazine, “By early 1961, Manoug Manougian (a science teacher at Haigazian University) and his team built rockets that could travel nearly two miles. A year later, Cedar 2 made it about 8.6 miles up. In a country unaccustomed to competing with the major powers, their successes were increasingly the talk of the town. “We were known as the rocket boys and treated as rock stars,” Mr. Manougian remembers. *
In 2020, the following statement was aired as a final question on the syndicated American TV game show Jeopardy: In the 1960s this Mideast country had a space program and one of its rocket launches, the Cedar IV, is commemorated on a stamp.
One of Haigazian University’s most successful programs is the Center for Continuing Education in various disciplines. Another example of its noteworthy departments is the Armenian Studies Program. Since Rev. Dikran Kherlopian, the first head of the Armenian Department, the University has excelled in Armenian Studies, and specifically in the Armenian language. Since 1970, The HU Armenological Review has published 1,600 academic reviews in 48 books in Lebanon, edited and printed at the recently established Haigazian University Press which already boasts 59 books. Proud of its Armenian identity, Haigazian University considers itself an “Ambassador” representing Armenian History and Culture.
Partnerships with Armenian religious institutions, philanthropic organizations, and universities globally have been beneficial, including membership with the Association of American International Colleges and Universities (AAICU) and Consortium for Global Education (CGE).
Haigazian University boasts a cadre of professional alumni who have left their mark internationally in Academia and Education; Politics and Diplomacy; Business and Entrepreneurship; Science and Technology; Healthcare and Medicine; Arts and Media; and Nonprofits and International Organizations.
Plans are in development for research centers, and teacher training for Armenian teachers around the world. Need-based and merit scholarships will be key to success. However, financial aid from various sources has dwindled in the past years, making funding a priority.
The impactful dinner and presentation, in a convivial atmosphere, resonated with alumni and friends to promote and support the “Jewel of the Middle East” that is Haigazian University. The hope is that the community at large will heed the call as well.
Rev. Hagop Akbasharian, Pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church and Principal of the Armenian Evangelical Secondary School, both located in Anjar, as well as a Haigazian University alumnus, delivered the closing prayer and Benediction.
For more information about Haigazian University, please visit the University’s website at haigazian.edu.lb
* The Soviets and Americans cumulatively spent over $30 billion on space projects in the 1960s. Manougian estimates that HCRS had to make do with less than $300,000 over the course of six years. Smithsonian Magazine, Oct. 17, 2016.
By Gilda Kupelian