WASHINGTON — The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) is pleased to announce the speakers for the Armenian Genocide Symposium that will take place during the Annual Members Meeting weekend in Boca Raton, Florida, March 13-14. Titled “A Century of Genocide: The 1915 Armenian Genocide & Its Lasting Impact,” the symposium will feature Dr. Rouben Adalian, Dr. Rosanna Gatens and Hannibal Travis.
Adalian will present “The Armenian Genocide as a Prototype of 20th Century Mass Killings.” Gatens will discuss “The Impact of the Armenian Genocide on Holocaust Education” and Travis will present “The Armenian Genocide as a Political & Illegal Crime.” Assembly Trustee Marta Batmasian will moderate the discussion.
The Symposium will take place on Saturday, March 14, from 1 to 3 p.m.
Adalian is the director of the Armenian National Institute (ANI) in Washington, DC. He is the editor of The Armenian Genocide in the U.S. Archives 1915-1918 and its accompanying Guide and associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Genocide. Adalian is also the author of From Humanism to Rationalism: Armenian Scholarship in the Nineteenth Century and Historical Dictionary of Armenia and has contributed to Genocide in Our Time; Studies in Comparative Genocide; America and the Armenian Genocide; and Centuries of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts. He is a specialist on the Caucasus and the Middle East, and has taught at a number of universities, including George Washington University, Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University. He received his PhD in history from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Gatens is the director of the Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education (CHHRE) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton. Gatens is a specialist in the social and intellectual history of Germany, especially during the era of the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. Gatens has written about the collapse of academic freedom in German universities during the 1920s, the anti-fascist and anti-militarist campaigns of the German League for Human Rights during the interwar years, and racism as a component of National Socialism. Her research and writing in the area of Holocaust education focuses on the effectiveness of particular teaching and learning strategies for high school and college students. She is a member of the Florida Task Force on Holocaust Education and a member of the Save Darfur Coalition of South Palm Beach.
