IRVINE, Calif. — Ara Apkarian, University of California at Irvine (UCI) Distinguished Professor of chemistry, and his wife, Alice, recently bestowed a second $100,000 gift on the School of Humanities. The Naneh Award for Graduate Research in Armenian Studies is named in honor of their daughter.
Ara Apkarian and his wife, Alice, a retired Saddleback College chemistry professor, recently funded a $100,000 endowment, the Naneh Award for Graduate Research in Armenian Studies. Named in honor of their daughter, a postdoctoral researcher at Western Michigan University, this is the second significant gift the couple has bestowed on the School of Humanities.
The first, also for $100,000, helped establish the Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in Armenian Studies.
“Graduate students in the sciences invariably receive full financial support throughout their careers, which allows them to focus on their studies,” Ara Apkarian said. “But graduate support in Armenian studies? That’s a much tougher sell. We have to do it.”
