MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Projects for Peace and the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation at Middlebury College have named Anoush Baghdassarian, JD, a licensed attorney and cofounder of the Rerooted Archive, winner of the 2026 Projects for Peace Alumni Award
“Projects for Peace alumni award winners are exemplary representatives of the spirit that drives Middlebury’s experiential learning opportunities around the world. We are proud to count Anoush among the growing ecosystem of peacebuilders who have emerged from this program,” said Middlebury College President Ian Baucom.
The annual award provides up to $50,000 in support of ongoing peacebuilding efforts of past Projects for Peace grant recipients who demonstrate innovation and persistence in working for peace and transforming conflict. Baghdassarian will use the award to advance her ongoing work with Rerooted, a community-centered digital archive and advocacy organization that preserves Armenian stories, strengthens identity, and supports justice efforts for Armenian communities facing displacement, violence, and erasure.
Baghdassarian received a 2017 Projects for Peace grant as an undergraduate at Claremont McKenna College for a project cofounded with Ani Schug, then an undergraduate at Pomona College, focused on documenting the stories of Syrian-Armenians who had resettled in Armenia during the Syrian conflict. Their project, “Restorative Memory: Eternalizing and Empowering Narratives of Syrian-Armenian Refugees,” sought to preserve whole histories: family memories of the Armenian Genocide, community life in Syria, experiences of war and displacement, and the work of rebuilding in Armenia. “Ani and I are over the moon,” Baghdassarian says. “Thank you all so much for this incredible honor and opportunity. We are so grateful!”
What began as a summer project has since grown into Rerooted, an organization founded on the idea that no matter how many times Armenians have been rerouted by conflict, they have continued to reroot in strong, thriving communities. Today, Rerooted has grown to include more than 25 communities, collected more than 400 testimonies, and trained more than 90 team members in its work of preserving memory and using it for action. For Baghdassarian this announcement is only the start of how the award will raise awareness of Rerooted. “We can’t thank you enough for believing in this project and we are so excited to stay closely involved with you all and for all the events celebrating this important work.”
Rerooted celebrates and explores Armenian identity in communities around the world and advocates for their just and safe futures. Its digital collections of testimonies, photographs, and documents are designed to be accessible to researchers, teachers, artists, community members, and advocates. Through those collections, Baghdassarian and her collaborators create educational resources, interactive maps, legal reports, cultural heritage projects, and tools that show the resilience of Armenian communities while also supporting accountability and recognition.
