“Armenia and Armenian Diaspora are a single organism with two lungs. If one lung closes, the other should work harder until the closed one recuperates”.

This is the vision of Armenia-Diaspora relations Vartan Gregorian, who is one of the most prominent representatives of the Armenian Diaspora, former President of the New York Public Library and 12th President of Carnegie Corporation of New York, shared at the meeting with AUA graduates and professors on October 14.

Vartan Gregorian was born in Tabriz, Iran, in 1934. He then moved to the U.S. and graduated cum laude from Stanford University specializing in history and humanities.

In 1981, Vartan Gregorian was appointed to the post of the President of New York Public Library.

In 1988, Vartan became the President of Brown University and was then chosen as the 12th President of Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Vartan Gregorian is a member of the Board of Trustees of UWC Dilijan College officially opened on October 11.

We present excerpts from Vartan Gregorian’s AUA speech:

Education

“Every teacher whose classes I have attended has become a leader and mentor for me who wanted me to be a success by all means. My teachers had set themselves a task to spare no effort for me to be successful. There is something in every learner that needs to be discovered to awaken their love to education. I have been lucky as all my life people who were once strangers, among them for example, Simon Vratsian, have acted as a father to me”.

Honesty

“My grandma used to say whatever you have can be haggled – your appearance is unreliable, your mind is unreliable but never let anyone impeach your honesty. Once you are deprived of honesty, you will be deprived of everything and will go bankrupt. You might be rich and yet not have anything at all”.

Library

“When I resigned the University of Pennsylvania and started working at the New York Public Library, I was often being told the library would go bankrupt within just a year. They used to ask me “what do you need it for?” But libraries are very valuable for me. They are the evidence of democracy and the DNA of civilization”.

Wealth

“People dying rich die dishonored. It means they did not have enough imagination to invest their money in the society. As long as you are alive you should invest for the sake of your nation and society. I have drawn this lesson from Dale Carnegie”.

Diaspora and local businessmen

“Armenia should be deeply grateful to the Armenian community in the U.S. for the establishment of the American University in Armenia. But Armenia should not act as solely the receiver. Armenia should be made prosperous from within due to the investments made by local entrepreneurs. They should support Armenian universities. We continuously state that Armenians love books, their culture, architecture but we do not apply that love in practice. Charity is a mandatory practice in the U.S. It’s embarrassing to be a rich person in the U.S. and not to be engaged in charity acts. It would be great if Armenians in Armenia appreciated what the Diaspora has done for Armenia but in their turn, took their share of responsibility as this is their country too. After 20 years of independence the wealth created in this country should be invested in it.

Those who overlook education, research and development institutions and HEIs, betray their country. It’s a pity that our scientists do not get proper remuneration. Our country is rich enough to afford it. We should be proud to be the worthy descendants of Mesrop Mashtots and those who fell in the struggle for independence”.

Making fatherland prosperous

“Armenians have made investments in Singapore and have made Paris, Vienna and the entire world prosperous but over the course of our history we have been ignorant of our region. There is no longer any excuse. We ought to invest in our country”. 

Yekaterina Poghosyan