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GenEd-HigherEd Launches with Armenian Christmas Party

Hackensack, NJ - A diverse mix of students and community leaders, celebrated the establishment of GenEd-HigherEd on the evening of January 7, 2012 at Sayat Nova Restaurant in Hackensack, NJ. GenEd-HigherEd is a new division of The Genocide Education Project which endeavors to facilitate lectures, exhibits and courses on the subject of genocide, particularly the Armenian Genocide, on college campuses.

"It is such a pleasure to see such an outpouring of support from so many committed people for the GenEd-HigherEd "launch" event," said GenEd-HigherEd director James Sahagian.

The first course to be sponsored by GenEd-HigherEd is planned for fall, 2012 at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The Center for Genocide Studies, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CGHR) at Rutgers is led by the current president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), Professor Alex Hinton. Hinton and two associate directors of the center, Nela Navarro and Tom LaPointe, were in attendance for the GenEd-HigherEd kick-off celebration. The center has already sponsored several lectures, films and other programs on the Armenian Genocide. Khatchig Mouradian was recently named Project Coordinator of the center's Armenian Genocide Program. Mouradian is the editor of the Armenian Weekly newspaper and a doctoral student at Clark University.

"I am happy to be part of the CGHR family and I look forward to leading the Armenian Genocide Program here at Rutgers," said Mouradian. "Our goal is to help develop further Armenian Genocide studies in the U.S. through research, courses, conferences, and public lectures."

More than 100 attendees celebrated at the Christmas party, dancing to the live entertainment by Jaq Hagopian and Garo Gomidas, and enjoying traditional Armenian food. Sahagian gave the audience a background of Armenian studies at Rutgers University. He discussed the goal of having the Armenian Genocide taught every semester on Rutgers' Newark and New Brunswick campuses as an "essential chapter of human history which cannot be forgotten. If one is to study human rights and genocide in modern times, one must study the Armenian Genocide." He said, "The Armenian Genocide Program at the Rutgers' Center for Genocide Studies, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution has already educated hundreds on the Armenian Genocide. With a successful capital campaign and development of the GenEd-HigherEd division, thousands more will be educated in the future at Rutgers and elsewhere."

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is among the oldest colleges in the United States. Originally founded in 1766 as Queens College, Rutgers currently maintains 3 campuses in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It has more than 40,000 undergraduate and approximately 15,000 graduate students enrolled, making it the largest university in the New York Metropolitan area.