The Armenian Communities Department is very pleased to announce the appointment of Ani Garmiryan as Senior Programme Officer. She will be responsible for the promotion of Western Armenian, a priority for the Department as highlighted in its recent Five-Year Programming Plan.

Ms. Garmiryan will be in charge of managing diasporan school grants, the teacher preparation programme and other projects aimed at strengthening the Western Armenian language.

She will join the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation on 1st September, bringing with her years of experience working in multilingual education and developing innovative pedagogical approaches.

Ms. Garmiryan has written and lectured extensively on the subject of language preservation through education, with particular focus on Western Armenian.

“We are very privileged to have Ms. Garmiryan join us,” said Razmik Panossian, Director of the Armenian Communities Department. “Her superb knowledge and experience set her apart from a strong field of candidates and she will undoubtedly be an asset to the Department as it continues to support students, teachers, schools and other organisations to help safeguard a strong Armenian language and culture.”

Martin Essayan, Trustee responsible for the Armenian Communities Department added: “The appointment is an important step forward for the Department in securing the expertise to carry out its mission: to create a viable future for the Armenian people in which its culture and language are preserved and valued.”

Full profile

Ani Garmiryan was born and raised in Istanbul and has lived in Italy, Germany, England, France, and most recently in the United States. She received a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Pedagogy from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where she also worked as a research assistant in second language acquisition. Subsequently, she earned a Master of Education in the field of Educational Leadership from the Bank Street College, New York, known for its progressive educational approach.

She is the founder of MGNIG, an educational bilingual (Armenian-French) workshop in Paris, and has been a lecturer in Methodology of Second Language Acquisition at the University of Paris III since 1994. She officiated at the Hovnanian School in New Jersey since 1997, first as a Curriculum Coordinator for the Armenian language, and later as the Principal of the school since 2000. She has published numerous articles on bilingual education.