The Department has benefited from the support of Dr. Ara Vahan and Edma Dumanian, who established the Dumanian Armenian Studies Endowment at UChicago in 1983. The endowment allows NELC to bring renowned scholars to campus every spring quarter to teach a class on a topic in Armenian studies and give a public lecture on their work.
The Dumanian Armenian Studies Endowment has been central to establishing NELC and the University of Chicago as one of the premiere institutions for Armenian studies in the United States.
Past Dumanian Visiting Professors
- 2018 Melissa Bilal
- 2017 Giusto Traina
- 2016 Lerna Ekmekçioğlu
- 2015 Kathryn Franklin
- 2014 Bedross Der Matossian
- 2013 Elyse Semerdjian
- 2012 Tasha Vorderstrasse
- 2011 Sebouh Aslanian
- 2009 David Calonne
- 2008 Robert Hewsen
- 2007 Ruben S. Badalyan
- 2005 Ioanna Rapti
- 2004 Mkrtich Zardaryan
- 2001 Christina Maranci
- 2000 Margaret Sarkissian
Annual Dumanian Lectures
Melissa Bilal, 2018 Visiting Dumanian Professor, “Never Bow in Servitude: Ottoman Armenian Women's Writings on Antimilitarism and People's Right to Self-defense," Public lecture delivered on May 24, 2018.
Giusto Traina, 2017 Visiting Dumanian Professor, ""A Forgotten Empire: Tigran's Greater Armenia," Public lecture delivered on May 25, 2017.