READY FOR THE FALL

Yesterday, my doctoral adviser, Clara Chu, called me. She is beginning her sabbatical, which will take her to Valencia, Spain, for 5 months. As a result, I have decided to take a leave of absence from UCLA for the Fall Quarter. Nevertheless, I expect to be very busy, and am now getting ready for my trip to Jerusalem, where I have many projects to work on at the Armenian Patriarchate -- dissertation proposal (The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem: Preservation, Promulgation, and Perpetuation of Cultural Patrimony); The Genius of Komitas in His Divine Liturgy, English translation; translation of the Deacon's Diary... into English; next phase of Calouste Gulbenkian Library renovation/reorganization. This is just for starters!!!

INTERNATIONAL TEACHER EXCHANGE 2005

I began blogging, and have been doing so intermittently, in 2004, to keep a cyber-journal of some of my experiences and adventures in academia. It is now approaching Fall Quarter 2005, and I am taking a leave of absence from UCLA, since Clara Chu, my advisor will be on sabbatical. However, I will continue my research and develop my dissertation proposal, which I hope to defend in the Winter Quarter 2006. In the meantime, I have also submitted an abstract for a paper, which if accepted, is to be given at the First International Conference on Cooperation for Development in Valencia, Spain, in mid-November. I am currently one of the IT instructors for a group of six teachers, on an international exchange program at UCLA. Three are from Bangladesh, and three from Palestine (2 women, 1 man; and 2 men, 1 woman, respectively). They are wonderful, devoted individuals, and I am learning as much from them as I am teaching them. I do enjoy the interchange very much and look forward to their visit to Central Library on September 28.