Education

  • Ph.D. Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA, 2021
  • M.A. Early Christian Studies, University of Notre Dame, 2015
  • M.A. Historical Theology, Wheaton College, 2013
  • B.A. Linguistics, summa cum laude, UCLA, 2011

Research

  • literature, education, asceticism, mysticism
  • manuscript studies
  • Anania of Narek
  • Ephrem of Nisibis
  • Evagrius of Pontus
  • Western Armenian

Publications

Articles

  • “The Urban/Rural Divide in the Early Modern Period: A Microhistorical Study of an Episode in Joseph Emin’s Life and Adventures.” Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies 27 (2020): 70–84.
  • “Ընկերութիւն, սէր եւ գրելու մղումը Քրիստիան Բատիկեանի Մետաղէ երազներ վէպին մէջ (Friendship, Love, and the Urge to Write in Christian Batikian’s novel Metal Dreams).” Pakine 59 no. 1 (2020): 70–80.
  • “Texts for Keeping Watch: The ‘Hymns of the Night’ of Ephrem of Nisibis and the Book of Lamentation of Gregory of Narek.” Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 49 no. 2 (2018): 1–23.
  • “Gišeroy kc‘urdk‘ (Hymns of the Night): Seven Madrāše of Ephrem the Syrian Preserved in Armenian.” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 21 no. 2 (2018): 267–318.
  • “Armenian Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.” Manuscripta 62.1 (2018): 1–32.
  • “The Debate over the Theory of Names in Origen’s Contra Celsum.” Journal of TAK 42 no. 2 (2018): 59–70.
  • “‘Let us Mourn Continuously:’ John Chrysostom and the Early Christian Transformation of Mourning.” StPatr 83 (2017): 289–312.

Dissertations

  • “A Window into the Tenth Century: The Life and Literary Works of Anania of Narek” (2021)
  • committee: S. Peter Cowe (chair), Sebouh D. Aslanian, Michael Cooperson, Timothy W. Greenwood, Hagop Gulludjian

Chapters in Edited Volumes

  • “Armenian.” In Eastern Christianity: A Reader, edited by James E. Walters, 143–199. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2021.
  • “‘Ո՞ւր են բանալիներդ’ An Innovative Method for Teaching Western Armenian in Diaspora.” In Western Armenian in the 21st Century: Challenges and New Approaches, edited by Barlow Der Mugrdechian and Bedross Der Matossian, 37–58. Armenian Series No. 7, Society for Armenian Studies Series No. 1. Fresno: The Press at California State University, 2018.
  • “Psalms.” In Discovering the Septuagint: A Guided Reader, edited by Karen H. Jobes, 175–197, 200–203. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2016.

Honors & Awards

  • Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship for Research on Minorities in the Middle East & North Africa, 2020–2021
  • Charles E. and Sue K. Young Graduate Student Fellowship Award, 2020–2021
  • Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund Fellowship, 2018–2019, 2019–2020, 2020–2021
  • Graduate Student Paper Prize, North American Patristics Society, 2020
  • Best Graduate Paper Award for 2017, Society for Armenian Studies
  • Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need Fellowship for Middle East & North Africa Studies, U.S. Department of Education, 2016–2017
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Notre Dame, 2014–2015
  • Kenneth S. Kantzer Award in Christian History and Theology, Wheaton College, 2012–2013

Courses

Dumbarton Oaks/HMML
  • Introduction to Classical Armenian (July 12 – Aug 6 2021)
UCLA
  • Origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Winter 2020)
  • Discovering the Greeks (Fall 2019)
  • Classical Mythology (Spring 2019)
  • Jerusalem: The Holy City (Winter 2019)
  • Latin 1 (Fall 2018)
University of Notre Dame
  • Beginning Latin I–II (Fall 2014–Spring 2015)
  • Roman Criminal Law (Spring 2014)
  • The History of Ancient Rome (Fall 2013)

Selected Talks and Conference Presentations

  • “The Making of a Monastic Academy: Intellectual and Ascetic-Mystical Education at the Monastery of Narek.” Forgotten Christianities Seminar, Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, Ancient World Research Cluster, Wolfson College, Oxford, June 7, 2021.
  • “Reading Evagrius at the Monastery of Narek.” Annual Meeting of the North American Patristics Society, Chicago, IL, May 27, 2021.
  • “The Armenian Reception of Evagrius of Pontus with a Focus on the Monastery of Narek.” 19th Annual Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, February 20, 2021.
  • “‘Feed Your Soul with Tears:’ Anania of Narek and the Forgotten Practice of Praying with Tears.” Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center, New York, October 17, 2019
  • «Ընկերութիւն, սէր եւ գրելու մղումը Քրիստիան Բատիկեանի Մետաղէ երազներ վէպին մէջ» | “Friendship, Love, and the Urge to Write in Christian Batikian’s novel Metal Dreams.” Armenian Seminar Lecture Series, University of California, Los Angeles, June 4, 2019
  • “Mourning with Tears in Armenian Christianity from the Fifth to Tenth Centuries.” Annual Meeting of the North American Patristics Society, Chicago, Illinois, May 24, 2018
  • “Gregory of Narek, Symeon the New Theologian, and the Inward Turn in Ascetic Experience.” Armenia & Byzantium without Borders: Mobility, Interactions, Responses, University of Vienna, April 21, 2018
  • “In Creation of Readerly Taste: Paratextuality in the ‘Publishing Mission’ of Mkhit‘ar of Sebastia.” Confessionalization and Reform: The Mkhitarist Enterprise from Constantinople to Venice, Trieste and Vienna: A Conference in memory of Sahak Djemjemian and on the Occasion of the 300thAnniversary of the Establishment of the Congregation in Venice. University of California, Los Angeles, December 16, 2017
  • “‘Ո՞ւր են բանալիներդ’ An Innovative Method for Teaching Western Armenian in Diaspora,” Society for Armenian Studies Annual Meeting: Transmitting Western Armenian to the Next Generation. Washington D.C., November 18, 2017
  • “Keeping Vigil in Differing Near Eastern Texts and Contexts: Ephrem the Syrian’s ‘Hymns of the Night’ and Gregory of Narek’s Book of Lamentation,” Emerging Scholars Conference, Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, October 27, 2017
  • “‘Hymns of the Night’: Seven Madrāšê of Ephrem the Syrian Preserved in Armenian.” Annual Meeting of the North American Patristics Society, Chicago, Illinois, May 26, 2017
  • “What Then of the Letter of Macarius of Jerusalem to the Armenians?” Annual Meeting of the North American Patristics Society, Chicago, Illinois, May 27, 2016
  • “Armenian Manuscripts at the Vatican Library: Respectus, Conspectus, Prospectus.” The Promise of the Vatican Library, University of Notre Dame, May 10, 2016