Arizona scholars link up with Armenia

Published: Wednesday June 20, 2012

ASU students listen an Armenian student via Skype.

Tempe, Ariz. - Scholars from Arizona State University's Leadership Scholar Program and Yerevan's Leadership School in Armenia held a joint teleconference.

On May 16, thousands of miles and hours apart, a group of American and Armenian scholars conversed about civic responsibility and leadership. The teleconference was organized by ASU sophomore Tro Panosian and Samvel Movsisyan of LS Armenia. The event was moderated by Assistant Dean to the WP Carey School of Business at ASU, Tim Desch, and Anush Kostanyan of Armenia's Leadership School.

Panosian, a student of Arizona State University, was contacted through the professional networking site LinkedIn (by way of mutual contacts) by Movsisyan, who is the founder of the Leadership School in Armenia. The Leadership School Foundation is a non-political, non-religiously affiliated organization that gathers university-level students and teaches skills in leadership and civic responsibility in a hope to better educate and involve Armenian youth in creating a bright future for the country. The Leadership School has had regular teleconferences in the past with prominent Armenian leaders, such as Ken Hachikian, and additional prestigious schools such as the London School of Economics.

After deciding that a teleconference would be beneficial and enlightening for students in the United States and in Armenia, both Panosian and Movsisyan coordinated, gathered students involved in leadership in their respective schools, and arranged the teleconference. There was an approximate total of 30 students represented at the virtual summit.

During the hour-long session, arranged through Skype, the students engaged in a fruitful dialogue about leadership, educated one another in their corresponding perspectives of leadership, and discussed exemplary leaders, trends in leadership, how to lead in a constantly evolving world, and the role of education in developing leaders and building an economy.

Students in Arizona and Armenia hope to continue the relationship between schools, and to host future teleconferences on a wide array of topics that relate to civic responsibility, leadership, economic growth, and the role of education in the modern world.