Dr. Armine Hacopian
GLENDALE—Dr. Hacopian was reelected in April to the Glendale Community College (GCC) Board of Trustees for a fifth term. During the May 16 televised board meeting, her colleagues unanimously voted to appoint her as president of the board for the fourth time.
In the absence of elected Armenian American women role models for a college board, she was a pioneer in 2001 when she first ran for office. She is one of the only Armenian American women serving in this capacity among the 72 California Community College governing boards.
A highly passionate and life-long educator, Dr. Hacopian has always focused on student access and success as her guiding principle. Her academic and professional achievements which include six credentials, two MA’s, and a doctorate in Organizational Management attest to her sincere commitment to education.
During her illustrious career, Dr. Hacopian has held numerous positions/titles in K-12, and has been a faculty member for graduate schools at various universities. She continues to serve on thesis and doctorate dissertation committees. A highly sought after consultant, she has been invited to present at many conferences and training-the-trainers seminars. In addition, she has participated in numerous college/university accreditation teams which has enabled her to bring the best practices in higher education to GCC.
She has been honored by LA County, CA Senate, CA Assembly, and Congressional elected officials for her outstanding contributions to the field of education. Many organizations have acknowledged her tremendous success by honoring her achievements as well.
She is a member of AEF, ARS, LA County Committee on School District Organization, a board member of local Property Owners Association, past board member of AIWA, League of Women Voters, and Glendale Literacy Coalition are to name a few. Furthermore, she served many years as a board member of the Western Prelacy Board of Regents lending her expertise to Prelacy Armenian Schools.
Her current vision focuses on bringing state-of-the-art education to students who attend GCC. She is dedicated in helping graduating students meet the career/workforce needs of the 21st Century. She is highly interested in increasing IT, STEM, and on-line educational programs which will further help students to succeed in the current job market. Promoting scholarly and academic programs which help students transfer to universities and establishing direct pathways from high school to GCC and to university are of critical importance to Dr. Hacopian.
To meet these goals, she and her colleagues, along with ANCA, worked tirelessly towards persuading the citizens of Glendale to pass two bond measures; a $325 million Bond Measure GC (2016), and a $98 million Bond Measure G (2002), in order to provide the best educational facilities at GCC.
She is very proud that last year, GCC was granted a seven year accreditation; one of the very few community colleges (113 in CA) to receive such a prestigious status. According to Dr. Hacopian, GCC has one of the highest rates in transferring students to universities. Along with having been voted as one of the most beautiful campuses in California, GCC is recognized as one of the top seven colleges in the Nation which provides the most outstanding upward mobility for students. She attributes GCC’s success to a cadre of highly qualified and hardworking faculty, staff, and administrators, with a very dedicated governing board leading GCC at the helm. Most importantly, she highlights that GCC has a very eager, diverse student population who come to GCC wanting to learn, with 36% being of Armenian heritage.
She is married to Vahe Hacopian whom she met in AYF. Vahe is an outstanding community member in his own right and is the current board president of the Armenian Educational Foundation. They have two daughters; Alena and Christina. Vahe and Armine were co-founders of St. Mary’s Armenian Preschool (currently Tufenkian Preschool), where their oldest daughter was the first enrollee. They have five grandchildren who attend Tufenkian and Chamlian Schools.
Dr. Hacopian attributes her educational achievements to her parents (Sako Shadakhouni; who was a life-long ARF member, and Anelka Gordian; who was in the ARS for fifty years).
She extend her most sincere appreciation to the voters in Glendale, and to the Armenian National Committee of America for their continued endorsement and support.
Source: Asbarez
Link: Dr. Armine Hacopian is Unanimously Voted as GCC Board President