Vartan Gregorian
President, Carnegie Corporation of New York; former President, Brown University; & former President, New York Public Library
Vartan Gregorian is a towering figure in American higher
education and one of the foremost advocates for the nation’s intellectual life.
He serves today as president of Carnegie Corporation of New York
(a philanthropic foundation created in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie),
having had distinguished tenures as president of the New York Public
Library (1981-89) and Brown University (1989-97). Before those
appointments, he was provost of the University of Pennsylvania,
as well as a dean and a professor of history there and at several
other universities. Gregorian was born in Iran, of Armenian parents,
and got his basic schooling there and in Lebanon. He later came to
the U.S., entered Stanford University in 1956, and earned a B.A. and
a Ph.D. in history and the humanities. His books include The Road
to Home: My Life and Times; Islam: A Mosaic, Not A Monolith; and The
Emergence of Modern Afghanistan, 1880-1946. He has received countless
awards and honors, including the National Humanities Medal from President
Bill Clinton in 1998 and the nation's highest civilian honor, the Medal
of Freedom, from President George W. Bush in 2004. Of Gregorian the
American philanthropist Walter Annenberg once said, "Quite simply, I
know of no one who is more brilliant and able."
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