Gevorg Vardanyan is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Promise Armenian Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Under the mentorship of Dr. Taner Akcam, he works on a research project that builds on his doctoral dissertation and explores how Armenian Americans remembered late Ottoman-era state violence in their public life. This project moves beyond a survivor-centric approach to genocide memory by examining the role of communal elites and institutions in the memory process, situating these dynamics within broader currents of American culture. His academic and professional background spans public history, genocide and memory studies, museum administration, and archival work. He earned his PhD in Public History from North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 2023 under the supervision of Dr. Tammy Gordon, where he also taught undergraduate courses from 2018 to 2022. Prior to his doctoral studies, he served at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI)—Armenia’s leading research-oriented museum—in a variety of roles, including Senior Researcher, Head of the Department of Comparative Genocide Studies, Academic Secretary, and Acting Director (2017–2018), appointed by decree of the Prime Minister of Armenia. Between 2021 and 2024, he worked at the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) of NCSU Libraries.

Gevorg Vardanyan is the author of numerous scholarly articles and a book. His articles and reviews have appeared in leading academic journals, including Nationalities Papers, Memory Studies, International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, The Public Historian, International Public History, Journal of American Ethnic History, and Museum Worlds, among others. He currently serves as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies. In addition to his academic research, Dr. Vardanyan has extensive experience in public history and museum practice. At AGMI, he contributed to the curation of dozens of temporary and traveling exhibitions, as well as the development of the museum’s new permanent exhibition. He also oversaw projects on museum education, community outreach, and archival preservation. At the SCRC, he participated in the archiving of major collections related to animal welfare and rights, including the Derby Lane Greyhound Track Records, the Records of the Humane Society of the United States, and the Wayne Besenty Collection of Animal Protection Materials.