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Finding Aid for the Vahac Mardirosian papers, 1964-2007
1887
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Title: Vahac Mardirosian papers
Date (inclusive): 1964-2007
Collection number: 1887
Creator:
Vahac Mardirosian
Extent:
7 document boxes and 1 half document box (3.75 linear ft.)
Abstract: Reverend Vahac Mardirosian has been a major advocate of Mexican-American educational reforms in Los Angeles and San Diego
school districts since the early 1960s. This collection contains material related to his pastoral work, his involvement with
the 1968 East Los Angeles walk-out demonstration and organizations he helped found and run, including the Hispanic Urban Center
Board of Education (founded 1970) and Parent Institute for Quality Education (founded 1987). Materials include clippings and
press releases, letters and statements, notes, sermons, evaluation reports, reading score percentiles and rankings, memoranda,
fact sheets and administrative documents, and cover a wide variety of educational topics including bilingual education, integration,
teachers' attitudes towards Mexican American students, parental involvement, and reading achievement.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections
for paging information.
Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library
Special Collections for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the
creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright
owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Vahac Mardirosian, 2011.
Processed by Yasmin Damshenas in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Kelley Wolfe Bachli
and Megan Hahn Fraser, December 2011.
The processing of this collection was generously supported by
Arcadia
funds.
[Identification of item], Vahac Mardirosian papers (Collection Number 1887). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E.
Young Research Library, UCLA.
Reverend Vahac Mardirosian has been a leading advocate of educational reform in Southern California, especially in the Mexican
American communities, since the late 1960s. Of Armenian descent, he was born in Alepo, Syria and raised in Mexico City and
Tijuana. He became ordained as a Baptist priest in California in 1946 and went on to serve the Mexican American communities
of Topeka and Chicago, before returning to California in the 1950s. In 1968 he became involved with the walk-out protests
at Garfield High School in the East Los Angeles School District. He acted as a mediator with administrators and became a representative
of parents and students in his role as chairman of the Educational Issues Coordinating Committee (EICC).
He founded and acted as executive director of the Hispanic Urban Center in Los Angeles in 1970, which focused on in-service
education for teachers, seeking to enhance their perceptions of Mexican American culture and improve teacher/student relations.
In 1987 Mardirosian started the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) to address underperforming schools in the San
Diego School District in response to concerned parents. PIQE offers a 9-week program to help improve education through the
joint collaboration of parents, students and teachers and emphasizes the role of parents as advocates for their children.
In 2006 California State University (CSU) began working with PIQE to provide funding and support of outreach and training
for low-income families.
In 1988 Mardirosian received recognition from Phi Delta Kappa for his service and leadership in educational reform and in
1998 CSU awarded him an honorary doctorate for his impact on the lives of parents and children of California. In 2010 Mardirosian
received the "Remarkable Leader in Education" award from the University of San Diego.
This collection contains material related to Vahac Mardirosian's pastoral work, his involvement with the 1968 East Los Angeles
walk-out demonstration and the organizations he helped found and run, including the Hispanic Urban Center Board of Education
and the Parent Institute for Quality Education. Materials include clippings, press releases, letters, statements, notes, sermons,
evaluation reports, reading score percentiles and rankings, memoranda, fact sheets, and administrative documents, and cover
a wide variety of educational topics including bilingual education, integration, teachers' attitudes towards Mexican American
students, parental involvement, and reading achievement.
Arranged in the following series:
- Pastoral Work
- East Los Angeles High School Walk Out
- Hispanic Urban Center Board of Education
- Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE)
- Biographical Materials
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Vahac Mardirosian---Archives.
Hispanic Urban Center Board of Education.
Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE).
UCLA: Chicano Studies Research Center Library, Collection 56, The Desegregation Collection:
- Box 6C, Folder 183, Vahac Mardirosian. "Los Angeles City Schools Sixth Grade Fall 1971 Reading Scores." L.A Unified School District Summary Report #321.
- Box 6D, Folder 212, "Los Angeles City Schools." Chart Prepared by Vahac Mardirosian. Also, "Letter to Mr. Vahac Mardirosian." 15 Apr. 1977.
Stanford University Special Collections, Collection M0673, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund:
- RG 5, Box 1105, Folder 8, Mardirosian, Vahac Rev. Part of the Los Angeles alphabetical case files.