AUA Lecturer Ms. Kristine Sargsyan Among 21 Remarkable Women Who Are Changing Eastern Europe

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On March 8, American University of Armenia (AUA) lecturer of business communications and the founder of TEDxYerevan, Ms. Kristine Sargsyan, was included in the list of the 21 Remarkable Women Who are Changing Eastern Europe published by ostpol.de.

Ms. Arpiné Gregoryan, the operations director of international media startup News Deeply, who nominated Ms. Sargsyan, said in her comment for Ostpol, “In the past seven years since Kristine Sargsyan organized the first TEDx event, she inspired me and many people in Yerevan and the regions of Armenia to start translating more TED Talks into Armenian and organizing TEDx conferences for different communities.” She also added, “In the last few years, she also established a program that enables young people from across Armenia to share their ideas with the world and have their voices heard by their communities at large.”

Additionally, last year TED-Ed recognized Ms. Sargsyan as one of 28 TED-Ed Innovative Educators out of the TED community of 250,000 educators worldwide. However, Ms. Sargsyan states that this type of recognition do not affect her activities in any way. She continues her work with the same enthusiasm trying to reach out to more people with each event organized in Yerevan and beyond.

Ms. Sargsyan notes that her classes have become more interactive and innovative thanks to her activities within the scope of the TEDx and TED-Ed programs. She believes that textbooks alone are not enough to educate students. “I encourage students to think independently in any situation and come up with creative solutions. The job market has gone through remarkable changes, and we should bring changes into the educational system as well to match the job market needs. Students should develop highly demanded skills like creativity, influential public speaking, critical and reflective thinking to survive in the job market.”

To the question whether AUA students are prepared to accept and apply these innovative methods, Ms. Sargsyan replies that in the beginning, they are not. Nevertheless, whenever they try to apply the new skills in their everyday lives, they come back to her with various success stories. “We do not tell the students how to act or behave but rather put them in carefully designed behavioral exercises where they have to actually act and conduct self-observations. I use individual approaches for each student and provide feedback on both his or her strengths and weaknesses,” states the lecturer.

Ms. Sargsyan has also been helping her students with organizing the TEDxAUA event to be held in fall 2017. The TEDx club at the AUA was founded by Ms. Sargsyan’s student Seda Babayan, who came up with the idea and has been issued the TED license for one year. “I have not been disappointed at any point of my work with the TEDxAUA team. The initiating team is very serious and determined, hence I will continue to support them in order to ensure the high quality of the event,” comments Ms. Sargsyan.

Watch Kristine Sargsyan’s talk about TEDx at: http://boon.am/tedx/

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia and affiliated with the University of California. AUA provides a global education in Armenia and the region, offering high-quality, graduate and undergraduate studies, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic values.