Dr. Knar Khachatryan Reflects on Her Fulbright Experience

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YEREVAN, Armenia — Each year, roughly 850 teaching faculty and other professionals from around the world receive Fulbright Scholar awards for advanced research and lecturing at universities in the United States. The American University of Armenia (AUA) Vice Provost for Integration and Associate Professor Dr. Knar Khachatryan recently completed her Fulbright Visiting Scholar tenure at Auburn University. 

Within the scope of her program completed in Spring 2023, Dr. Khachatryan was engaged in a research project titled “Gender Aspects of Microfinance Performance: Does the country-level institutional context matter?” She explains, “To put it in simple terms, the study explores the relationship of women leadership and firm performance channeled through country-level institutional factors, such as women’s representation in executive and legislative bodies.” 

During her stay, Dr. Khachatryan collaborated with Dr. Valentina M. Hartarska from the Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology department at Auburn University. “Having a dedicated and interested host is very important, and I was lucky to have the chance to collaborate with Dr. Hartarska, who had assumed the role of ensuring that my integration was as smooth as possible,” she remarks. Together with her host, she developed the conceptual framework for the project and the dataset construct, while the paper is in the pipeline. “I believe we did a good job because I submitted the project abstract to an upcoming international conference in finance, banking, and accounting in France, and it was accepted,” Dr. Khachatryan says.

During her time spent at Auburn University, Dr. Khachatryan also had the chance to work on other papers that were duly submitted to different journals for publication. Reflecting on her Fulbright experience, she shares, “One of the most valuable advantages I got from this experience was to have my time fully dedicated to research. I felt like I was back in the years of my Ph.D. studies with all my time and concentration focused on my research with no distractions.”

Aside from devoting time to research, Dr. Khachatryan found time to socialize and network with other scholars and academic circles. She was hosted by the Promise Armenian Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, for a webinar on how Armenian companies faced Covid-19 and the 2020 Artsakh War crises and accordingly adapted their management. She gave another talk at the Armenian Studies Institute of the University of Southern California. Her presentation titled “Entrepreneurship Amid Armed Conflict: Insights from Artsakh” was based on the findings from a multiple case study that explores the corporate behavior of companies operating in a period of active conflict in Nagorno Karabakh and their strategic responses to the devastating war of 2020. “It was a great opportunity for me to interact with different communities, both Armenian and international; there were also foreign students among the attendees who were interested in Armenia and AUA,” she states.

Speaking of the benefits of her Fulbright experience, Dr. Khachatryan is confident that it will have a long-term impact on her work and professional growth. “It helped me a lot in terms of adopting different standards in my research work. Besides, I gained some insights about university administration, the policy process, procedures, and the dynamics of all that, which will be useful to me in my current position as AUA’s vice provost for integration,” she asserts. “Auburn University is growing fast. It has 30,000 students and is a research-oriented university (R1), and we can definitely look for ways to collaborate,” she concludes.

Dr. Khachatryan underscores the support she received from the AUA leadership in ensuring that during these past months she was not burdened with administrative matters and could make the most of her Fulbright experience.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.