Guests of Groong Podcast
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Heghnar Watenpaugh
Prof. Heghnar Watenpaugh teaches Art and Architecture at the University of California, Davis, and is a board member of Save Armenian Monuments
Hovhannes Ishkhanyan
Hovhannes Ishkhanyan, writer, documentary filmmaker, publicist, co-founder of Eye for an Eye (Akn Und Akan), a community of documentarians. Hovhannes has a Master’s in journalism from the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs.
Hrant Mikaelian
Hrant Mikaelian, a political scientist and multidisciplinary researcher in social sciences based in Yerevan. He is also a senior researcher at the Caucasus Institute.
Isabel Bayrakdarian
Isabel Bayrakdarian who is a mother, singer, teacher, poet, artist, storyteller, collaborator, believer… Not your average prima donna!
Ivan Katchanovski
Ivan Katchanovski is a Ukrainian and Canadian political scientist and professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada. He held academic positions at Harvard University, the State University of New York at Potsdam, the University of Toronto, and the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. His academic publications include 5 books, 21 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and 13 book chapters. His publications, interviews, and comments appeared in more than 3,500 media reports in over 80 countries.
Jeffrey Sachs
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs is a world-renowned economics professor, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development.
Sachs is widely recognized for bold and effective strategies to address complex challenges including the escape from extreme poverty, the global battle against human-induced climate change, international debt and financial crises, national economic reforms, and the control of pandemic and epidemic diseases.
Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor, the university’s highest academic rank. Sachs was Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. He is President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Co-Chair of the Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition, academician of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican, Commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Honorary Distinguished Professor at Sunway University, and SDG Advocate for UN Secretary General António Guterres. From 2001-18, Sachs served as Special Advisor to UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan (2001-7), Ban Ki-moon (2008-16), and António Guterres (2017-18).
Sachs has authored and edited numerous books, including three New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty (2005), Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008), and The Price of Civilization (2011). Other books include To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace (2013), The Age of Sustainable Development (2015), Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair & Sustainable (2017), A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism (2018), The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (2020), and most recently, Ethics in Action for Sustainable Development (2022).
Sachs is the 2022 recipient of the Tang Prize in Sustainable Development and was the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership. He was twice named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders. Sachs has received 42 honorary doctorates, and his recent awards include the 2022 Tang Prize in Sustainable Development, the Legion of Honor by decree of the President of the Republic of France, and the Order of the Cross from the President of Estonia.
Prior to joining Columbia, Sachs spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, most recently as the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Sachs received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard.
Johnny G. Melikian
Johnny G. Melikian is a senior research fellow at the Orbeli Center for analysis, and the head of the Center for Political and Legal Studies. He has worked as a consultant for the International Crisis Group, and was a visiting fellow at Georgia’s Ilia State University
Karen Vrtanesyan
Karen Vrtanesyan is an expert on military and warfare strategies with a focus on Armenia and its neighboring region. He is the former coordinator of the website razm.info.
Karena Avedissian
Dr. Karena Avedissian’s research focuses on social movements, new media/communications, civil society and governance in the former Soviet Union, with an area focus on Russia and the Caucasus.