Lecturers

Arianne Ishaya has a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from UCLA. Her research interests are in the history of the Assyrian diaspora in North America. She was born in Urmia. Little did she know as a child that she was growing up in the cradle of an ancient Assyrian Christian center, with shrines such as Mar Sarguis and Mart Maryam that date back to the 7th –8th century AD.
In 2010 she published two books New Lamps for Old (2010), which is the history of the settlement of Assyrians in North Battleford, Saskatchewan Canada, the very first settlers of the region; and Familiar Faces in Unfamiliar Places: Assyrians in the California Heartland 1911-2010 (2010), which is the history of the settlement of Assyrians in Turlock, California. Her most recent work is a biography on William Daniel titled William Daniel, Portrait of An Assyrian Icon (2015), published by the Assyrian Association of San Jose.
Arianne has numerous publications in professional journals, encyclopedias (Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups; Encyclopedia Iranica, Encyclopedia of Canada’s Peoples) and Assyrian periodicals (Journal of the Assyrian-American Studies, Assyrian Star, Nineveh). She has been very active in Assyrian educational programs sponsored by various Assyrian organizations in the Bay area. She was also one of the contributors and editors of Tapestry, a collection of poems in Assyrian and English and Sympathy and Satire, a collection of plays by the well-known Assyrian poet and composer, William Daniel.
Presently she is preparing Kateeny Gabbara (in the three volumes) for reprinting, and Discourse on the Spelling Method in The Assyrian Language both by William Daniel. She also has two manuscripts in print: The History of the Assyrians in Hamadan, co-authored with Hannibal Gevargis, the second a translation of The Last days of Atla Kandy compiled and edited by Eddy Davoud.

New Urmia in Place of the Old” by Dr. Arianne Ishaya

Vladimir Moghaddasi. Born in Tehran, Iran, Vladimir’s father, Yaghoub’s family origins are in the village of Qarajalu in the Urmia region of Iran where his family had lived for generations since 1800. Tombstones, family genealogy and historical testimonies attest to the deep roots of this family in the area. The family name refers to the fact that in the late 1800s, his grandfather, Alexander (Saando) made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the holiest Christian urban area due to the central place that it holds in the life of Jesus Christ.
Trained as a software engineer, Vladimir moved to Los Angeles in 1991, along with his wife Monica Moradkhan, and then to Silicon Valley in 1993. They were married in Iran in 1990. Monica’s grandfather Rev. Pnoiel Moradkhan was born in Qarajalu and her father, George, was born in Urmia.
Vladimir has been active for decades in the Assyrian community, serving in leadership positions at both the Assyrian Evangelical church and BrightStar Christian Academy in San Jose, California. He and Monica have supported important Assyrian cultural activities such as Mesopotamian Night, for over a decade the chief fund-raiser for the work of the Assyrian Aid Society of America in Iraq. They are also active members of the Assyrian American Association of San Jose and have been supporting the Seyfo Center, the Assyrian Genocide Research Center.

Sources and selected details of the life of Dr. Joseph D. Joseph By Mr. Vladimir Moghaddasi