“Future of Armenia is in Our hands and We should Bring Positive Social Change”: Astghik Tsatryan
Being proud Armenian, Astghik has always found ways to represent her homeland in the United States and continued doing so while studying at Oxford University and partook in many international conferences. In her own words “I highly deem that the future of Armenia is in our hands and we can and should bring positive social change.”
She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree from University of California, Berkeley. Out of all transfer students to UC Berkeley, she was selected to be one of 8 scholars for the Future Leaders Program, which awarded her with a scholarship and provided 2 years of intense leadership training with some of the best leadership coaches in the country. In her leadership defence, Astghik stated, “the core of leadership is a self-awareness.” On the day of her graduation she was also awarded with the Departmental Citation, which is given to only one top student of the year for an outstanding academic achievement and active involvement with the university’s community. She was an adviser for her peers at International and Area Studies Department, instructor for Leadership and Facilitation class, mentor for community college students, consultant for Family Violence Law Center, and advocate for an International Climate Change Organization. In her own Department’s Chair words, “Astghik is indeed the exemplar of Berkeley excellence and commitment. I have described Astghik on more than one occasion as a force of nature. She is a ball of energy and her enthusiasm is infectious.”
After graduating from UC Berkeley, Astghik had worked with Thomson Reuters as a background investigator and after getting her 2nd promotion she was the workflow manager. She left her job to obtain her Master’s Degree from University of Oxford.
She got her Master’s in Global Governance and Diplomacy from Oxford University. While at Oxford she was the President of Oxford University Armenian Society and was one of three class ambassadors for her class. She represented Armenia at an international conference in Netherlands titled “Peace Process in the South Caucuses.”
Also, she was selected as one of two students from Oxford University to represent Oxford in a debate at a conference in Portugal, where many scholars and practitioners gathered from all over the world. She has never lost an opportunity to talk about Armenia and as she states “My country needs me and as a privileged Armenian I take it as my responsibility to represent and help my country wherever I am.”
By Razmik Martirosyan
