Shawnee State University professor emeritus receives prestigious award

            Dr. Hagop S. Pambookian, professor emeritus of psychology at Shawnee State University, has received the Ohio Psychological Association’s “Lifetime Achievement Award by a Psychologist” that was presented to him at a luncheon ceremony in Columbus during OPA’s 60th Anniversary Convention in October.
            Dr. Michael D. Dwyer, the OPA president, presented Pambookian the award which reads in part, “In recognition of your outstanding achievement to advance psychology as a science and/or profession by a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the field.”
            “We are extremely pleased that the Ohio Psychological Association has awarded Dr. Pambookian their Lifetime Achievement Award by a Psychologist,” said Dr. Timothy E. Scheurer, dean, SSU College of Arts and Sciences. “He is very deserving of this honor and we are proud of his accomplishments.”
            When the Ohio Psychological Association was established in 1949, from Lebanon, Pambookian was in a boarding school in Nicosia, Cyprus, to study at the Melkonian Educational Institute.
            “Who would have thought that an Armenian school kid would travel to the United States, settle in Ohio, and be recognized and honored by the OPA at its 60th Anniversary Convention in Columbus?” Pambookian said.
            After receiving his undergraduate psychology degree from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, Pambookian came to the United States in August 1961. He received his master’s degree in psychology from Columbia University Teachers College and his doctorate in psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
            He moved to Portsmouth in 1987 to serve as associate professor of psychology at Shawnee State University where he developed the psychology degree program and also began contributing to the internationalization of the university.
            Pambookian was very active in bringing visiting Fulbright scholars to Portsmouth from Hungary, Romania, South Korea, Russia, the People’s Republic of China and Armenia to lecture at SSU. Following a year-long project on “Perestroika, Changes and Developments in the U.S.S.R: What Next?” he initiated an annual International Awareness Week celebration on campus and helped establish the first international exchange program with the University of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia at SSU.
            Pambookian was a senior Fulbright Fellow during 1978-79 in the USSR and taught psychology at the Yerevan State University in Yerevan, Armenia. He was the first U.S. Scholar to receive a nine-month long Fulbright Award for the Soviet Union and the first Fulbright Fellow to teach psychology in the Republic of Armenia.
            He established the Pambookian Foundation at the Armenian Academy of Sciences in Yerevan and has donated more than 3,300 English language psychology books and numerous volumes of psychology journals to its Fundamental Library.
            For his involvement and accomplishments, Pambookian has been elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), and Honorary member of the “International Academy of Psychological Sciences” in Yaroslavl, Russia, and the “Academy of Pedagogical-Psychological Sciences” in Yerevan, Armenia.
            Pambookian was also honored by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, earlier this year, along with several first-generation immigrants, who have made significant contributions to the State of Ohio.
            At Shawnee State, Pambookian also contributes to student scholarships through the Development Foundation, having established the “Dr. Hagop S. Pambookian Scholarship” that is given to a senior student majoring in psychology and/or an international student who has come to SSU to study.
            “It is a humbling experience but a real honor to receive the OPA award,” Pambookian said. “In different ways and in many countries, I tried to share scientific information and help the area scholars, professionals and students. Simply, I just wanted to be helpful. It is, indeed, gratifying that other psychologists became aware of and appreciated my lifelong accomplishments and contributions to psychology worldwide.”