Nina Garsoyan

Nina G. Garsoïan (April 11, 1923 – August 14, 2022) was a French-born American historian specializing in Armenian and Byzantine history. In 1969 she became the first female historian to get tenure at Columbia University and, subsequently, became the first holder of Gevork M. Avedissian Chair in Armenian History and Civilization at Columbia.

Biography Nina G. Garsoïan was born in Paris on April 11, 1923, to Armenian parents from Nakhichevan-on-Don (Rostov-on-Don) and Tbilisi. She moved to New York in 1933. She received a Bachelor of Arts in classical archaeology from Bryn Mawr College in 1943 and both Master of Arts degree and PhD from Columbia University in Byzantine, Near Eastern, and Armenian history. She served in that position until 1979. She participated in a Byzantine Studies Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, twice serving as a co-director.

Publications Garsoïan published numerous books and journal and encyclopedia articles on Armenian, Byzantine, and Sasanian history. Armenia between Byzantium and the Sasanians. Variorum Publishing. 1985. The epic histories attributed to P'awstos Buzand: (Buzandaran Patmut'iwnk'). 1989. L'Église arménienne et le grand schisme d'Orient. Peeters Publishers. 1999. Church and Culture in Early Medieval Armenia. Ashgate Publishing, 1999. De Vita Sua. Mazda Publishers, 2011. (memoir)