About

Maria Armoudian is the author of three books, Reporting from the Danger Zone: Frontline Journalists, Their Jobs and an Increasingly Perilous Future and Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World. and her most recent Lawyers Beyond Borders : Advancing International Human Rights Through Local Laws and Courts . She is a lecturer at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the host and producer of the syndicated radio program, The Scholars’ Circle. Maria served as an environmental commissioner for the City of Los Angeles for five years,  on the Board of Taxi Cab Commissioners for two and worked on environmental protection, government oversight, poverty reduction, civil rights, and corporate reform legislation for the California State Legislature for eight years, Her articles have been published by the Columbia Journalism Review, New York Times Syndicate and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, The New Zealand Herald, the Los Angeles Daily News, Grist, the Progressive, Salon.com, Truthout, Alternet, Inc., Daily Variety, and Billboard. She also a songwriter & musician. Her CD is called Life in the New World.

Scholars Circle Team

( alphabetical order )

  • Ankine Aghassian – Producer and Editor
    • Journalist
    • Production responsibility includes:
      • Organizing weekly program of Scholars Circle
      • Engaging with Hosts and Guests for the weekly show
      • Research on program material for hosts
      • Organizing interview at studio, virtual – phone, online conference ( such as zoom )
      • Editing raw audio interview for radio play.
      • Engaging on social media to inform the weekly program.
  • Maria Armoudian – Producer and Host
    • For bio, see above.
  • Douglas (Doug ) Becker – Producer and Host
    • Dr. Douglas Becker is Assistant Professor at School of International Relations , USC.  He received his Ph.D from University of Connecticut in 2002.
    • His research interests involve historical memory as a research tool on foreign policy analysis and public diplomacy.
    • He teaches courses on peace and conflict:
      • On the importance of historical memory as elements of public diplomacy and image in foreign policy analysis,
      • On international political economy of multinational corporations.
    • His recent publications:
      • The Rationality and Emotion of Russian Historical Memory: The Case of Crimea in Crisis,
      • Change in Post-Cold War Global Politics: Ukraine in a Comparative Perspective ( 1st edition 2018 )
    • He servers ont he Executive Board of the Active Learning in International Relations (ALIAS)
  • Melissa Chiprin – Managing Producer, Melissa is producer and researcher. She was a host and producer for the Feminist Magazine show on KPFK 90.7 FM for 12 years.
  • Sudd Dongre – Technical Support, Web Master of Scholarscircle.org and armoudian.com
  • Tim Page – Technical Support, The Big Q production.
  • Mike Hurst – Technical Support, The Big Q production.

By Maria Armoudian