GAINESVILLE, FL, September 19, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to name Haig Der-Houssikian, PhD, a Lifetime Achiever. An accomplished listee, Dr. Der-Houssikian celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Dr. Der-Houssikian has dedicated over 51 years to the study of linguistics and holds the esteemed position of professor emeritus with the University of Florida. He is an expert in the morphology and discourse of sub Saharan African languages, especially comparative Bantu and Swahili. Dr. Der-Houssikian's love for the region stems from his time with the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, which he remembers as one of academic and personal growth, and where he almost immediately met his wife to be. They married at the start of their third year. It was a dynamic place of learning, and a center for Middle Eastern politics and history.
Born in Cairo, Egypt, to Vagharsh and Adrine Der-Houssikian, Dr. Der-Houssikian studied with the American University in Cairo before attending the American University in Beirut to study political science and public administration. He earned a Master's degree there in 1962, and joined the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania as a research associate for one year. In 1967, he arrived in America to the University of Florida where he taught as an assistant professor of linguistics. The position supported Dr. Der-Houssikian's studies with the University of Texas in Austin, where he was on track toward a career in political science. However, a linguistics professor in Texas offered Dr. Der-Houssikian a research grant to translate Armenian documents into English, which set him on a path to serious linguistics scholarship.
Dr. Der-Houssikian earned a PhD in 1969, and in 1971, he served his first term as director of linguistics with the University of Florida. While teaching with the university, he frequently received Fulbright and U.S. Information Agency assignments as a visiting lecturer. Dr. Der-Houssikian developed the university's Center for African Studies, and chaired the department of African and Asian languages and literature from 1982 to 1991. As a result, the University is now a permanent home for the study of Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Swahili, and Yoruba, part of a larger languages, literature, and cultures department which includes French, German, and Russian studies. Dr. Der-Houssikian is particularly proud of accepting one of several senior Fulbright grants to Togo where he taught with the Universite du Benin in Lome, as well as visits to the Universidade de Luanda in Angola, the University of Zimbabwe in Harare, and the Universite Marien Ngouabi on a U.S. Information Agency Academy specialist grant. These experiences provided an exceptional degree of understanding of various African cultures and languages.
Dr. Der-Houssikian was a frequent evaluator for the U.S. Department of Education, and helped American academics work on linguistic research in Africa from 1975 to 2015. He has occasionally assisted the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Council as a grant proposal evaluator. Dr. Der-Houssikian is the recipient of a 1980 to 1981 ACTION grant, and from 1967 to 1974 he served as an African linguistics biographer for the Modern Language Association. He has been a member of the Linguistics Society of America, the African Studies Association, the Southeastern Conference on Linguistics, and Phi Kappa Phi. The fruits of Dr. Der-Houssikian's research can be harvested via numerous books on grammar, communication, and culture, as well as the numerous conference presentations he has given over the years. He served as the co-editor of "Language and Linguistics Problems in Africa," compiled "A Bibliography of African Linguistics" in 1972, and continues to serve as a reviewer for the African Book Publication Review.
Since 2003, Dr. Der-Houssikian has been enjoying his retirement reading, hiking, and traveling in the company of his wife, Gaylynne Hall, whom he married in 1961. They still look back fondly on their time at the American University of Beirut and the warm winds of sub Saharan Africa.
In recognition of outstanding contributions to his profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Dr. Der-Houssikian has been featured on the Marquis Who's Who Lifetime Achievers website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America , Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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