Observer

Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: News

Media Credit: FAROOQ ALIHASSAN/OBSERVER STAFF Shabeer Wali and Dr. Minoo Varzegar applaud George Login

Media Credit: FAROOQ ALIHASSAN/OBSERVER STAFF Dr. Minoo Varzegar speaks to winners

Media Credit: FAROOQ ALIHASSAN/OBSERVER STAFF Host Rudi Bakhtiar, former CNN anchor, address audience

Media Credit: FAROOQ ALIHASSAN/OBSERVER STAFF Dr. Varzegar presents Shabeer Wali with award

Cue the Persian music and bring out the sweet dessert baklava because the Persian Cultural Foundation recently gave out awards to three students on November 4.

Three Rutgers-Newark students were given an award for their essays written about some aspect of Persian Literature. Students enrolled in the Persian Literature course taught by R-N Professor Minoo Varzegar submit essays and the best are submitted for the chance to win the award for Best Persian Paper.

Adrienne Jenson, an Accounting major; Shabeer Wali, Biology major; and George Login, a recent R-N graduate who received his bachelor degree in Psychology and Philosophy this past May, were the winners.

All three students wrote papers about Persian literature, Jenson and Wali writing about well-known poets, while Login wrote about the affects war had on Persian literature. Each student was given a certificate and a $500 dollar check on behalf of the Persian Cultural Foundation.

The second best papers were written by Zara Laskar and Danielle Gaspar.

R-N Chancellor Steven Diner gave the opening remarks and Dr. Maboud Ansari, a professor of sociology at William Paterson University spoke about second generation Iranian-Americans.

The keynote speaker in attendance, former CNN anchor Rudi Bakhtiar, gave a speech about the limitless possibilities for Iranian-Americans and just how successful one can become.

Her speech included a powerpoint of other prominent Iranian-American figures, most notably Omid Kordestani, the former Senior Vice President for Worldwide Sales & Field Operations at Google; and Pierre M. Omidyar, the Founder and Chairman of the auction site eBay.

The ceremony then ended with some traditional Iranian music and traditional Iranian food.

Overall, the ceremony was aimed to combine the cultures of both America and Iran, especially for those who are born in America but have cultural ties to Iran.

The Persian Cultural Foundation focuses on bringing awareness to second generation Iranian-Americans, so that the culture of their ancestors remains very much alive in a different country.

Dr. Ansari called it an ethnic revivalism, or "an interest from the second generation" that live in America, to be reconnected with the strong ethnic traditions of Iran.

"Rutgers-Newark is the best place to represent all of these cultures," said Chancellor Steven Diner.

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