The Medical University personnel deeply esteems distinguished representatives of the Armenian nation be they poets, novelists, physicians, political leaders, or other people, and pays obeisance to their lifelong merits. A brilliant illustration of the given was the soirée organized on November 26, being dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Ruben Sevak.
Organized by joint efforts of the History Department of YSMU and 1st year students, the soirée was a massive success, as it greatly impressed the attendees influencing them to reflect about life and the decent way to leave it. The soirée included exquisite performances by the students who depicted the life the great poet leaded, his social and literary pathways.
At the end of the event, RA Minister of Diaspora, Hranush Hakobyan and YSMU Rector Gohar Kyalyan expressed their gratitude to the organizers and participants.
Ruben Sevak: renowned poet and physician
Ruben Sevak was born on the 15th of February 1885 in the village of Silivri, located not far from Constantinople. Ruben Sevak received his pre-school education at Askanaz College in his native village, then at Partizak College. In 1905 he graduated from Perper College in Constantinople, and in 1911 from the Medical Faculty of the University of Lausanne. From 1911 to 1914 he worked at one of the Lausanne hospitals.
Foreseeing the disastrous calamity of 1915 and the greatest threat Western Armenians had ever faced, Sevak persuades the people to remain vigilant and cautious in his many journalistic reports, thus revealing himself both as a National and political activist. Spirit of national unity and stability is also manifested in his works such as “At the Village Church”, “At the Village Cemetery”, “Revenge Sowing”, “Last Lullaby” and “Last of the Armenians”. Ruben Sevak proved his devotion to Armenians, not only in his literary pathway, but even more during the disaster of 1915. Like many other distinguished Armenian intellectuals, Sevak was in exile. Before his death, Turkish executioners offered him a convert to Islam, marriage to the daughter of a Turkish official and this way saving his life. Armenian activists, who were in exile with Sevak, were also persuading him to accept the proposal and stay alive. However, Sevak remains true to his family, children and nation, preferring death to the appalling existence...
Scholarship named after Ruben Sevak
On the initiative of Rector of the Yerevan State Medical University, Professor Gohar Kyalyan, the third and higher academic year medical students from Diaspora will be given the opportunity to apply for a scholarship named after Ruben Sevak. Those from Diaspora, entering the university according to the entrance requirements for students from Diaspora, will be granted the scholarship.
Nominees for the scholarship will be chosen according to the following criteria:
- High academic excellence (based on the total sum of the examination grades)
- Scientific publications within the frameworks of planned scientific research of the departments
- Participation in the scientific and social activities of the university faculties