GCC counselor Nare Garibyan is a former Glendale student who returned to work at GCC, starting in 2012 as a part-time counselor and was hired full-time in 2017 to support first-time college students, non-traditional students, Armenian-speaking students, and more.
One of Garibyan’s colleagues is Carla Ruiz, a part-time counselor and Cultural Diversity Coordinator. Ruiz works in Student Equity and helps students in academic recovery. Currently, the two are planning the annual Armenian Genocide Commemoration and Armenian Heritage month programming, set for April 10 through the 29. The list of events can be seen here. “[Garibyan] is amazing with students,” Ruiz said. “She’s always willing to explain things that students are confused with and always has amazing ideas. She’s like a mentor to me.” Ruiz also mentioned that Garibyan does great work with facilitating diverse, creative science lectures that attract all kinds of students.
Garibyan has been the Glendale Community College Science Lecture Series coordinator since 2014. The series started in the spirit of celebrating Albert Einstein’s 100th birthday in the late 1970s, featuring various science topics including established scientists, undergraduate students, PhD candidates studying interesting topics, and experts from various science fields. Some topics presented explore the science behind non-scientific phenomena. Garibyan enjoys researching scientific topics that can lead to discovering talented speakers. Often, Garibyan will be forwarded ideas and suggested speakers from GCC professors and community members. She also hosts four lectures in the Spring and three in the Fall.
In the Fall of 2002, Garibyan was a student of Michael Harnett’s English 106 class, Survey of English Literature from 1780 to the Present. “I could tell right away that she loved reading and writing,” Harnett said. “She wrote with insight and a sense of her authorial voice.” Later on, Harnett and Garibyan would reconnect when she became a GCC counselor while Harnett started work as a Scholars Program Director. “It has been absolutely great working with her.” Harnett describes Garibyan as resourceful and knowledgeable in helping students plan their Student Education Plan and preparation for transfer and future careers, teaching them to keep their options open and pursue their interests and “to be at their best and for the best reasons.” Garibyan visits Harnett’s English 102H class to share her poetry inspired by her trip to former Western Armenia with the students. “[Garibyan] is an outstanding role model for all to have many facets in their own lives, including the opportunities to be creative and expressive,” Harnett said. “It is a joy to know Nare and I am very grateful for her professional help and friendship–true gifts to me!”
One of the recent science events held this year was in February, where the Glendale Science Lecture co-hosted the inaugural Mendel Contest through the US Mendel School. Garibyan assisted one of GCC’s new Biology professors, Dr. Eva Janecková. Thanks to William Gohlke, who sponsors the GCC Science lecture honorarium payments, seven winners of the “How Do I See Mendel?” contest were able to receive cash prizes. Though all students did receive an appreciation certificate and crocheted peas in a pod, handmade by Dr Janecková, a reference to one of Mendel’s most memorable genetic studies, centered around pea plant breeding, which helped to develop the three principles of inheritance and genetic traits.
In 2018, Garibyan attended the Freedom Writers Teacher Institute, where she was able to become a Freedom Writer Teacher. Through this connection, she brought the Freedom Writers and Freedom Writers Foundation to the GCC campus. This is also how Garibyan and a former GCC student published a book from the Freedom Writers. The book is titled Dear Freedom Writer: Stories of Hardship and Hope from the Next Generation. It includes 50 letters from youth, with each letter focusing on an issue that the person is facing, paired with an answer of hope from an original Freedom Writer or Freedom Writer Teacher. One of the letters comes from a GCC alumna, Jasmine Matthews, who wrote about her struggles as a blind, African-American college student.
As for her future plans, in summer 2026, Garibyan and an Art History professor, Emily Haraldson, will be spending two weeks in the GCC Study Abroad Office, where she will teach a student development class paired with Art History in Vienna and Prague. This is the first time a student development class will be taught abroad.
In her personal time, Garibyan is passionate about poetry, even having self-published a poetry book and a children’s book, titled When Ruins Speak and A.Z.’s Adventures to the Sugar Tree Forest, respectively. “Writing poetry is my safe space where I can explore my ideas on a variety of themes and topics that move me,” Garibyan said. “I love stringing words together and finding the right combination of words to convey my message.” Her first poetry book was inspired by her trip to her now lost ancestral homeland in present-day Turkey, writing about her love of the land she comes from along with the feelings of loss, longing, hopes, and dreams.
“Sometimes, it is hard for me to describe what poetry means to me; it is just a part of me.” Garibyan said. “I might get inspired by a phrase, or an incident I witness, or an image, or a word. Even if I do not put that down on paper, that is poetry right there.” Currently, Garibyan is working on a second poetry book.
Makenna Ward can be reached at [email protected].