September 18, 2022 | Harvard Club of Boston
The Iranian Gala @Harvard is a black-tie evening that honors leading community members in various fields. Founded by a group of Harvard students of Persian heritage, the Gala strives to bring together leading professionals, artists, and academics who have dedicated themselves to furthering the study, understanding, and appreciation of Iranian culture, history, and society. The vision of the Gala is to mobilize and empower the next generation of leaders in the Iranian community.
The Iranian Gala @Harvard is presented by Harvard College Iranian Association (HCIA) in partnership with Harvard alumni, faculty, and affiliates.
The Iranian Gala @Harvard is a black-tie evening that honors leading community members in various fields. Founded by a group of Harvard students of Persian heritage, the Gala strives to bring together leading professionals, artists, and academics who have dedicated themselves to furthering the study, understanding, and appreciation of Iranian culture, history, and society. The vision of the Gala is to mobilize and empower the next generation of leaders in the Iranian community.
The Iranian Gala @Harvard is presented by Harvard College Iranian Association (HCIA) in partnership with Harvard alumni, faculty, and affiliates.
2022 Keynote
Farnam Jahanian
President of Carnegie Mellon University Farnam Jahanian is the tenth President of Carnegie Mellon University. He was appointed by the university's Board of Trustees in March 2018. Prior to this, he served as the university's provost and interim president from July 2017 to February 2018. Jahanian was born in Tehran, Iran and emigrated to the United States at the age of 16. He received his degree in computer science from the University of Texas at San Antonio and later earned his master’s degree and a PhD in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin. At Carnegie Mellon, Jahanian has advanced various initiatives to adapt higher education to the age of automation and artificial intelligence. He has also led efforts to expand campus infrastructure, enhance the student experience at CMU, and developed new partnerships to promote the university’s research mission. |
2022 Honorees
Nasser Ovissi
Painter Nasser Ovissi is an Iranian-American painter known for spearheading the modern art movement in Iran. His pieces are famous for their incorporation of Arabic women, pomegranates, and horses. He was born in Tehran, Iran where he studied Law and Political Science. Ovissi later took his artistic pursuits abroad to the Beaux Fine Art Academy in Rome. He has received various awards and honors including an exhibition at the 1959 Paris Biennial and a Grand Prize at the 1962 Biennale of Fine Arts of Tehran. His works are showcased in several major museum collections including the National Gallery of Athens, the New York University Art Museum, and the Contemporary Art Museum of Madrid. Ovissi currently lives and works in Virginia. * Note: Ovissi's remarks will be shared via video, and his daughter Maryam will be accepting the award on his behalf. 
Farzaneh Milani
Professor of Middle Eastern Studies & South Asian Languages & Cultures and Women, Gender & Sexuality at the University of Virginia, Author Farzaneh Milani is Raymond J. Nelson Professor of Iranian literature and Gender Studies at the University of Virginia. She is the former Chair of the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures and past Director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Middle East Studies Program. Milani has published several books and articles in Persian and English. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post,Christian Science Monitor, Ms. Magazine, Reader's Digest International, USA Today, and All Things Considered, among others. She has presented more than 270 lectures nationally and internationally. A past president of the Association of Middle Eastern Women's Studies in America and a Carnegie Fellow, Milani was the recipient of the All-University Teaching Award (1999), Zintl Leadership Award (2015), and Cavaliers’ Distinguished Teaching Award and Professorship in 2020. The Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy invited Milani to join it as a member of its Board of External Experts for Literature in 2021. Milani will serve in that capacity for three years. |
Marjan Kamali
Author Marjan Kamali is the award-winning author of The Stationery Shop, a national bestseller, and Together Tea, a Massachusetts Book Award finalist. She is a 2022 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. Kamali’s novels are published in translation in more than 20 languages. Marjan Kamali was born in Turkey to Iranian parents. As a child, her family moved around to different countries including Kenya, Germany, Turkey, Iran, and the United States. Kamali used reading as an escape from the hardships of the Iran-Iraq war. When her family moved to New York, Kamali continued to pursue her love for reading American classic literature. She graduated from the U.C. Berkeley with a B.A. in English Literature and married her husband shortly after. The couple moved to Switzerland where she worked as a scientific publications editor and also explored her budding interest in writing short stories. Kamali later attended Columbia Business School and the Creative Writing Program at NYU, and by the end of 2002, she had finished both degrees and published her first creative writing thesis. Currently, Kamali teaches creative writing at GrubStreet and resides in the Boston area with her family. 
Mehdi Sadaghdar
Electrical Engineer, Entertainer and YouTuber at ElectroBOOM Mehdi Sadaghdar is an electrical engineer and science entertainer who mixed his profession with humor and created his YouTube channel, ElectroBOOM, now with over 5 million subscribers, aiming to spread knowledge and safety with a dose of entertainment and comedy. Mehdi, being a science enthusiast, fell in love with electronics from a young age and received his bachelor and master’s degree in the field. Being a maker at heart, whenever he had some free time, he put together his own projects while designing products for companies he worked for. He later realized he could showcase his knowledge, successful experiences as well as technical misfortunes on YouTube for everyone to see and learn from, which made his channel, ElectroBOOM one of the top science and technology channels on YouTube. |
2022 Musical Performer
Shooka Afshar Sarzamin Ensemble Shooka Afshar, soprano, Iranian soprano, composer, and City of Boston Certified Artist, is an active recitalist in classical and Iranian repertoire. She received her Master’s Degree in Music in classical vocal performance and her Teaching Artist certificate in May 2014 from Longy School of Music. She has studied with prominent teachers like Mary… and …. Shooka has appeared in Opera scenes as “Donna Elvira” in Don Giovanni and “Electra” in Idomeneo with the coaching of Daniel Wyneken and Janice Giampa at New England Conservatory. In addition, she has appeared as “The First Lady” in The Magic Flute, “Mrs. Mc. Lean” in Susannah and “Edith” in Pirates of Penzance under the coaching of Vanessa Schukis at Longy School of Music. She made her operatic debut as the “Princess” in Dvorak’s opera The Cunning Peasant in its U.S. premier produced by the Calliope Ensemble at the First Unitarian Church of Boston in February 2014. Some of her recent appearances include The Coded Birth at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Boston, Turn Me Into A Mannequin at NYU, her new opera Women / Immigration / Fight or Flight, at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in 2021, and her recent opera performance -"Translation of Being Through Sight and Sound"- on April 23rd 2022 in Los Angeles, in collaboration with Victoria Chapman and the international artist Shane Guffogg, singing in communication with Shane's Paintings. Shooka just finished a one month of an artist in residency near Milan in Villa Emma in July 2022, in which she created a full mixed media performance called “Manipulation” with a team of professional artists and musicians. She toured it in Northern Italy, and she's planning to tour it nationally and internationally. Shooka Afshar has been trained under Mary McKlimeck's voice studio, and her technique is following Mary's singing method, Estill Voice Training. |
