Nikol Shahgaldian was the first dean of AUA’s Political Science and International Affairs Program (PSIA). He received his doctorate from Columbia University, New York and worked as a political science researcher and professor in different institutions in the United States, including the RAND Corporation and the University of Pennsylvania. He was a member of the editorial board of the Armenian Review Quarterly. Dr. Shahgaldian specialized in the study of domestic, regional, and international politics in the Islamic world, including modern ethnic/religious movements in various Middle East states and the Soviet Union. He came to Armenia in the early years of its independence and worked for Armenia’s first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s administration. He passed away in 2009.