Noor Lima Boudakian appointed University Trustee

Noor Lima Boudakian speaking on behalf of students at the investiture of Dwight A. McBride as ninth president of The New School, October 7, 2021. She has since been appointed to a one-year term as a member of the university’s Board of Trustees. Photo courtesy of The New School.

NEW YORK—On May 5, 2022, the Board of Trustees of the New School voted to appoint Noor Lima Boudakian to a one-year term as a member of the board. Lima Boudakian is completing her third year at the university. The board appoints two student trustees every year on the recommendation of the president of the university.

Lima Boudakian, 21, is completing a bachelor’s degree in economics and global studies at the university’s Eugene Lang College along with a master’s degree in economics at the New School for Social Research, the university’s graduate faculty. In addition to being on the Dean’s List every semester, Noor has been an award-winning participant in the university’s policy debate team; with her teammate Katrina Butler, she won a coveted place at the National Debate Tournament this year. She was recognized with the Max Adler Award for Leadership in Debate.

Noor Lima Boudakian (right) and Katrina Butler representing the New School at the highly selective National Debate Tournament in Washington, D.C., April 3, 2022. Noor has been appointed to a one-year term as a member of the Board of Trustees of the New School.

The trustees govern the university, charting a course for its future, overseeing investments, outlays, faculty appointments and the work of the university leadership team.

With her appointment as trustee, Lima Boudakian will continue providing a voice to students and serving as a student leader in the university. First elected as a member of the University Student Senate in 2020, in the most difficult days of the pandemic, she was reelected and served as the chair of the senate for the 2021-22 academic year. In this capacity, she oversaw the activities of the 22-member body and spoke for students with the administration and faculty of the university.

Lima Boudakian’s focus as University Student Senate chair was to ensure that students’ pressing concerns were heard and addressed even as the university and the world navigated the health, financial and emotional challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. Among her achievements was the establishment of a permanent student-administration committee to review financial policy.

Lima Boudakian has also served as the student member of the search committee for the dean of Eugene Lang College, as a Civic Liberal Arts teaching fellow and a participant in the Dean’s Honor Symposium, which displays outstanding student research work.

Lima Boudakian has strong connections to Armenia and the Armenian community. She lived in Armenia from 2006 to 2010 and has returned frequently; most recently, she was there in March on a research grant, the Eugene Lang Opportunity Award. Lima Boudakian has been translating news from Armenian to English for the Hamazkayin Central Executive Board since 2018. She interned in Armenia with the Gomidas Institute in 2018.

Noor Lima Boudakian is daughter of Martha Boudakian, a midwife, and Vincent Lima, a psychometrician who served as editor of the Armenian Reporter and Armenian Forum. Noor’s father is an alumnus of the New School; her grandfather Gregory Lima was a graduate student at the New School in the 1950s and returned to receive his master’s degree there in 1982.