… so University Diaries gets to cover him… Here’s what she’s found so far – a biography Mark Moogalian provides on his home page. It doesn’t mention academia, but maybe he got an appointment after he made the home page. He’s an artist-of-all-trades:
Mark Moogalian was born in Durham, North Carolina, where he spent a good part of his youth along the banks of the Eno River. When his family moved to Virginia, the James River took the Eno’s place. He started playing guitar and was singer/songwriter/guitarist for Look Like Bamboo and Javaman, two bands he founded in Richmond, Virginia, during the late eighties and early nineties. He then travelled to Europe where he busked from London to Venice, taking in the culture and writing songs. The trip to Europe was a turning point in his life. Mark later moved to France where he worked as a translator and English teacher for business professionals. In France he continued to write, record and perform music and often played in a small club in Paris called Le Gerpil. He lived on a houseboat on the Seine, the third river in his life, where he took up welding and started making abstract metal sculpture. He met Isabelle Risacher in 2002 and they were married in 2003. Mark had his first sculpture and painting show at Galérie 43 in Paris in September, 2006. Mr. Farride is his first novel.
And here’s what he did:
Mark Moogalian, a 51-year-old professor at the Sorbonne, tackled Ayoub El-Khazzani during Friday’s bloody incident aboard an Amsterdam-Paris international service.
Mr Moogalian, who lives in Paris but is originally from Midlothian, Virginia, US, is the previously unnamed man who came to the aid of “Damien A”, 28, a French banker who confronted El-Khazzani.
The academic acted instinctively to protect his partner Isabella Risacher, who was also aboard the Thalys train.
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Okay. He teaches Spoken English here, at The New Sorbonne University (Paris III).
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Photos of Moogalian, before and after being shot in the neck.
August 26th, 2015 at 3:29AM
He appears to be a Vacataire rather than a Professor or maître de conférences.
August 26th, 2015 at 5:52AM
David: Yes. This page (scroll down) provides a definition.
September 17th, 2015 at 1:32PM
Mark Moogalian was interviewed for half an hour on BFM TV tonight. He speaks excellent but accented French. He was accompanied by his French wife. He went back over the circumstances of the attack and said that he was naive in thinking that once he had disarmed the attacker of his AK47 that things were over. He was subsequently shot by a Luger pistol. His life was saved by one of the US marines who put pressure on his jugular to stop the bleeding. It was about 20 minutes from the incident until the train arrived at the station.
He has recovered well but expects to have on-going treatment for the next 12 months. He was grateful to be treated at the Paris Military hospital as he effectively had a war injury. He cannot yet play the guitar again due to his injuries. He has no feelings towards his attacker and doesn’t suffer any PSTD effects from the incident. He sleeps well at night. He doesn’t really have any strong opinion on his legion d’honneur, he thinks it was more useful for the French than for him personally but is pleased to have it.
September 17th, 2015 at 2:54PM
David: Many thanks for those details from the interview!