Director’s Note

Comparative Student Data

FY22 Course Offerings & Enrollment

Open class series | fall 2021 and Spring 2022

This year, several AAST classes welcomed guest speakers into their classroom and select AAST class sessions were open to the UMD community. Some guest speakers included Walter Cabal, founder of Cabal Crafted, a craft/design studio; Peter Bacho, award-winning author; and Dr. Alex Karan, founder and president of a non-profit organization, The Research Room.

Solidarity Workshop: Building and Enhancing Solidarity Themes into Campus Programming | November 3, 2021

“Solidarity is a verb, a practice, and an action that we do time and again, over and over, in order to build shared connections and power.” - Deepa Iyer

This workshop focused on gaining skills, tools, and practice on building and enhancing solidarity into campus programming.

Book Discussion: Author Kat Chow on Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir | november 4, 2021

Kat Chow is a writer and a journalist. She was previously a reporter at NPR, where she was a founding member of the Code Switch team. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and on Radiolab, among others. She’s one of Pop Culture Happy Hour’s fourth chairs. She has received a residency fellowship from the Millay Colony and was an inaugural recipient of the Yi Dae Up fellowship at the Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat.

Deepening Black-Asian American Solidarity at UMD | november 10, 2021

AAST collaborated with MICA and the Department of African American Studies (AASP) to continue efforts on cross-racial solidarity on campus. This event opened the space for students, staff, and faculty to share reflections on their experiences and a discussion on possible next steps.

This effort followed an op-ed that was published in The Diamondback, co-authored by AAST, AASP, and MICA. Read the article, “Here’s what Black and Asian American solidarity could look like at UMD” here.

Webinar: Redress for African Americans and Japanese Latin Americans: Lessons Across Movements | february 21, 2022

The movement for Japanese American redress is entering Phase 2: redressing the treatment of Japanese Latin Americans unfairly excluded from the redress granted to Japanese American citizens and Legal Permanent Residents in 1988. African Americans are seeing HR 40 gaining traction in the US Congress and redress discussions ongoing in California and elsewhere. What can these movements learn from each other, and how can each of us participate?

This panel featured attorney and civil rights activist Jerome Reide, student activist Aniya Butler and Grace Shimizu, ED of the Japanese American Oral History Project.

2021 - 2022 Chandni Kumar Annual Lecture | february 23, 2022

This year, AAST invited Neha Singhal for the 5th Chandni Kumar Annual Lecture on Asian Americans and Activism. Neha is a high school teacher, curriculum designer, restorative justice coach, and staff trainer in MCPS. She also taught courses in AAST at the University of Maryland and worked in immigration policy, striving for grassroots-led change at the local, state, and national levels. She is passionate about full-spectrum reproductive justice and serves her community as a birth doula.

Neha highlighted her journey of navigating various organizations, allowing her to understand red and green flags surrounding spaces that are social justice focused. The talk gave an honest perspective of how she had to unlearn and learn activism, followed by an engaging Q + A session.

This lecture is part of the Chandni Kumar Annual Lecture on Asian Americans and Activism, established by the Kumar Pal Family out of a desire to empower and inspire student activism and engagement for the Asian American community. As part of the annual speaker event, Jacqueline Liu was awarded the Student Impact Award.

aast expands to include second teaching faculty | February - March 2022

AAST was given the position of a second teaching faculty and went through with a successful search process. The program looks forward to welcoming Dr. Jennifer Cho during Fall 2022! This is the first addition to AAST’s full-time dedicated faculty since the program started in 2000.

Students demand an AAST major | March 2022

At the beginning of the Spring 2022 semester, the Asian American Student Union (AASU) Social Justice Task Force launched a petition to push for an Asian American Studies major at UMD. The petition reached 145 signatures and collected testimonies from current students and alumni highlighting the impact of AAST on their personal, academic, and future journeys.

On March 2, AASU members and AAST minor students, Dahye Kang and M Pease, were featured in The Diamondback article titled, “UMD’s Asian American Student Union task force petitions for Asian American major.” On March 11, AASU member and AAST minor student, Lei Danielle Escobar, published an op-ed in The Diamondback titled, “It’s time for an Asian American studies major at UMD.”

Additionally on March 11, AASU sent a memo to Senior Vice President and Provost Rice to establish a Bachelor of Arts in Asian American Studies. In the memo, AASU highlights that AAST currently has a teaching team of two part-time tenure-track faculty (with primary appointments in other units), one professional track faculty, and two adjunct faculty. Thus, there is a disparity in programmatic support for AAST and calls for the hiring of more faculty as essential. AASU listed a set of recommendations in order to expand AAST into a major-granting department:

• Reorganize the Asian American Studies program into an academic department within either the College of Arts and Humanities or the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences after consulting with the faculty and administrative officers of the respective colleges;

• Cluster hire 5 tenured/tenure-track faculty members on 100% full time appointments who home unit is the new Asian American Studies department;

• Approve a 30-credit Bachelor of Arts in Asian American Studies.

Four days later (March 15, 2022), AAST Director, Dr. Julie Park, sent Provost Rice a letter of support in response to AASU’s memo, agreeing that the hiring of additional faculty is required to establish and support an AAST major. The letter was signed by AAST core faculty, adjunct faculty, staff, the AAST Advisory Committee, affiliate faculty, as well as AAST donors.

Provost Rice immediately responded to the letters expressing wholehearted agreement about the importance of Asian American Studies in the curriculum at UMD, stating that the request is also consistent with the University’s strategic plan’s emphasis on cultivating diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus and in our broader society.

Federal careers for the public Good | March 14, 2022

This panel discussion explored how you can get, keep, and get promoted at a federal government job. Participants were from both the civilian and military sectors, with experience in scientific, statistical, business, social science and other disciplines. A special focus was on the history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in federal service, and how they have used the stability of federal jobs to do good for their communities and for the nation as a whole.

Panelists included Mayumi Hairston Escalante, Terp and Partnership Specialist at the US Census Bureau; Terri Ann Lowenthal, former Staff Director of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Census, Statistics, and Postal Personnel; Priya Joy Rathnam, Terp and Division Director at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Major General Antonio (Tony) Taguba, Retired US military; and moderated by Phil Tajitsu Nash, AAST Adjunct Faculty and previous Curator at the Smithsonian Institution.

This panel was sponsored by the Juanita Tamayo Lott Endowment at UMD AAST.

2022 AAST End of Year Celebration | May 5, 2022

The Asian American Studies Program was happy to host its End of Year Celebration in person, joined by students, faculty, staff, and members of the community.

Lauren Eng, Callie Wen, Nelson Chen, Nyrene Monforte, and Jessica Nguyen were awarded AAST scholarships for the 2022-2023 academic year. While not every student was able to join in person, 26 students completed the minor this academic year!

Minors Recognition

marjorie justine antonio ‘22
History, American Studies | Asian American Studies

• Curated alternate universe: visualizing queer futurisms at the Stamp Gallery

• Finalist for the Vera Cruz-Kochiyama Award

• Selected as a member of the Maryland Medallion Society

• Winner of The University of Maryland Model Citizenship Award

Nelson Chen ‘24
Theatre | Asian American Studies

• Wrote and showcased a short play about Asian Americans and COVID-19 hates crimes at The Clarice through Kreativity Diversity Troupe

m pease ‘22
Psychology | ASian American Studies, Public Leadership

• Selected for a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

• Named as the Gen. Russell E. Dougherty ODK National Leader of the Year

• Finalist for 2022 University Medal

• Selected as a member of the Maryland Medallion Society

• Winner of The University of Maryland Model Citizenship Award

• Winner of the Lorde-O'Leary Award

• Given Special Recognition Award from the LGBTQ+ Equity Center

• 2022 Student Commencement Speaker

• Published their thesis on trans+ minority stress and mental health in Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity: Minority Stress, Pandemic Stress, and Mental Health Among Gender Diverse Young Adults: Gender Dysphoria and Emotion Dysregulation as Mediators

Alythia vo ‘22
Neurobiology and Physiology, Spanish | Asian American Studies, US Latino/a Studies

• Served on the VP for Student Affairs' Student Advisory Council

• Winner of the 2022 University Medal

• CMNS Spring 2022 Undergraduate Student Speaker

Faculty Recognition

neel ahuja, Phd
Affiliate faculty

• In partnership with Spike Island, joined Candice Lin for a discussion about Pigs and Poison, Lin’s broader practice, disease ecology, and the affects and materiality of contagion and control in coloniality and post-coloniality

Yeram Cheong, phd
AAST Calvin J. Li Postdoc

• Co-published three papers in peer reviewed journals related to student adjustment during COVID-19 with AAST affiliate faculty, Dr. Cixin Wang: Parent Work-Life Conflict and Adolescent Adjustment During COVID-19: Mental Health and Parenting as Mediators; The Roles of Resilience, Peer Relationship, Teacher-Student Relationship on Student Mental Health during COVID-19; The impact of maternal and paternal parenting styles and parental involvement on Chinese adolescents’ academic engagement and burnout

• Offered virtual workshop to parents/educators on communication styles

Phil Tajitsu Nash, Esq.
Adjunct faculty

• Was a speaker at the nation’s first Anti-Asian Violence Continuing Legal Education Program (CLE), hosted by AALDEF and Rutgers Law School

Julie park, phd
Director, Core Faculty

• Featured in a WTOP News article titled, “How to Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the DC Area”

• Presented at the USDA and the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

cixin wang, phd
affiliate faculty

• Published over 10 papers this academic year, ranging from mental health to adjustments during COVID-19

• Led new research study called Project ARISE (Asian Americans' Resilience, Identity, and Socialization of Engagement) to understand Asian American families' thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and experiences around topics of racism, relationships, identities, parenting, civic engagement, and adjustment during COVID-19

• Received the American Psychological Association Division 16 (School Psychology) Anti-Racism Award

2022-2023 AAST Scholarship Recipients

Timothy J Ng Scholarship in Asian American Studies

The Timothy J Ng Scholarship in Asian American Studies encourages undergraduates who demonstrate strength in academics and leadership, especially where such achievement leads to improvement in the lives of Asian Americans.

Linh-Thong Huu Nguyen Memorial Scholarship

This memorial scholarship was established in 2008 by Tone’s brother and fellow Terp Tuan Nguyen to support undergraduates who are enrolled in the Asian American Studies Minor and demonstrate consistent academic achievement in their studies.

Major General Antonio Taguba Profiles in Courage and Leadership Scholarship

This scholarship recognizes undergraduates who demonstrate scholarship and outstanding leadership. Students are either Asian American Studies students or enrolled in the Army, Navy or Air Force ROTC program at the University of Maryland, and considering a career in federal public service, either civilian or military.

2021-2022 Asian American Studies Minors