UGST Associate Provost and Dean Announces Asian American Studies Leadership Transition
On Wednesday, June 8, Undergraduate Studies (UGST) Associate Provost and Dean, William A. Cohen, sent an email to the broader UMD community announcing the leadership transition of Asian American Studies.
I am pleased to announce that, as of July 1, 2022, Janelle Wong will succeed Julie Park as the Director of the Asian American Studies program at the University of Maryland.
Janelle Wong joins the program as Director again after several years focused on research, teaching, and advocacy. She published Evangelicals, Immigration, and Politics in an Era of Demographic Change in 2018 and her most recent article is "The Role of Race on the Political Attitudes of the Religiously Unaffiliated" (in press, Advances in Political Psychology), co-authored with UMD graduate student Je St Sume. She has presented her research on Asian Americans, politics, and COVID-related discrimination to many public audiences.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Julie Park for her outstanding leadership of Asian American Studies over the past five years. Since becoming director in 2017, Dr. Park has overseen growth in the number of students who fill 600 to 800 seats every academic year as well as the number of Asian American Studies minors. As of 2022, the program has more than 110 minors. The growth of the program led to the hiring of the first new addition to the teaching faculty since its founding in 2000. Under her leadership, the program also received two new endowments, the Major General Antonio Taguba Profiles in Courage and Leadership Endowment and the Juanita Tamayo Lott Endowment in Asian American Studies. Dr. Wong adds, “I’m grateful for Dr. Park’s leadership and look forward to building on all that she has accomplished.”
Dr. Park has been active in promoting strong ties with national and local Asian American organizations, including the Asian American Pacific Islanders in DC Project and the Association of Asian American Studies. Throughout her time as director, Dr. Park contributed to the national profile of the program through her research on immigrant intergenerational mobility. She regularly presents her research at federal agencies, including the Department of Labor, Department of Agriculture, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Dr. Park also received a Donna B. Hamilton Award for Teaching Excellence in Undergraduate Studies. While taking up her professorial appointment in the Sociology department, Dr. Park will remain a core faculty member in the Asian American Studies program. She notes, “I’m confident in a seamless leadership transition and look forward to Dr. Wong's leadership through the next exciting phase for the program.”
Please join me in thanking Julie Park for her service and in welcoming back Janelle Wong to the leadership of our extraordinary Asian American Studies program.
William A. Cohen
Associate Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies
University of Maryland, College Park
Even through the challenges of the pandemic, the program has seen consistent growth in the number of students taking courses and our enrolled minors. Thank you, Dr. Park, for your leadership over the last five years!
The program is grateful that Dr. Park will remain integral to the program as a core faculty member and looks forward to Dr. Wong’s leadership again beginning in July! If you would like to send an email around the program’s leadership transition, you can email aast@umd.edu.