Yesterday at the Cesar E. Chavez building at University of Arizona 100 students, faculty, administrators, and community leaders sat down together for the first Asian Pacific American Studies Conference, sponsored by UA Asian Pacific American Studies Affairs (APASA). The theme of the conference was “Advancing the Movement” and the primary question raised was “Why don’t we have an Asian Pacific American Studies program at the UA”? According to the keynote speaker Professor Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, there are 64 universities in the U.S. with such a program, but none at the University of Arizona (only at ASU in Arizona). Several of the speakers mentioned that Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic immigrant population group in the U.S. (more than Hispanics).
weblink source: Pew Research Center: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/asianamericans-graphics/
“Dr. Allyson” as she is called is a California born & educated Filipina American who got her Ph.D. from UCLA in Ethnic Studies. She is now a Professor in the College of Ethnic Studies & Education Leadership at San Francisco State U. She spoke enthusiastically about the past of their struggle to establish an APA studies program at SFS. She then outlined their clear purpose of ARC: access, relevance and community, in order to reach their power and core values. There are 17 current faculty members, 6-8 lecturers, 2500 students, 50 courses, 60-80 Majors/minors and 70 Masters’ degrees granted in their program, which had its start in 1969 with a 5 month student strike. She encouraged the student audience to be “agents of social change”, especially after seeing her students graduate and become teachers and professors.
Following the keynote speaker, the conference attendees could choose between 2 workshops at 10 a.m:
Session 1A: Asian Pacific Americans and the Media (Dr. Celeste Gonzales de Bustamante, UA College of Journalism
Session 1B: APA Studies Place in Ethnic Studies (Dan Xayaphanh, UA Director of APASA as moderator –with panelists Dr. Ted Tong, UA College of Pharmacy, Dr. Anna O’Leary, UA Mexican American Studies, Dr. Keith James, UA American Indian Studies)
At 11 a.m. the workshop choices were:
Session 2A: The Value of Ethnic Studies: A Student Perspective (Dr. Daisy Rodriguez-Pitel, PCC adminstrator)
Session 2B: APA Studies in AZ (an ASU Perspective) – Dr. Kathryn Nakagawa and Dr. Karen Leong, associate professors from ASU School of Social Transformation
