AAPI Workshop

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"Struggling for Sustainability: AAPIs and Civic Engagement Curriculum"
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

J.D. Hokoyama is the President & CEO and a founding board member of Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP). A former Peace Corps volunteer serving in Ethiopia, he has been a high school English teacher and department chair, a K-8 elementary school principal, an executive vice president for fund development and public affairs, the acting national director of the Japanese American Citizens League and the director of the Office of Asian Pacific American Students Services at the University of Southern California. He speaks and trains nationally in all sectors on topics such as becoming a 21st century leader, understanding cultural values, risk taking and breaking the glass ceiling. Mr. Hokoyama holds a BA in English, a secondary teaching credential and a M.Ed. in Educational Administration from Loyola Marymount University. He serves on the boards of both Asian American and Pacific Islande! r and mainstream organizations locally and nationally.

Sefa Aina taught the APALDP (Asian Pacific American Leadership Development Project) course at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center from 1997 – 2005. The APALDP course explored various leadership models and approaches to effecting change on campus and in the larger API community. Through the APALDP course, students were able identify, address and educate the campus on issues that ranged from the need for South and Southeast Asian Languages, to outreach and retention programs for marginalized API groups. This two-part course also allowed for students to work with existing community-based organizations whose missions were to address the needs of the larger API community in Los Angeles. Community partners included the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Visual Communications, Thai-CDC, Korean Immigrant Workers Advocate, and Pilipino Workers Center to name a few. Many of the APALDP alumni chose to conti! nue their involvement in the community well after the course and, for some, continued to work in the community after graduation.

Warren Furutani has 35 years of experience and involvement in education and community service both as an elected official and a community leader. He is currently serving his third term on the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees - the largest community college district in the country. He also served two terms on the Los Angeles Board of Education - the largest school district in California. In fact, Warren is the only person to be elected and re-elected to the Los Angeles Community College Board and Board of Education. He also served as president of both bodies. Most recently, Warren won a plurality of the votes in a special election for State Assembly in the 55th Assembly District, which consists of the cities of Los Angeles (Wilmington, Harbor City and the Harbor Gateway), Carson, and parts of Long Beach and Lakewood. Warren is a fourth generation Japanese American and went to Los Angeles public schools. He graduated from Gardena High School and attended several community colleges before receiving his BA degree from Antioch College. In the 1980’s, he also worked as Coordinator for Student/Community Projects at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Julie J. Park is a Ph.D. candidate in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and a research analyst at the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute. Her research interests include the campus racial climate, spirituality in higher education, and the experiences of Asian American students. She has been the recipient of fellowships from the Spencer Foundation, Harvard Civil Rights Project, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, and National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

Dr. Howard Wang is the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Executive Director of the Student Health and Counseling Center at the California State University, Fullerton.  He served as the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs for two years at the California State University, San Bernardino; and as the Chief Executive Officer to the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Development and Health Division at UCLA for more than a decade.  Dr. Wang became involved (since 2005) in a bill that was recently passed by Congress and signed by President Bush into law, designating eligible higher education institutions with 10% or more financially needy Asian Pacific American students as “Asian American and Native American Pacific Islanders Serving Institutions.” He worked with a number of colleagues in higher education and helped draft the “Findings” section in several legislative proposals during t! he early stages of the proposed bill; and with several community organizations and business leaders to help rally the passage of this bill. The current law will provide federal funding to eligible community colleges and universities for academic support services as well as community outreach programs to better serve the Asian American and Pacific Islander students. He is continuing his efforts in educating the community on this law, and work with his colleagues to insure its fair implementation.

Edward J.W. Park is the Director of Asian Pacific American Studies Program at the Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He received his Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies and a Master's degree in City and Regional Planning, both at the University of California at Berkeley. His research topics include economic sociology, urban studies, public policy, and race relations. He has volunteered as the Director of Research for the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates in Los Angeles (1992-1999) and was granted a Fulbright award to teach American Studies at the University of Tokyo and Japan Women’s University (2005-2006). His publications include Probationary Americans: Contemporary Immigration Policies and the Shaping of Asian American Communities (Routledge, 2005; with John S.W. Park); “Unworthy of a Nation Built by Immigrants: Political Mobilization of H1B Workers” (Policy Research Institute, Princeton University, ! 2007), and “Labor Organizing Beyond Race and Nation: The Los Angeles Hilton Case” (International Journal of Sociology and Social Research, 2004).

Tu-Uyen Nguyen, Ph.D., M.P.H. is currently an assistant professor at Cal State Fullerton, where she teaches courses on Asian American Studies and Vietnamese American Communities. She received her undergraduate degrees in Biology and Comparative Literature from UCI, and her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Public Health (Community Health Sciences) from UCLA. Dr. Nguyen's research focuses on eliminating health disparities by understanding the socioecological influences of culture and ethnicity on health-related behaviors of medically-underserved communities. She is very fortunate and happy to work with diverse and amazing Asian and Pacific Islander communities nationwide to develop, implement, and evaluate collaborative, community-based participatory action research programs focusing on cancer education and linguistic-cultural competency in health services delivery.

España-Maram earned her Ph.D. in History at UCLA and is an Associate Professor in the Asian and Asian American Studies Department. She is the author of Creating Masculinity in Los Angeles's Little Manila: Working-Class Filipinos and Popular Culture, 1920s-1950s (Columbia University Press, 2006). She has implemented informal ways of civic engagement in her courses -- most recently bringing her students to the Veteran's Day Parade in Historic Filipino Town and helping her students launch a letter-writing campaign to representatives and legislators urging them to support the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill. Dr. España-Maram is currently designing service-learning courses, focusing efforts on building alliances in the community, particularly those involved in Asian American public arts and performance spaces.

The University of California Asian American Pacific Islander Policy Multi-Campus Research Program (UC AAPI Policy MRP) promotes and coordinates applied and policy research on topics relevant to California's growing Asian American and Pacific Islander population. The MRP serves as a bridge linking UC researchers to community organizations, the media, and elected officials and their staff. These activities help the University of California to integrate research, teaching, and community outreach in ways that inform and enlighten public discourse on important public policy issues. To learn more about the MRP and upcoming events, please visit our website: http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/policy/aboutus.htm