New class covers Asian-Americans
By: Aly Van Dyke
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: News
Professors have cofounded a colloquium devoted to bringing Asian-American issues to students.
The UA has entire departments devoted to regional studies and classes designed to educate students about issues, past and current, faced by ethnic groups. But unlike other schools, the UA does not have an academic program addressing the Asian-American and Pacific Islanders minority group - a group that, in 2006, made up almost six percent of the UA's student population, according to the 2006-2007 UA Fact Book.
"In terms of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, I feel as though we are underrepresented in the education provided," said Edric Wong, pre-pharmacy sophomore and member of the Asian Pacific American Student Affairs and the Student Board of Directors.
"In order to increase diversity on campus, there should be more classes like these," Wong said.
In order to provide students with the opportunity to learn about the Asian-American experience, four UA faculty and staff members organized a one credit-hour colloquium course.
"The university is a place to exchange ideas, and if we can't do it here, we're not meeting the obligation that this great university is all about," said Theodore Tong, associate dean of the College of Pharmacy.
Tong and Dian Li, associate professor for East Asian studies, worked alongside Marc Johnston, director of APASA and Dan Xayaphanh, senior retention coordinator of APASA, to voluntarily co-found the class and coordinate classes as a team on top of their other university responsibilities.
The class meets every Tuesday for 50 minutes and with each lesson a different speaker presents on Asian-American issues. Topics range from Asian-Americans and the law, to pop culture and the media.
The course's first speaker, Hank Oyama, was once placed in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II and gave a presentation about Asian-American identity.
"We wanted each class to be a different discipline because Asian Pacific American Studies is multidisciplinary in essence," Johnston said. "We wanted each day to be a taste of what Asian Pacific America Studies would look like."
The UA has entire departments devoted to regional studies and classes designed to educate students about issues, past and current, faced by ethnic groups. But unlike other schools, the UA does not have an academic program addressing the Asian-American and Pacific Islanders minority group - a group that, in 2006, made up almost six percent of the UA's student population, according to the 2006-2007 UA Fact Book.
"In terms of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, I feel as though we are underrepresented in the education provided," said Edric Wong, pre-pharmacy sophomore and member of the Asian Pacific American Student Affairs and the Student Board of Directors.
"In order to increase diversity on campus, there should be more classes like these," Wong said.
In order to provide students with the opportunity to learn about the Asian-American experience, four UA faculty and staff members organized a one credit-hour colloquium course.
"The university is a place to exchange ideas, and if we can't do it here, we're not meeting the obligation that this great university is all about," said Theodore Tong, associate dean of the College of Pharmacy.
Tong and Dian Li, associate professor for East Asian studies, worked alongside Marc Johnston, director of APASA and Dan Xayaphanh, senior retention coordinator of APASA, to voluntarily co-found the class and coordinate classes as a team on top of their other university responsibilities.
The class meets every Tuesday for 50 minutes and with each lesson a different speaker presents on Asian-American issues. Topics range from Asian-Americans and the law, to pop culture and the media.
The course's first speaker, Hank Oyama, was once placed in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II and gave a presentation about Asian-American identity.
"We wanted each class to be a different discipline because Asian Pacific American Studies is multidisciplinary in essence," Johnston said. "We wanted each day to be a taste of what Asian Pacific America Studies would look like."
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