Wendy Fujinami, Department Manager, awarded 2025 Thomas E. Lifka Staff Excellence Award
Join our department in congratulating our outstanding Department Manager, Wendy Fujinami, who was recently awarded a 2025 Thomas E. Lifka Staff Excellence Award! Read the full article here: https://socialsciences.ucla.edu/meet-uclas-2025-thomas-e-lifka-staff-excellence-award-winners/. Congratulations Wendy!
‘Our stories matter, our voices matter’
Graduating AAS major, Ryan Horio (Class of 2025), was recently featured in UCLA Newsroom in which he reflects on his journey with Asian American Studies, his goal to resolve health inequities, and the intersection of social activism and medicine.
Link to article: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/ryan-horio-research-physician-activist-commencement-2025
Angel Trazo, MA ’20, featured in Books by Bruins
UCLA Asian American Studies alumni Angel Trazo, MA ’20, is featured in Books by Bruins for their book “We Are Inspiring: The Stories of 32 Inspirational Asian American Women” (2019). “We Are Inspiring” brings to life the stories of Asian American women from different communities. Trazo wrote the book with the goal of preventing the erasure of Asian Americans as an integral part of American history. Aimed at children ages 10 and over, the book covers 32 inspirational women including scientists, artists, actresses, comedians, judges and Olympians. Trazo is an author, illustrator and grad student based in the Bay Area. She holds a master’s degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA. This is her debut children’s book.
Jean-Paul deGuzman featured in Food & Wine
UCLA Asian American Studies lecturer Jean-Paul Contreras deGuzman explains that the drink is “a quintessentially Asian North American story” that “speaks to the trans-Pacific circulation of culture and cuisine that has lasted for generations.” Read the full article here.
Meet Kelly Fong
Check out Voyage LA’s piece highlighting one of AASD’s continuing lecturers, Dr. Kelly Fong! She shares on her background, experience in the fields of Archeology and Asian American Studies, and her current projects.
Students Rising Above: Emily Taing
Check out CBS Bay Area’s profile of one of our amazing alumni, Emily Taing! Students Rising Above: Emily Taing
2022-23 Don T. Nakanishi Award for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship Awarding
The Asian American Studies Center at UCLA awarded this year’s Don T. Nakanishi Award for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship to graduate student Brian Kohaya and undergraduate student Steven Tran. Congratulations to the recipients!
AASD Graduate Students Recipients of CSW Awards
On May 19, 2023, the Center for the Study of Women | Streisand Center held their annual awards luncheon at the UCLA Botanical Garden to celebrate the recipients of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate awards. Congratulations to the recipients, including Asian American Studies faculty Nguyễn-võ Thu-hương, and MA students Trinity Gabato and Pallavi Rudraraju.
Building Historical Empathy: A classroom resource conveys personal stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Kelly Fong, Continuing Lecturer in Asian American Studies, was featured in an interview in Diversity in Action magazine about the upcoming AAPI Multimedia Textbook. Read more about it here.
