The Annual Awards Reception, hosted by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center October 24, honored students as well as the donors who allowed for the event to be established. First hosted in the 90’s, the event recognizes graduate and undergraduate students who share a passion of representing and assisting the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities through various academic endeavors.
Rewards such as grants, scholarships, and academic prizes were given to selected students for community-based research, creative projects, service experience and internships.
This year’s Annual Awards Reception, MC’d by Meg Thornton, began with a warm welcome by Melany dela Cruz-Viesca who also offered recognition to the donors and their contributions toward the Asian American Studies Center.
Appreciations were given to Professor Marjorie Kagawa-Singer for establishing the George and Lily Kagawa Award for AAPI Health Research, and to Susan Toy Stern for establishing the Yuen Fong and Lew Oy Toy Family Internship in Chinese American Studies.
Afterwards, a student spotlight was given to Meisan Ly who participated in the Yuen Fong and Lew Oy Toy Family Internship, which took place over the summer of 2015 at the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California.
The reception concluded by commending the student awardees on behalf of their outstanding achievements. Graduate student Grants, Fellowships, and Academic Prizes were presented by Professor Ailee Moon, while Undergraduate student Scholarships, Internships, and Academic Prizes were presented by Professor Lucy Burns.
Graduate student awards:
Patrick & Lily Okura Research Grants on Asian Pacific American Mental Health
Awarded to: Victoria Calip Rodriguez
PhD candidate, Education & Information Studies – Human Development & Psychology
Research Project: The Achievement-Adjustment Paradox: Understanding Academic Achievement & Psychosocial Adjustment of Filipino American Adolescents
Tritia Toyota Fellowship
Awarded to: Sue Huynmi Park
PhD candidate, Sociology – Race & Ethnicity; Labor, International Migration
Research Project: Producing Designers: Korean American (Re)insertion in to the Los Angeles Fashion Industry
21st Century Fellowship
Awarded to: Bach Mai Dolly Nguyen
PhD candidate, Education & Information Studies – Higher Education & Organizational Change
Research Project: Overcoming Academic Opportunity Gaps: Utilizing Disaggregated Data to Explore Asian Pacific American Academic Barriers
George & Sakaye Aratani Fellowship
Awarded to: Mana Hayakawa
PhD candidate, World Arts & Cultures/Dance – Culture & Performance
Research Project: Hostility and Hospitality: Choreographic Negotiations by Japanese American Dancers from 1930 to 1950
Don T. Nakanishi Award for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship
Awarded to: Brittany N. Morey
PhD candidate, Public Health – Department of Community Health Sciences
Harry H. L. Kitano Fellowship
Awarded to: Andrew Nguyen Le
PhD candidate, Sociology – Religion & Migration
Research Project: Blurred Identities in the Caribbean
Ben & Alice Hirano Academic Prize
Awarded to: Andrew Nguyen Le
Paper title: China Man! The International Migration of Undocumented Vietnamese Laborers to Trinidad & Tobago
Hiram Wheeler Edwards Prize for the Study of WWII Internment Camps & Japanese Americans
Awarded to: Wendsor Yamashita
PhD candidate, Gender Studies
Paper title: The Manzanar National Historic Site: Pilgrimages, Land, and Settler Colonialism
Professor Harry H. L. Kitano Graduate Prize
Awarded to: Lawrence CY Lan
MA candidate, Asian American Studies
Paper title: An Organization’s “Growing Pains”: The Evolution of the Koreatown & Community Center in Los Angeles’ Multiracial Koreatown
Tsugio & Miyoko Nakanishi Prize in Asian American Literature & Culture
Awarded to: Stephanie Chang
MA candidate, Asian American Studies
Paper title: “Racial “Affliction”: (De)constructing Racial Formations through the Asian American Vampire Film.”
Undergraduate Student Awards:
Yuen Fong & Lew Oy Toy Family Internship in Chinese American Studies
Intern: Meisan Ly
Major: Psychology
Internship site: Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
Angie Kwon Memorial Scholarship
Awarded to: Michael Chang
Majors: History/Asian American Studies
Essay title: The Unprivileged Privilege
21st Century Undergraduate Scholarship
Awarded to: Diana G. Garcia
Major: Anthropology
Minor: Education Studies
Paper title: At the End of China Alley in Hanford, California
George & Sakaye Aratani Community Internship
Intern: Eric Yen Tang
Major: Art
Essay title: A New Consciousness of the Struggle for Identity and Japanese American History
Internship site: Japanese American National Museum
Morgan & Helen Chu Outstanding Scholar Award
Awarded to: Arsha Naveen Zakir
Major: Economics
Don T. Nakanishi Award for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship
Awarded to: Jessica Thach
Major: Asian American Studies
Minor: Education
21st Century Undergraduate Internship
Intern: Tiffany Tran Guo
Majors: Gender Studies/Asian American Studies
Ben & Alice Hirano Academic Prize
Awarded to: Tiffany Tran Guo
Paper title: For Undocumented Immigrants
Stanley Kwok Lau & Dora Wing Lau Research Endowment in Chinese American History
Awarded to: Rosalee Mouanoutoua
Major: History
Project: Chinese in Los Angeles Mainstream Newspapers Article Database 1850-1900
Hiram Wheeler Edwards Prize for the Study of WWII Internment Camps & Japanese Americans
Awarded to: Jean Akemi Okamoto
Major: Communication Studies
Minor: Asian American Studies
Paper title: Critical Vision from Behind Barbed Wire
Professor Harry H. L. Kitano Undergraduate Prize
Awarded to: Alvin Bui (2015)
Majors: History/Asian American Studies
Minor: Asian Languages – Vietnamese
Paper title: Vietnamese Americans & Affirmative Action
Tsugio & Miyoko Nakanishi Prize in Asian American Literature & Culture
Awarded to: April Lor
Major: World Arts & Cultures/Asian American Studies
Paper title: Memory Work & Memory Making: Including Hmong Experiences and Narratives through Cultural Productions
Rose Eng Chin & Helen Wong Eng Prize
Awarded to: Yee Vang
Major: Sociology
Minor: Education
Paper title: Education of a Hmong Woman
See the photo gallery below:
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