8 Feb 2007 APAGSO meeting

APAGSO's 2nd general meeting will be on Thursday, February 8, 2007 at the Asian American Cultural Center Conference Room (1210 W. Nevada St., Urbana). We'll talk about group identity, the logo, working with undergrads, MAASU, etc. and other topics as they arise. Please email me (sypark2@uiuc.edu) if you'd like to add an issue to the agenda.

31 Jan 2007 AAS/AASRP Job Talk: Suzuko Morikawa

Suzuko Morikawa entitled "Empowerment, Identity, and Culture: Comparative Responses of Africans and Asians to American Racism": 3:00-4:30pm, Wednesday, January 31, 2007.

This presentation provides an overview of socio-historical research which investigates features of American racism through a comparison of the experiences and ethnic consciousness of African Americans and Asian Americans. The research focuses on the social and political struggles for empowerment among Asian Americans and African Americans in relation to the construction of Asian American and African American identity. The talk will pursue two main lines of inquiry: 1) how the generalized political and cultural philosophy of solidarity among African and Asian ethnic collectivities emerged as a survival strategy for people of color in the history of racial and ethnic oppression in the United States; and 2) how the ethnic consciousness of both groups applies to the new forms of racist and nativist reality in today’s United States society. These questions directly impact people of color on a day-to-day basis, yet tend to be ignored because of our eagerness to defend the egalitarian ideas of the United States. This research abundantly and clearly addresses these and other such important questions that involve the nature and prospect of ethnic groups in the United States.

Suzuko Morikawa is currently an Assistant Professor of History at Chicago State University. She earned a B.A. in European and Asian Studies (International Culture) at Ferris University in Yokohama, Japan, and continued her education in the African American Studies program at Temple University in Philadelphia, the first Ph.D. program in African American Studies in the nation. Dr. Morikawa was the first student from Japan to be awarded both a Masters and a Ph.D. from this program. Her area of research centers on comparative historical studies between African Americans and Asian Americans in 20^th century United States, as well as the history of the trans-Atlantic Slave trade and Africans in the diaspora. Her works have been published in The Journal of Black Studies in addition to having works published in encyclopedias on Asian American Studies and African American Studies. She is currently revising chapters in her book project, Portrait of Pan-Ethnic Consciousness: A Comparative Study of Pan-African and Pan-Asian Ideologies as Responses to Racism in the United States.

**Please note that this talk will be held at the African American Studies building, 1201 W. Nevada, Urbana.

9-10 March 2007 Midwest Asian American Student Union Spring Conference @ the University of Illinois

We highly encourage all students to attend the Midwest Asian American Student Union Spring Conference, to be held on the University of Illinois campus on March 9-11, 2007. Adapted from the official MAASU website:

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is proud to announce the return of the Midwest Asian American Student Union's annual Spring Conference on March 9-11, 2007. This year's conference theme is Embrace, Empower and Envision. The three day conference, with expected attendance of over 700 guests from over 30 Midwest schools, encompasses many facets of Asian American life including culture, education, and activism.

The Midwest Asian American Student Union Spring Conference is an annual conference held in addition to the Fall Leadership Retreat. The Spring Conference draws approximately 700 students from over 30 Midwest schools. The weekend conference encompasses many facets of Asian American life including culture, education, and activism.

The MAASU Spring Conference, however, is much more than simply an educational conference. It is an entire experience of Asian American life. Not only are there opportunities to learn about culture, social and political issues, and activism, but there are ample opportunities for coalition building between schools. Asian American leaders from across the Midwest gather at Spring Conference and this collective voice has the potential to become a powerful and inspirational force.

This year, the theme for the conference is Embrace, Empower, Envision. By this, our planning committee implies that as Asian Americans we need to embrace the past, empower the present, and envision the future. Our speakers, workshops, cultural showings, and other various facets of the conference hope to convey this message to our participants.

The MAASU conference experience actively engages participants from all over the Midwest and beyond. MAASU has proven in the past to inspire and motivate students to create change.

1 Feb 2007 UIUC Forum: RACISM, POWER and PRIVILEGE

This coming Thursday (Feb 1), a forum titled RACISM, POWER, and PRIVILEGE at UIUC will be held from 4 to 6 PM at Foellinger Hall. It is a campus and community event designed to address events and issues of racism at UIUC. This includes racially themed parties and UIUC's "Chief Illiniwek" mascot.

U Illinois President Joseph White, UIUC Chancellor Richard Herman and UIUC Provost Linda Katehi will be on a panel listening to community members issue statements, and respond to questions put forth by the audience. Doors open at 330 PM.

Click the following links for more information:
2006 Oct 17 Daily Illini article - "Greek Party Causes Turmoil Across Campus"
2006 Oct 17 Daily Illini column - "On Tequilas and Tacos, Race and Understanding"
2006 Nov 1 Daily Illini article - "Quad Protest Targets Racial Stereotyping"
2007 Jan 18 Associated Press - "Sioux Demand Return of Chief Illiniwek"
2007 Jan 19 Chicago Tribune article - "Sioux to Illini: Return Regalia"
2007 Jan 21 Chicago Tribune article - "Illiniwek Fight Gets a Twist"
2007 Jan 27 Washington Post article - "Illinois Still on the Offensive"
2007 Jan 28 Chicago Tribune article - "Symbol or Mascot?"
2007 Jan 29 Associated Press article - "No Charges in Case of Threats Against American Indian at U of I"
Chief Illiniwek created by the UIUC Native American House
Honor the Chief Society website
Chief Illiniwek Educational Foundation
IResist Homepage
RetireTheChief website

30 Jan 2007 Food for Thought on Asian American Identity

Tuesday (1/30) Food For Thought panel at the Asian American Cultural Center: "Interethnic Dynamic in Asian American Community," with the goal to talk about the diversity of Asian Am experiences and what divides and connects us, and about identity issues. The panel features APAGSO members Anne Saw and Sharon S. Lee, along with Ranjit Bhagwat.

The event is from 12-1pm with food provided. Hope to see you there!

Asian American Cultural Center @ 1210 W. Nevada Street.

2005-2006 APAGSO pictures

These are some pictures from the 2005-2006 school year. I will periodically post pictures of APAGSO activities. Please check back for updates!

Jennifer listens as Kevin talks about being a graduate rep

A very enthusiastic, passionate and friendly bunch!

Grand Opening Celebration of the Asian American Cultural Center
AACC 9 September 2005

APAGSO President Sharon Lee spends time with AASP Director Kent Ono and daughter Mina
Asiantation 9 September 2005

APAGSO members
APAGSO Welcoming Reception 13 September 2005

Genevieve lists themes
APAGSO Conference Selection Meeting 13 November 2005

Students contemplate submissions
APAGSO Conference Selection Meeting 13 November 2005

Vince, Kevin and Diem-My
APAGSO Conference Selection Meeting 13 November 2005

The final groupings
APAGSO Conference Selection Meeting 13 November 2005

the serious picture
APAGSO Conference Selection Meeting 13 November 2005

the goofy picture
APAGSO Conference Selection Meeting 13 November 2005

25 Jan 2007 APAGSO meeting notes

Amendments to the notes I sent the other day that were discussed and decided this evening are underlined. 14 people were attendance and the meeting was at Bar Louie (6-745PM)

ELAINE CHUN is coming to campus on Friday Jan 26 (tomorrow), and APAGSO will have lunch with her 11:30-12:30 PM in the Asian American Cultural Center conference room. About 8 people said they will attend the lunch.

VOTING Anyone can bring up an issue to vote on, such as co-sponsorship of an event, or an idea for an event itself. If there is no disagreement, APAGSO will move forward with the co-sponsorship, activity, etc. If there is disagreement, we will then move into discussion and voting. We will infer the general consensus from the discussion, which will take place through the listserv. In other words, we do not yet feel that we need formal voting processes. However, the one issue with which we will conduct a formal vote is for the officers at the end of spring.

ROLES/DUTIES of OFFICERS We approved these roles tonight.
president - runs meetings; monitors listserv; and communicates with institutional units.
president-elect - communicates with student units; monitors website
secretary/treasurer - manages money (includes applying for funding such as SORF and SCPF and overseeing disbursements of funds); takes minutes at meetings and distributes them to the membership; designated vote manager.

TITLE CHANGE We agreed to change the name of “Vice President” to “President-Elect.” Whoever is in the position of President-Elect for one academic year would be President for the following academic year. We will vote through email on 1) instituting this change 2) whether or not to start with the current officers (Vince becoming President for 2007-2008) or instituting it with 2007-2008 officers.

APAGSO BLOG www.uiucapagso.blogspot.com – We liked having this as a space to archive emails for members to reference because it’s 1) organized better than the APAGSO website 2) easier to access our archives 3) prettier.

SCPF and AAS APAGSO applied for $3,000 from the Asian American Cultural Center Student Cultural Programming Fee committee so we can co-sponsor the Asian American Studies 10 Year Anniversary Celebration. The $3000 includes 1) travel for keynote speaker/Asian Am Alumni Award recipient KW Lee; 2) hotel for panelists; and 3) printing costs for publicity and programs.

We will also apply for SORF funding ($3,197) to cover the costs of 1) bringing panelists to campus 2) renting facilities for an alumni luncheon on March 3, 2007 3) remaining costs.

BGSA RELATIONSHIP/EVENTS BGSA holds their general meetings on scheduled Tuesday evenings from 6-7 PM. Patrice, Vince and Sarah will try to attend the first meeting (Jan 30 6 pm @ the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center on Matthews and Nevada). We will ask BGSA if they'd like to hold a joint social event on Feb 8 or 15 - bowling, ice skating, game night or Jillians/Jupiters. We would also be interested in debriefing with them after the Feb 1 Chancellor's forum.

CONFERENCES If you are going to the AAAS conference (www.aaastudies.org) in NYC this April, please let Sarah know ASAP (sypark2@uiuc.edu). APAGSO will apply for SORF funding, and we need to be specific with names and dollar amounts by February 16, 2007. The SORF deadlines are Feb 21 and March 7. SORF will cover one mode of transportation (air travel) and 50% of registration ($45 - $22.50) minus food costs of $30/day. SORF only pays $75/night for hotel and the Grand Hyatt is $194/night. They only fund 12 people, so the first 12 to contact Sarah will be included in the application. So far, 6 people have informed Sarah that they will present research at AAAS.

Also, keep in mind that the UIUC Asian American Studies program (www.aasp.uiuc.edu) provides funding for graduate students to present papers (research contributing to Asian American scholarship) at conferences. I believe it’s $300 per conference, up to 2 conferences per academic year. Contact Mary Ellerbe (Ellerbe@uiuc.edu) for more information.

Additional Issues Raised at the Meeting

- LOGO. We will ask Laura Chu (AAS intern) to design a logo for APAGSO. It was suggested that perhaps APAGSO members could donate a few dollars each so we can buy her a gift certificate. Any suggestions where to get the gift certificate?

- We would like to be more involved with the undergraduate students; APAC is a good group to start with, and we would like to engage more broadly with all Asian American undergraduate students. Suggested venues: Table Talk, brown bag, Lunch and Learn, APAC Monday night meetings. Kevin Lam and Jennifer Chung will organize this.

- We HIGHLY recommend that you attend MAASU (sc.maasu.org). The undergrad students have been working really hard and they lined up great speakers. It sounds like it’ll be a great conference.

- Chime Asonye (STOP, IllinoisEquality) will run for Student Senate and is interested in talking to APAGSO and getting our endorsement.

25 Jan 2007 APAGSO meeting agenda

Agenda for the APAGSO general meeting on Jan 25, 2007 at 6 PM (Bar Louie, on John St. between 6th & Wright)

ELAINE CHUN is coming to campus on Friday Jan 26 (tomorrow), and APAGSO will have lunch with her 11:30-12:30 PM in the Asian American Cultural Center conference room. Please come!

Elaine Chun is a Ph.D. candidate in the Linguistics Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation research investigates the ideological and interactional meanings of racialized and gendered mock styling at a multiethnic high school in Texas. Her research more broadly has addressed ideologies of language, humor, race, and gender as they relate to Asian American identities in both everyday contexts and popular culture.

VOTING Anyone can bring up an issue to vote on, such as co-sponsorship of an event, or an idea for an event itself. From the time the issue is brought up, we can discuss for 72 hours. Once discussion closes, members must vote within the following 48 hours, during which we discourage discussion. Cases where decisions need to be made within 5 days are exceptional. The person who brought up the issue cannot vote, unless in the event of a tie. Once an issue is brought up, an officer should note “Discussion began on (date) at (time). Discussion ends and voting begins on (date) at (time). Voting ends on (date) at (time).” These discussions and votes can either take place via email or on a message board/blog, which we would creately specifically for APAGSO. We will vote on this at the meeting.

ROLES/DUTIES of OFFICERS
president - runs meetings; monitors listserv; and communicates with institutional units.
president-elect - communicates with student units; monitors website
secretary/treasurer - manages money (includes applying for funding such as SORF and SCPF and overseeing disbursements of funds); takes minutes at meetings and distributes them to the membership; designated vote manager

TITLE CHANGE We would like to vote on changing “Vice President” to “President-Elect.” This would mean that whoever is in the position of President-Elect for one academic year would be President for the following academic year. For example, currently Sarah Park is President of 2006-2007, and Vince Pham is Vice-President (or President-Elect) and he will then automatically be President in 2007-2008. We thought this would help with continuity and familiarity, especially since graduate student turnover can be quite fast. We will vote on this at the meeting.

SCPF and AAS APAGSO applied for $3000 from the Asian American Cultural Center Student Cultural Programming Fee committee so we can co-sponsor the Asian American Studies 10 Year Anniversary Celebration. The $3000 includes 1) travel for keynote speaker/Asian Am Alumni Award recipient KW Lee; 2) hotel for panelists; and 3) printing costs for publicity and programs.

We will also apply for SORF funding to cover the costs of 1) bringing panelists to campus 2) renting facilities for an alumni luncheon on March 3, 2007 3) remaining costs.

BGSA RELATIONSHIP/EVENTS BGSA holds their general meetings on scheduled Tuesday evenings from 6-7 PM. Patrice, Vince and Sarah will try to attend the first meeting (Jan 30 6 pm @ the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center on Matthews and Nevada). We will also ask BGSA if they'd like to hold a joint social event on Feb 8 or 15 - bowling, ice skating, game night or Jillians/Jupiters. We would also be interested in debriefing with them after the Feb 1 Chancellor's forum. Please give us your feedback regarding these events.

CONFERENCES If you are going to the AAAS conference (www.aaastudies.org) in NYC this April, please let Sarah know ASAP (sypark2@uiuc.edu). APAGSO will apply for SORF funding, and we need to be specific with names and dollar amounts by February 16, 2007. The SORF deadlines are Feb 21 and March 7. SORF will cover one mode of transportation (air travel) and 50% of registration ($45 - $22.50) minus food costs of $30/day. SORF only pays $75/night for hotel and the Grand Hyatt is $194/night. They only fund 12 people, so the first 12 to contact Sarah will be included in the application.

Also, keep in mind that the UIUC Asian American Studies program (www.aasp.uiuc.edu) provides funding for graduate students to present papers (research contributing to Asian American scholarship) at conferences. I believe it’s $300 per conference, up to 2 conferences per academic year. Contact Mary Ellerbe (Ellerbe@uiuc.edu) for more information.

Sincerely, your APAGSO officers,
Patrice, Vince and Sarah

APAGSO: History & Mission Statement

The Asian Pacific American Graduate Students Organization is a UIUC registered student organization committed to building social, professional and academic networks and promoting cultural awareness and advocacy for APA graduate and professional students.

HISTORY
This organization was created in 2001. In the past, members have presented scholarly work on Asian Pacific American issues during Asian American awareness month and have come together for socializing. The organization is constantly evolving to meet its members needs.

MISSION
The purpose of the Asian Pacific American Graduate Students Organization (APAGSO) is to foster the academic and social development of Asian Pacific American graduate and professional students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Because students come from a variety of departments, interests, and geographic and ethnic backgrounds, we hope to develop a sense of community on campus, as well as gather ideas and advance our concerns among our peers.