Alumna Dr. Wenli Jen Donates Scholarship for Undergraduate Major in Education Sciences

Dr. Wenli Jen, Program Director at Pacific Clinics-Asian Pacific Foundation, has donated a $4,000 scholarship to the School of Education in support of the School’s new undergraduate major in Education Sciences.

Each year an undergraduate who exemplifies the values that guided Dr. Jen’s academic journey – caring, commitment, accomplishment, and service to community  – will receive $1,000 toward his or her studies.

Dr. Jen received her B.A. in Social Science with a concentration in Public and Community Service and a Minor in Educational Studies from UCI in 2003.

Dr. Wenli Jen Bio

As the Program Director at Pacific Clinics-Asian Pacific Family Center, Wenli Jen, Ed.D. works with families, youth, and communities in the San Gabriel Valley and Southern California. Her work involves family support, child abuse prevention, gang prevention, and substance abuse prevention. She is interested in effective prevention practices, learning, motivation, resiliency, and how these intersect with identity, social and emotional development for underserved and underprivileged populations. She is also involved with the API Children Youth and Family Council, API Domestic Violence Task Force, and other steering committees. She was instrumental in developing programs like the San Gabriel Valley Youth Summit and the Leadership, Education, Advocacy, and Diversity (LEAD) summer seminars to educate young Asian American and Pacific Islander high school students.

As a second generation Chinese-American, she is also an educational consultant in Los Angeles, California, where she provides academic and career support for youth and adults. Dr. Jen helps students apply for college and provides training in social development skills needed for the work force. Dr. Jen teaches studying skills, test-taking, resume writing and interviewing for residents and community agencies including the Los Angeles County libraries. She is also works with community agencies and businesses to improve strategic planning and practices in addition to career counseling for those transitioning from one industry to another or those developing a lifelong career goal.

Dr. Jen is also an entrepreneur. She is a businesswoman in skin care and health. She is a practicing, California-licensed esthetician. She provides skin care consultations and home spa treatments. Additionally, she combines her business with self-esteem, body image and image consulting for clients in the Southern California area. She hopes to create more opportunities for vocational education through her experience in the industry. At the moment, Dr. Jen is working with others to develop start-up businesses in social enterprise. She is the co-founder and owner of the event planning and production company, Open Concept Event Production. With her business partner, she has coordinated corporate events, including press conferences, conventions, grand openings, fundraisers and private events.

Moreover, Dr. Jen is a current professor of business ethics at the California Institute of Advanced Management. Through her work as a professor, she has also been involved with the United Nations Global Compact Women’s Empowerment group that promotes gender equality in the work force around the world. She has been instrumental in the revising of curriculum development and instruction for the MBA program, which stresses the importance of practical applications in business derived from Drucker’s principles in business, leadership and management. She contributes as an adjunct professor to consult on curriculum and instruction as needed. Dr. Jen serves an adjunct faculty at California State University, Dominguez Hills, as a professor in the Division of Health Science, teaching public health courses.

Involved with the Harvard Alumni Association, the Harvard Educators Roundtable, and the Recent Alumni Council, she is also the co-chair of the Harvard Alumni Ambassadors of Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Jen’s emphasis in education, human development and psychology has led her to become more involved at USC. As a mentor for undergraduate students through USC’s Asian Pacific American Student Services, Dr. Jen is dedicated to guiding a younger generation of scholars and leaders for the past 7 years. Her work with various collegiate and alumni associations have also given her the expansive knowledge in understanding how to bridge different groups and their mission statements in collaborative projects.

As a writer and speaker, she has two published stories in the Asian American anthologies, Pho for Life and Miso for Life, and has been featured in a variety of online and print publications. She has spoken at international, national and regional conferences and events. She has been included in lectures in many Southern California colleges and universities including but not limited to: Azusa Pacific University, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Los Angeles, Chaffey College, Pasadena City College, UC Irvine, University of Southern California, and others. She is an advocate for women’s empowerment and has been invited to speak at conferences including the Adelante Mujer Latina, Pomona Unified School District Women’s Empowerment Conference, and Miss Representation film premiere events. Dr. Jen speaks at conferences for several professional organizations. Her most recent training workshop was for the Nexus Conference hosted by the Inter-agency on Child Abuse and Neglect for the Los Angeles County on violence prevention and trauma on children and adolescents. She has also been invited to be a TED speaker at the November 2013 event, TEDxPCC at the Arcadia Performing Arts Center and the TEDxYouth@CityofIndustry in April 2014.

Currently, she sits on various steering committees and boards, including the Los Angeles County Adolescent Health Collaborative and Rosemead Educational Foundation. Dr. Jen is a past Vice President for the National Association of Asian American Professionals and founding member of NAAAP-Los Angeles. She is the current chair for the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association – San Gabriel Valley Chapter, which formally launches in February 2014. She has been recently appointed the executive secretary of the National Women’s Political Caucus – LA Metro and now serves as a committee member. She is a member of the community council for PBS SoCal and is currently working as a task force member for the Pasadena Playhouse.

Dr. Jen received her doctorate in Educational Leadership at USC after receiving her bachelor’s degree in Social Science with a concentration in Public and Community Service, her master’s in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University Graduate School of Education and teaching and administrative credentials from UC Irvine. Her dissertation research focuses on substance abuse prevention and gang prevention among at-risk students, concentrating on Asian American and Pacific Islander students. Past research included women in media, biracial children, social and emotional learning and technology in education.

Dr. Jen is the 2012 Woman of the Year for the 24th Senate District in California, and the 2013 Woman of the Year for the 49th Assembly District of California. Dr. Jen is also the 2014 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni in Community Service from her alumni association. In her free time, she loves meditation, hiking and teaching hip hop dance classes. Her love for volunteering, particularly for veterans and military service men and women along with her interest in supporting the arts have been important in her active involvement with her free time. She resides in the San Gabriel Valley with her family.

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