Advisors:
Professor Judy Wu:
Professor and chair of the Department of Asian American Studies, joined the University of California, Irvine, faculty in 2015. She received her Ph.D. in History from Stanford University in 1998. She taught previously at Ohio State University from 1998-2015 and at the University of Chicago while on sabbatical in 2005-2006. In 2016-2017, she collaborated with Dr. Thuy Vo Dang to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Asian American Studies and the 30th anniversary celebration of the Southeast Asian Archive. Beginning in winter 2017, they launched a research internship program and worked with the students to investigate the history of Asian American Studies at UCI. This research project became BADAAS@UCI. Prof. Wu explores the politics of activism through her scholarship and engaged in protest to establish Asian American Studies at Stanford University. For more information, please see her website: https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=6123 and her digital narrative about why she became invested in Asian American Studies: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=417325787835&l=3625091853836887713.
Professor Thuy Võ Đặng:
Dr. Thuy Vo Dang is the Curator for the Southeast Asian Archive at the University of California, Irvine. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego and has conducted research on and taught courses on race and ethnicity, oral history, cultural studies, immigration and refugee studies. She serves on the Board of Directors for Arts Orange County and the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association, both nonprofit arts organizations. Vo Dang was featured in the OC Weekly’sInaugural People Issue as the “Studs Terkel of Little Saigon” and received the “Public Image Award” from Asian Americans Advancing Justice. She is co-author of Vietnamese in Orange County, published in 2015. She is currently working on A People’s Guide to Orange County (forthcoming, UC Press), a book project that foregrounds unseen stories of the region through a social justice lens. Part of a research team awarded an IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian grant in the community anchors category, she researches the intersection between ethnic studies theory and community archives practice.
Members:
Maribel Comparan:
I am a fourth year at the University of California, Irvine with a double major in Asian American Studies and Spanish. I am a curious and passionate person interested in diverse communities and cultures. I was born in Southern California and spent the early years of my life in Mexico. My family immigrated to Stockton, California, after living in Mexico for 5 years. I have always been interested in Ethnic Studies and firmly believe that learning about other ethnicities can expand our understanding of the world. I am involved in a research project called The Beginning of Activism for the Department of Asian American Studies at University of California, Irvine. This project has opened many doors for me, as well as greatly expanded my knowledge of student activism. I hope to apply to the 4+1 M.A. program in Asian American Studies at UCI this year and eventually earn a doctorate and become a professor.
Ziggy Ghassemi:
I am a third year transfer student at the University of California Irvine. I am majoring in Comparative Literature. I am half Persian, and being so I have been surrounded by another culture my entire life. With this, came an appreciation for different cultures. Originally, at my old school, I was an English major. However, after a bit, I realized what I loved doing was seeing comparisons in literature throughout different cultures. One of the classes that made me realize this was my Survey of World Literature class at Santiago Canyon College. Through my life experiences I have come to believe that a study of different cultures can expand and possibly change how we see the world. Joining the Beginning of Activism of the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine research group, has helped me broaden my perspectives of other cultures. After this year, I will be applying to Master and Doctorate programs in Comparative Literature.
Justine Trinh:
I am in the inaugural cohort of the 4+1 M.A. program in Asian American Studies. I graduated last year with a B.A. degree in Classics and Asian American Studies and a B.S. degree in Mathematics. I decided to pursue an M.A. in Asian American Studies because the courses helped me to to learn more about myself and my community. I grew up in Orange County as a Vietnamese American, never realizing what was so special about Little Saigon. It was something I always took for granted. By continuing on, I am hoping that I get a better understanding of the world around me and to delve deeper into my identity.
Cayla Zhang:
I am a third-year majoring in Asian American Studies and African American Studies. I originally hail from Chicago, and moved out to California to pursue Ethnic Studies. I believe that Ethnic Studies allows people to form critical understandings of the world and gives communities of colors the tools they need to organize and transform their world. I am also involved in community organizing, particularly in Asian-American and immigrant rights organizing. In the future, I hope to use my knowledge of community organizing and ethnic studies to bring transformative power to the communities I care about.
Past Members:
Khaila Amazan-Hall:
I am a fourth year Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine. After I took the class “Asian Americans in Media,” I decided to minor in Asian American Studies as a way to continue my interest in culture and media studies. Some of my favorite Asian American-centered films are Nanook of the North and Better Luck Tomorrow since they deal with issues such as Asian American portrayal and identity in film. I hope to use my knowledge of the Asian American cultural issues to improve representation for Asian Americans in media and to help bridge the gap between Black and Asian American communities.
Alex Nguyen: I am an alumnus 
of University of California, Irvine, and a former member of the group. At UCI, I majored in Asian American Studies and Public Health Policy and am currently pursuing an MPH at University of California, Los Angeles. Originally, I joined the group because I knew a little about the history of activism on campus but wanted to learn more. What we’ve found as a group through interviews and archival research has not only stunned me but also inspired me to pursue my own dreams with the same amount of passion and zeal that we saw in our research. I’m very glad that the research and the project continues because there is still a lot to be discovered. I am hoping that through this work, we can share their story and empower others to chase their dreams as well.
Vivian Luu: AAS was such an integral part of my time at UCI. I chose to volunteer for the AAS research internship because my experience with this history was very limited to what I had heard in my AAS classes. My professors briefly mentioned how students fought to have AAS at UCI and how there was a hunger strike in the 1990s. Being a part of this internship allows me to analyze and contextualize the history of AAS as a living process with many people involved instead of a single or defining moment. The founding of AAS at UCI happened on Ring Road, in front of buildings we pass by everyday, and in the spaces we study or work in. The thought of that really excites me! There’s so much history around us when we take the time to look around and listen. Looking through the archival collections, in general, has been very exciting! My favorite has to be reading through Rice Paper, which was a newspaper for Asian American and Pacific Islander students in the 1990s. Students, staff, and faculty contributed articles, artwork, and creative writing pieces relating to the AAPI community and what it means to be AAPI. It was neat to see that students created this space for themselves to explore their identities and cultures as well as have conversations that we are still having today!