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PROGRAM & PRESENTERS
Emcees Sharmeen Khan & Drew Ng Opening Remarks Gigi Secuban Faculty/Staff Award Renee Romano Undergraduate Student Leader Award Elizabeth Tsukahara & Beverly Smith Graduate Student Leader Award Yun Shi Community Builder Award Kenny Importante & Vivia Diep Asian American Alumni Network Scholarship Ning Zulauf Alumni Award David Chih Alumni Remarks Sandra Yamate Asian American Studies Awards Soo Ah Kwon Senior Class Speech Marc Chua Student Affairs Advancement Angie Dimit Graduation Stole Distribution Jacob Chacko & Kenny Importante Susan Yung Maul Award Ga Young Jin & Maria Conrad Yuki Llewellyn Award Xavier Hernandez Closing Remarks David Chih
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Outstanding Asian & Asian American Faculty/Staff Award This award recognizes faculty, academic professionals, and civil service staff who have shown years of commitment to the Asian and Asian American campus community by providing mentoring, advising, programming, teaching, and research opportunities that develop students’ self-awareness and promote understanding of Asian and Asian American issues. Award consideration favors nominees exemplifying at least five years of service to our campus and have collaborated with AACC programs.
Sean Cheng
Sean Cheng is a clinical counselor and outreach specialist for Asian American and Asian international student issues for the Counseling Center. Sean has been actively involved with the AACC advisory committee and programs. As chair of the Counseling Center’s Asian American and Asian International Student Outreach Team, he has been invited many times by RSOs to present workshops about issues of Asian and Asian American cultural identity. He is always seen at our Asian American community events. Everyone familiar with Sean’s work at Illinois would agree that he has made significant contributions to our Asian American and Asian international campus-community.
Kenny Importante Kenneth Importante is a dedicated professional in student affairs As Assistant Director of the AACC, Kenny advises over 50 registered student organizations that are affiliated with the AACC. To them, he is not only an advisor but also a role model and even a friend. Regardless of the level of responsibility on his plate, Kenny has a genuine passion for taking an active role in the development of programs and events to raise greater educational, cultural, and social awareness on Asian & Asian American issues and to promote cross-cultural understanding in our community. Kenny is in possession of exemplary skills as a student affairs professional.
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NOMINEES
Outstanding Asian & Asian American Undergraduate Student Leader Award
This award recognizes exceptional undergraduate student leaders who have served the Asian and Asian American campus community as advocates for Asian and Asian American issues and in leadership of activities that promote unity among Asian and Asian American students. Award consideration favors those nominees who have exemplified several semesters of leadership to our campus and will soon be graduating.
Eric Chen
Timothy Chen
Marc Chua
Eric Chen is the President of the Taiwanese American Students Club. Eric’s ability to understand exactly what the club members need is his greatest aspect as a leader. He aims to promote the personal growth of each board member in terms of social, cultural, and political consciousness as well as increase the influence and brand of TASC. He always challenges their board members to be different, culminating in their interactive human foosball game at Night Market, guided tour at Lunar New Year, and the celebration of diverse Asian American organizations of the Spring Carnival. Timothy Chen is a spectacular student leader who has served the Asian American campus community during his time as a student. He is currently the CoDirector of Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC). Under his direction, the coalition has forged new vision and collaboration among the 19 Asian and Asian American student organizations on campus. He also has a deep appreciation of Asian American Studies as an intellectual project and is able to translate issues of race, identity, and culture to his work with Asian American community on and off campus. In his four years at UI, Marc Chua has served not just the Asian American student community but the whole campus. Marc became one of the most involved student leaders on campus. There are a variety of different initiatives Marc is involved with, these ranging from the James Scholars/Honors program to executive board member for the Asian Pacific American Coalition. Marc bridges students from one ethnic community with others. Marc can be seen actively participating in an event put together by various ethnic groups and communities.
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Michelle Gong is currently serving as one of three Turner Fellows in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. For the Student Fee Advisory Committee, she effectively coordinated the process and help move the fee review in a tight schedule. Michelle’s interest in serving Asian American students started with volunteering at Asian American Cultural Center during summer of 2014. She continues to actively engage with the AACC.
Michelle Gong
Christina Malibiran has been involved with Asian American organizations for four years, and was heavily involved with Philippine Student Association and Asian Pacific American Coalition. For PSA she has been publicity chair, as well as helping with FACT, the Filipino Americans Coming Together Conference. She also has represented the Asian American community on campus as a resident advisor, and she has been known to bring issues of the AAPI community to light to her residents as well. She has been a great mentor when it comes to asking for help on how to run certain organizations, and how to be good at respective positions.
Christina Malibiran
Dipesh Mehta
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Dipesh Mehta has been an admirable and passionate leader in the Asian American campus community throughout his undergraduate career. He has served various positions on ISA board, Especially, as cultural awareness chair, he came with many creative ideas and always pushed to reach out to other Asian organizations to build connections and expand on our events. His leadership in these organizations has kept people calm in tense situations and has encouraged people he’s worked with to push themselves and go out of their comfort zone. His love for his community can be felt when talking to him about these issues. Bianca Mulaikal has been a leader in the Asian American campus community throughout her entire undergraduate career. She has displayed creativity, passion, and dedication in every role that she has taken on in the organizations she has been part of. She joined ISA during her freshman year as a show coordinator and helped tremendously with putting on the biggest show of the year, India Night, particularly in the area of publicity and outreach. She worked hard to reach out to organizations all around campus, particularly Asian American ones, professors at the university, and other South Asian cultural organizations.
Bianca Mulaikal
Tonu Pius
Bing Wang
Melody Wong
Tonu Pius has been involved on the Indian Student Association board for the past three years. His sophomore year, he helped organize and put together the annual Diwali Night and India Night shows. As a junior and the external vice president in charge of the cultural awareness teams, he completely transformed the landscape of culture events, creating events that raised awareness about South Asian issues while still being able to raise money for various charities. Now as a senior, he has taken over as president and has increased membership and made a consistent effort to get to know each member and the younger class, making him someone people feel comfortable talking to and getting to know. Bing Wang has excelled in all of the organizations that he has represented, whether it be the communications for Paradox, the external vice president for TASC, or being the co-director for the Asian Pacific American Coalition this year. Bing not only brings together everyone in the coalition, but he also has promoted awareness and activism for the AAPI community as well. As for the concept of unity, Bing also makes it a personal mission to introduce new people to each other. He makes sure that he not only builds those connections with himself and others, but he makes sure that people around him also build and maintain those friendships as well. Melody Wong joined Sigma Psi Zeta Sorority during her second semester. Throughout her time as a sister, Melody has risen from a new member to the president in a matter of three years. Melody was very effective in promoting unity in the Asian American campus community by representing how Greek letter organizations are able to also embody the same missions as organizations of greater sizes within APAC. She is immensely dedicated to Sigma Psi Zeta and the ideals of Asian culture and heritage that the sorority was founded upon.
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Outstanding Asian and Asian American Graduate Student Leader Award This award recognizes graduate and professional students for excellence in developing and implementing programs for the Asian and Asian American campus community, excellence and innovation in classroom instruction furthering knowledge of Asian American communities, and/ or excellence in research promoting awareness of Asian and Asian American issues. Award consideration favors nominees exemplifing several
NOMINEES
Zhenni Wang
Zhenni Wang has been passionate about social justice issues on campus for the past six years and the one area that developed her leadership qualities is serving the Asian & Asian American student community. To address the needs, she examined individual and communal needs in predicting attitudes toward mental health services among U.S. born and mainland born Chinese through research. To translate her research implications into practice, she actively sought opportunities to work with the Counseling Center as an outreach advocate. She has partnered with alpha Kappa Delta Phi in developing two workshops on Asian beauty standards, gave a talk on model minority stereotype at the Food for Thought program, delivered a workshop on transracial adoption challenges for ICAASP, and facilitated a simulation workshop for the APATITE Conference.
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Xavier Hernandez
Xavier Hernandez began his work with the Asian American community on the UI campus three years ago as the graduate assistant at the AACC. He has coordinated the full range of our programming about Asian cultural experiences aimed at intercultural learning for all students, and programming focused for Asian American and Asian international students. He has done extensive research on the AAPI community and has recently co-authored a monograph titled “Asian Americans in Higher Education: Charting New Realites.� As a researcher, he has presented at professional conferences and has published several articles on Asian Americans and international students in higher education.He has made very significant contributions to the Asian American community at UI.
Jong Cheol Shin
Shin Sensei has been the head coach of Illini Judo for the past two years, during which he has emphasized the importance of traditional etiquette associated with the Japanese sport of Judo. He makes sure that all members, new and old, respect each other and the sport itself. Although Shin Sensei is a busy graduate student, he always finds time to make it to competitions, social events, and of course practice. With his leadership, our club was able to win the Judo Midwest Championships again this year. Shin Sensei is a great coach who joins the members in all of the exercises, who leads by example, and who makes certain that Illini Judo and its members are well versed in the Japanese cultural aspect of Judo.
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Asian American Cultural Center Community Builder Award The outstanding Asian American Community Builder Award honors individuals who embody the spirit and mission of the Asian American Cultural Center. The award recognizes significant and sustained commitment to building a stronger Asian and Asian American campus
This year, the AACC staff wishes to honor Carrie Anderson, executive chef for residential dining services. Her impressive commitment to inclusivity and intercultural understanding is phenomenal in bringing in ideas to the residence halls. We have appreciated her collaborations with AACC for the annual theme meals for lunar new year and Diwali celebrations. She includes AACC staff and other campus constituents to seek feedback when adding new menu items to the dining experience. These are prime examples of how Carrie and her team have supported the AACC mission of sharing Asian cultures with the university community. Beyond providing authentic foods, we appreciate the extra efforts to provide students with information about the cultural significance of the holidays, cultural performances, and of the symbolism of the food.
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University of Illinois Asian & Asian American Alumni Network Scholarship UIAAAN is pleased to offer scholarships to
outstanding students at the University of Illinois for 2016-2017. UIAAAN strongly believes in investing in our future leaders. Two students who have demonstrated dedication and commitment to the Asian and Asian American community will receive a $500 scholarship.
Matthew Hom
Major: Political Science & Global Studies
Emily Rohman
Major: Community Health
Outstanding Asian & Asian American Alumni Award This award was established in 2005 to recognize alumni who have distinguished themselves through outstanding contributions to the Asian and Asian American community, exceptional success in their professional careers, and, meritorous service supporting the mission of the University.
Sandra Yamate is CEO of the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession, which focuses on promoting greater diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Ms Yamate was a founder and former president of the Asian American Bar Association of Chicago, founder of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and past president of the Japanese American Service Committee. Outside the legal profession, she is the author of several Asian American children’s books, and is the founder of Polychrome Publishing, which is dedicated to producing children’s books by and about Asian Americans.
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Asian American Studies Awards Clark Cunningham Undergraduate Essay Award The Department of Asian American Studies is pleased to award for the best undergraduate student research paper in Asian American Studies. This award is named in recognition of Dr. Clark Cunningham, professor emeritus of anthropology, UI. He served as the vice chair of the unit from 1997 – 2000 and chair of the program’s first curriculum committee. He taught the first Asian American studies course on campus “Asian American Experiences” in 1992 and is widely regarded on campus as an inspiring teacher, mentor, and colleague among his students.
Yitian Mao
Asian American Studies Minors Class of 2016 The Department of Asian American Studies wishes to honor the individuals who completed the AAS minor during their undergraduate career. The AAS minor provides exciting courses that integrates offerings in AAS from the social sciences, humanities, and other related disciplines. Congratulations to these graduates.
Angelo Blancaflor Timothy Chen Adrienne Chung Christina Malibiran Mark McCarthy Yitian Mao
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Susan Yung Maul Award for Outstanding NOMINEES Asian & Asian American Program This award recognizes programs/events that have shown a significant impact in serving the Asian & Asian American community, developing awareness of Asian American issues, and/or promoting unity in the Asian American campus community. The award recipient must be sponsored primarily by a student organization. This award was renamed in 2003 to honor Susan Yung Maul, upon her retirement as director of the Illini Union, to recognize her 31 years of contributions to the Asian American community and the university.
Philippine Student Association conference: Filipino Americans Coming Together
FACT is one of the largest Filipino-interest conferences in the United States. FACT’s mission is to build a community of leaders by uniting, enlightening and empowering the Filipino/Fil-Am/Non-Filipino youth nationwide.This year, the coordinators have created bridges and connections to other conferences and organizations across the United States, such as Pilipino American Unity for Progress UniPro). The conference also attracted attention from the White House this year. These expanding horizons show how the conference continues to grow every year.
APAC Conference: APATITE
APATITE’s mission is to unify Asian Pacific Americans to foster engagement in creating a better and more inclusive Illinois. Through this year’s theme, Comm(you)nity, APATITE hosted workshops that taught delegates to be more involved in solving the issues of the communities they identify with and teach them the importance of understanding intersectionality. The event brought together members throughout the affiliated APAC organizations and created dialogues surrounding identity and our individual impact as Asians and Asian Americans. APATITE was a conference that was revived after years of absence.
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APAC: Minority Models The goal of Minority Models was to have people share their experiences being an Asian in the United States and showcase all the sub-communities within the Asian American community. The stories of the individuals were posted on Facebook along with their photo. So far Minority Models has showcased 30 individuals. Minority Models has brought together the Asian American community at UI. This program has also spread awareness of Asian American issues such as privilege, mental health, model minority, and perpetual foreigner. These stories addresses many aspects of Asian American culture the media and our education textbooks do not cover.
Raas Mania Raas Mania started in 2012 and has grown over the course of four years along with this year’s graduating class. Raas Mania is a student run and funded intercollegiate Indian Folk dance competition bringing together eight teams from colleges across the nation. This competition allows students to become leaders and instills confidence in newfound abilities they gain throughout the entire organizing process, helping them grow comfortable with doing things outside of their comfort zone. The planning process and production of this whole show brings together people from different backgrounds, who never would have talked to each other on a daily basis, and leaves each person with a new person they can call family while on campus.
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Indian Student Association: Fighting Cancer With Service This previous year, Indian Student Association (ISA) held an event titled “Fighting Cancer with Service” in an effort to support a member of the South Asian community who was diagnosed with Stage IV Melanoma. In an effort to help him and his family financially with their medical debt, ISA and his friends came together to organize events to raise money. During “Fighting Cancer with Service,” ten people auctioned off items and services to raise money. By the end of the event, $1,270 was raised. This event holds a significant meaning in that it brought together the entire community for a common cause of helping a member of the community.
Indian Student Association: Desi Illini
Desi llini is new a student-run blog, aiming to express their cultural fusion on campus. Cultural understanding is the first step towards unity of Asian Americans on campus. This is exactly what the blog serves to do. Everyone is encouraged to create blog posts to express their opinions about social justice issues. Currently the page has 200+ likes and traffic on the website increases by about 60+ visitors every week.
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NOMINEES
Yuki Llewellyn Award for Outstanding Asian & Asian American Student Organization
This award recognizes student organizations that have developed and implemented activities, programs, and services that promote greater cultural, social, or political awareness of Asian & Asian American issues. The award recipient must be a registered organization affiliated with the AACC. This award was renamed in 2002 to honor Yuki Llewellyn, upon her retirement as director of registered organizations and assistant dean of students, to recognize her 37 years of contributions to the Asian American community and the university.
Korean Student Association
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KSA has conscientiously worked to promote a collegial atmosphere and produce positive synergy among Korean students, their families, and local community members, and to organize activities, events, and programs to mutually benefit them. KSA has collaborated with several departments on campus to connect learners of Korean with Korean students and community members in various ways. KSA also organizes professional development programs and has successfully organized various sports and social events to bring together both undergraduate KoreanAmerican students and international Korean students.
Taiwanese American Students Club
TASC strives to develop a family-like community that emphasizes openness to discussing topics such as Asian American identity, political issues in Taiwan, multiculturalism, and relevant APA issues. TASC sought to lead by example and create a united APA community. TASC continues to coordinate excellent programs as a way to feature Taiwanese/ Taiwanese American culture. Moreover, TASC always encourages its board members to work on projects that align their passions with their vision. Whatever your passion is, TASC will always be there to support it.
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We acknowledge this year’s graduating students who have been active in our Asian & Asian American community. Congratulations and best of luck in your future endeavors!
GRADUATING STUDENTS
Adrienne Chung
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Molecular and Cellular Biology
Alexis Catibog
Nursing & Psychology
Alex Wu
Mechanical Engineering
Alison Yung
Computer Engineering
Allen Yu
Integrative Biology
Anna Ma
Urban Planning
Bing Wang
Political Science
Boyi Guo Accounting
Christina Malibiran
Media and Cinema Studies
Eric Chen
Agricultural and Consumer Economics
Fang Ewe
Material Science and Engineering
Gary Szeto
Computer Engineering
Ga Young Jin
Social Work - MSW
Helen Cao Sociology
Janea Rochelle Pontingon Community Health
Justin Sumait Accounting
Larry Wong Advertising
Manmit Kaur
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Marc Chua Economics
Mia Xin
Agricultural and Consumer Economics
Michael (Mikey) Nguyen Chemistry
Michelle Hsieh Creative Writing
Michelle Tran
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Neal Soni
Community Health
Opinderjit (Shelly) Kaur Interdisciplinary Health
Pawat (Ohm) Suntharanund
Information Systems and Information Technology
Priya Chugh Marketing
Qianyu Chen
Statistics and Actuarial Sciences
Raphaella (Ralphie) Tran Molecular and Cellular Biology
Rexly Pe単aflorida III
Political Science & Communications
Sarah Bueno
Community Health
Shivani Srivastava
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Stephanie Guan
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Tianrun Du Accounting
Timothy Chen
Mechanical Engineering
Walbert (Wally) Castillo Journalism
Yudong Wang Accounting
Yunyi Chen
Statistics & Acturial Science
Zachary Cacal
Atmospheric Sciences
Zilin Zheng
East Asian Languages and Cultures
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A SPECIAL THANKS...... FROM THE AACC We would like to thank the following groups and individuals for their support and collaboration this past year. Advisory Committee Pallassana Balgopal Jennifer Halls Carson Yu-Ju Chen David Chih Vivia Diep Lily Huang Sharmeen Khan Jung Eun Kim Shanshen Li Jerome Ng Un Yeong Park Dan Quock Jinghua Xing
Indian Student Association Japanese Intercultural Network Korean Business Student Association Korean Student Association Korean American Student Association Kappa Phi Lambda Les Claviers Lambda Phi Epsilon Liberty In North Korea Malaysian Student Association Meditation Student Organization Muslim Student Association Overseas China Education Foundation Affiliated Organizations Pakastani Student Association Asian American Association Philippine Student Association Asian American Student Rainbow International Housing Organization Society of Asian Scientists and alpha Kappa Delta Phi Engineers Asian Pacific American Coalition Saudi Club Art of Living Sigma Beta Rho Arab Student Association Sikh Student Association Asha for Education Singapore Student Association Bangladeshi Students Sigma Psi Zeta Association Taiwanese American Students Chinese American Association Club of Central Illinois Tzu Chi Collegiate Association China Studies Forum Vietnamese Student Association Chinese Students & Scholars Zinda Dance Team Association Chi Sigma Tau Office of Inclusion and Champaign Urbana Chinese Intercultural Relations Folk Dance Club Bruce D. Nesbitt African Delta Kappa Delta American Cultural Center Delta Phi Omega Diversity & Social Justice Deeper Roots in Christ Education Gah Rahk Mah Dang Korean La Casa Cultural Latina Drum Team Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Illini Awaaz Transgender Resource Center Illinois Coalition for Asian Native American House Adopted Students Program Women’s Resources Center Indian Christian Fellowship Infusions Intercultural Friendship Foundation Indian Graduate Student Association International Hospitality Committee
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Campus Units UI Alumni Association UI Asian American Alumni Network Asian American Studies Asian Educational Media Services Campus Recreation The Career Center Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies College of Business College of Education College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Counseling Center East Asian Languages and Cultures Disability Resources and Educational Services Global Studies History Illinois Leadership Center Illinois Public Media Illini Union Illinois International International Students and Scholar Services Japan House Krannert Art Museum Krannert Center for Performing Arts McKinley Health Center Office of Admissions Office of Dean of Students Office of Diversity, Equity, and Access Parent Programs Student Affairs Advancement Student Conflict Resolution Illinois Abroad & Global Exchange Public Safety University Housing University Library University YMCA
AACC
2015-2016
David Chih, Director Kenneth Importante, Assistant Director Maria Conrad, Office Support Specialist Yun Shi, Program Director for International Education Ga Young Jin, Program Assistant Jacob Chacko, Graduate Assistant Xavier Hernandez, Graduate Assistant Emily Rohman, Hermia Soo Outreach Intern Julianne Micoleta, Communications Intern Yunyi Chen, Office Support Intern Dong Joo Kim, Communications Intern Reeti Patel, Office Support Intern Sarah Park, Asian Pacific American Alumni Leadership Intern Xiuyuan Wang, International Education Intern
InterCultural Horizons
Boyi Guo, Intern Qianyu Cheng, Intern Shannon Kelly, Intern Vicki Prince, Intern
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