AAPIs@Oakton

We're continuing our conversation with Dr. Anthony Ramos, Chief of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging Officer at Elgin Community College. In this episode, we explore our challenges doing DEI work uplifting Asian American students in the Midwest and the importance of the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs). 

We sit down with Dr. Anthony Ramos, Chief of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging Officer at Elgin Community College. Dr. Ramos shares his journey to his current role and his take on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work in higher education.

Century College is the first 2-year college to receive the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving-Institution (AANAPISI) status by the US Dept. of Education in the Midwest. In this episode, Nhia Xiong, AANAPISI Project Director, shares her experience managing the grant and navigating conversations on support for AAPI students at Century.

This month, we interviewed members of the South Asian Club at Oakton College, the second largest AAPI student organization on campus. They shared their ideas and ways the college can better support South Asian and other AAPI students on campus.

According to the 2020 AAPI Census Data Report, there are about 16,000 Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders living in IL. At Oakton, there are only a handful of NHPI students.

In this episode, we interviewed  Lydia Cruz, our student trustee, about her journey to higher education, her plans for the year as the student trustee, and ways higher education can uplift the Pacific Islander community.

We wrap up this season with the recap of the 2nd Annual Asian Night Market at Oakton College, Des Plaines Campus.

This event was organized by Oakton's Center for Organizing Minority Programs to Advance Student Success (COMPASS) and Everybody's Market.

In celebration of the Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month at Oakton College, we interviewed members of Pilipino in Alliance Yearning for Opportunities (PAYO), a Filipino student organization on campus. We asked for their takes on ways the college can better engage with students and secrets on keeping their organization active.

In this episode, we're continuing our conversation with Karen Su, Clinical Assistant Professor of Global Asian Studies, Principle Investigator and Project Director of the UIC AANAPISI Initiatives, about her experience navigating institutional climate and creating a campus culture for Asian American and Pacific Islander students.

The University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC) is the first school in the Midwest to receive the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) designation by the U.S Department of Education. 

University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC) is the first school in the Midwest to receive the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) designation by the U.S Department of Education. In this episode, we're talking to Karen Su, Clinical Assistant Professor of Global Asian Studies, Principle Investigator and Project Director of the UIC AANAPISI Initiatives, about her experience navigating institutional climate and creating a campus culture for Asian American and Pacific Islander students.  

In this episode, we'll be talking about the history of night market and its cultural impact in Asian American communities. 

In celebration of Filipino American History Month, COMPASS and Everybody's Market are hosting Para Sa Kultura (For the Culture) Night Market, featuring 40 Filipinx-owned microbusinesses and food vendors around the Chicagoland area. We invited the founder of Everybody's Market to talk about the event and the importance of supporting small and micro Asian American businesses. 

To learn more about the event, visit linktr.ee/oaktoncompass 

To learn more about Everybody's Market visit their Instagram Page at @EverybodysMarket 

Code Elevate is a summer coding program for young women of color. We invited Niles and Evanston Township high school students to share their experiences with the program and how Oakton College can better engage with this student population. 

Code Elevate is organized by the Center for Organizing Minority Programs to Advance Student Success (COMPASS), AANAPISI grant at Oakton College. 

Asian Americans are often an afterthought in conversations on providing support and resources to minoritized students. Many assume that Asian Americans are high academic achievers. Generalizing the overall Asian American experience dismisses the educational inequity that Southeast Asian Americans (SEAA) face in the U.S higher education system. Often time, SEAA voices are ignored by decision-makers. In this episode, we interviewed Albert Chantaboury, a Lao-American doctoral candidate from National Louis University, to talk about his journey to higher education and strategies for elevating the voices of SEAA in higher education. 

Notes & References: 

APIDA - Asian American Pacific Islander Desi American 

Dr. OiYan Poon, www.oiyanpoon.com

In this episode, we're wrapping up our conversation with Dr. Mary Danico on what it means to be an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI). 

In 2020, Oakton Community College received an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution Designation (AANAPISI) by the U.S Department of Education. AANAPISI is one of 7 federally recognized Minority Serving institution programs. 

In this episode, we interviewed Dr. Mary Yu Danico from Cal Poly Pomona to talk about the stories behind the AANAPISI designation and what it means to be an Asian American Pacific Islander serving institution.