Issue 1

Meet the team

Anna Pegler-Gordon

Program Director

Anna Pegler-Gordon is an Assistant Professor in the James Madison College at Michigan State University. An immigrant from England, her interests include histories of immigration, race and citizenship, as well as visual culture and popular culture. Anna teaches courses in Asian American history, immigration history and immigration policy. She is currently completing In Sight of America, a book about the role of photographic identity documentation in the development of U.S. immigration policy that focuses on the history of Chinese exclusion. With the assistance of one of our APA Professorial Assistants, she is also starting work on a museum exhibition about Chinese Americans.

Andrea Louie

Program Director

Andrea Louie is an Associate Professor of Anthropology,has conducted research exploring how ideas constructed around "Chineseness" as a racial and cultural identity have been reworked as transnational processes bring Chinese from different parts of the world into contact with one another. Her current research focuses on the "cultural socialization" and racialization of children adopted from China in the U.S.

Her book “Chineseness Across Borders: Renegotiating Chinese Identities in China and the U.S.” won the Association for Asian American Studies’ 2004 Book Award in the category of Social Sciences. She is on sabbatical for the 06-07 academic year.

Meaghan Kozar

Program Manager

Meaghan Kozar is a graduate student at Michigan State University. She is in her 4th year of the PhD program in American Studies. Her areas of interest are the intersections between Asian-American and African-American Studies, Critical Race and Post-colonial Studies. She teaches writing courses for the WRAC department at MSU and is the Program Manager for the APA Research and Leadership Program. She received her Master’s Degree in English Literature from Iowa State University and her Bachelor’s Degree in Art Education from Viterbo University. She is also the proud mother of a 2 ½ year old son.

Joe Cousins

Program Coordinator

Dr. Joe Cousins is new to the APA Studies Program. He is currently working half-time for the academic year. Joe has been at MSU since 1984. His Interests include cross-cultural training and serving an advocate for International Students, Asian Pacific American Students, and ethnic diversity issues. Joe was born and raised in Japan and has traveled extensively in Europe and Asia. His undergraduate and graduate degrees are from Kansas State University. He is presently the Advisor to the Japan Club and the Hmong American Students Association and is a council member of the APAA Faculty & Staff Association. He is looking forward to meeting students in the specialization and invites everyone stop by the office and say hello.

Gyul (John) Ra

Program Assistant

Gyul (John) Ra was born in Seoul, Korea and moved to Michigan when he was 10. He is currently a sophomore at MSU with an aim at the Advertising major with the APA specialization. His favorite achievement is being part of the Tae Kwon Do National Team for 6 years where he went to many tournaments including California open where he won a gold and bronze medal and Peru for an international tournament where he won a bronze medal. His hobbies are any form of art possible. Few of those include music (playing and listening), photography, graphics arts, martial arts, moving pictures, poetry, and even breakdancing. He considers optimism as his strongest virtue and it is what keeps him enjoying life all the time.

Jor Vue

Webmaster

Jor Vue is currently the Webmaster for the Asian Pacific American Studies Program website. She is in her third year in the field of Telecommunication, Information Studies & Media, with an aim towards a specialization in Digital Media Art & Technology. She is also serving as an executive board member and as a Webmaster of the MSU Hmong American Student Association (HASA) since Spring 2006. Some of her hobbies include web design, graphic design, and photography. One of her biggest accomplishments thus far is being an undergraduate at MSU. She plans to graduate no later than Spring 2008 and to pursue a career in the field of web design.