APA Professional Assistant Program

The Research and Leadership Program for the APA Studies Program was launched during the fall 2006-2007 academic year. Funded through a Creating Inclusive Excellence grant provided by the MSU Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives, this program consists of three components. First, the Professorial Assistant program has allowed five bright undergraduate students the opportunity to work with faculty and staff mentors on research projects pertaining to APA issues. This year’s students include Debrah Lee, a junior, who is working with Maggie Chen-Hernandez. Jessica Jean, a junior, is working with Dr. Jerry Garcia. Ging Cee Ng, a senior, is working with Dr. Steve Gold. Martha Garcés, a senior, is working with Dr. Anna Pegler-Gordon. And finally, Krish Mehta, a sophomore, is working with Dr. Elizabeth Spence. This year's students are working on a broad range of research projects from APA entrepreneurs in Michigan to Japanese immigrants in Brazil, developing museum exhibitions about Chinese Americans and policy proposals to strengthen the representation of APAs in Michigan's education curriculum.

The second component of this program involves a conference which will allow the professorial assistants an opportunity to share their research projects with the MSU community. The conference will be held on April 19-21, 2007 and will also feature the scholarly work of faculty, staff and graduate students who are also invested in APA-related topics.

And lastly, the final component of the Research and Leadership Program is the allocation of conference funding to undergraduate, graduate and faculty/staff who are presenting at conferences on APA-related issues. Awards range from $100 to 400. More information on this program, the upcoming conference, and applications for conference funding can all be found on the APA Studies website.