APA Professional Assistant Program

The 2007-2008 APA Studies Research & Leadership Program has progressed wonderfully since its inception in 2006. This year we have an excellent cohort of undergraduate Professorial Assistants including: Kristen Lee, a senior in Broadcast Journalism (mentored by Dr. Geri Zeldes) researching Professional Assistants the “Media’s Racialization of Hawai’i Native Senator” and presidential candidate Barack Obama; Sunny Ching Hui Wang, a senior in Art History (mentored by Dr. Anna Pegler-Gordon) researching “the place of Asian American Art”; Tiffany X-Ingy Lung, a senior in Supply Chain Management (mentored by Dr. Gary Ragatz) researching the “Equal Opportunity for APAs in the corporate workplace”; Sha Liang, a sophomore in Marketing (mentored by Dr. Andrea Louie) researching “Asian women stereotypes in the media”; and Krish Mehta, a junior in Anthropology (mentored by Dr. Elizabeth Spence) researching “Medical students’ attitudes toward traditional Asian medicine.”

We are proud to announce that both Kristen’s and Sunny’s research was accepted for the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) conference to be held this year in Chicago, Illinois on April 16-20, 2008. However, all the PAs will present their research at Michigan State University at the 2nd Annual APA Studies conference. After the success of last year’s inaugural conference, which saw an attendance close to 100 participants, this year hopes to be even more successful. Focusing on the ways of bridging APA Studies with other disciplines, this year’s theme is “APA Intersections: Transcending Boundaries, Embracing Coalitions.” Our keynote speaker, Dr. Vijay Prashad, is the author of over ten books including Karma of Brown Folk (2000), Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity (2001), Dispatches from Latin America: The Frontline Against Neo-liberalism (2006). Dr. Prashad’s keynote address as well as paper presentations from faculty, graduates, and undergraduates from various locations will be held in the Kellogg Center on Saturday, April 12, 2008.

For more information about the APA Conference, please visit our conference website: http://www.msu.edu/~apaspec/conf/.

Meaghan Kozar is a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at MSU and Program Manager for the APA Studies Research and Leadership Program.

Awards
2008 Summer Fellowship Award ($4,000) from the College of Arts and Letters

Publication
“Visually Dual: The Conflicted Image of Asian American Representations,” Journal of American Studies of Turkey (Special issue on race, ethnicity and Americans)