FALL 2007
AUGUST 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007. Acting Director Appointed. Martin Manalansan IV has been appointedas Acting Director of Asian American Studies for the 2007-2008 academic year, during Kent Ono's sabbatical leave.
SEPTEMBER 2007
September 2007. Professor Balgopal receives 2007 CU International Humanitarian Award. Pallassana Balgopal has been named a recipient of the 2007 Champaign Urbana International Humanitarian Award, in the category of Human Rights. He will be honored at an award ceremony on October 18, 2007. This award recognizes his contributions in teaching, curriculum development, research, consultation, and practice experience in social work spanning over forty-seven years. A faculty member at UIUC for over twenty-five years, Dr. Balgopal was one of the founding members of the Asian American Studies Program. He developed and taught a course titled, "Asian Families in America," one of the early Asian American Studies courses at UIUC which he continues to teach.
Locally, he has been a central figure in advocating for the construction of a Hindu temple in Champaign. In the aftermath of the tragic tsunami that ravaged Asia in December 2004, Professor Balgopal went to India with a team of relief workers and as a social worker to help provide relief efforts to victims directly after the devastation. Earlier in his career, he participated in AIDS education with the World Health Organization Global Program on AIDS. He provided counseling in Singapore, Geneva, Switzerland, and Bombay India from 1988-1989. This work on AIDS as a global phenomenon was some of the earliest efforts by social workers to engage the problem so broadly. Congratulations!
Friday, September 7, 2007. 2:00-4:00 PM, 1208 W. Nevada Street in Urbana: Asian American Cultural Center and Asian American Studies Joint Open House. Programming beings at 2:00 PM. Refreshments provided.
OCTOBER 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007. Film screening. Mutiny: Asians Storm the British Music. Directed by Vivek Bald, Produced by Claire Shanley & Vivek Bald, 217 Noyes Lab, 7:00 PM. Discussion by Mimi Nguyen. Q & A with Director to follow.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007. Public Lecture by Vivek Bald, Filmmaker, Scholar, and Electronic Musician. Asian American Cultural center lounge Noon-1:00PM. Topic: Overlapping Diasporas, Multiracial Lives: South Asian Muslims in U.S. Communities of Color, 1880-1950.
Monday, October 22, 2007. Statement on Speak Theater Arts Production Of “NWC” .
NOVEMBER 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007. Public Lecture by Lisa Nakamura, Associate Professor, Asian American Studies and Communications Research. Asian American Cultural center lounge Noon-1:00PM. Topic: ’Ni Hao: A Gold Farmer’s Story’: Racializing Asian Virtual Labor in World of Warcraft.
Statement of Support for the SEIU Workers. In the event of a strike by the Service Employees International Union at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the faculty of the Asian American Studies Program hereby agrees to support it. Faculty members are asked to honor the picket line and, if necessary, hold classes off-campus or electronically. No action will be taken against any instructors, including teaching assistants, or staff for refusing to cross the picket line.
SPRING 2008
JANUARY 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008. 11:00am-1:00pm, Asian American Studies Program Building and Asian American Cultural Center Lounge: We invite you to an informal gathering with the Asian American Studies faculty. Come learn about the AAS courses and new research in the field. Become involved in shaping the future of the Program!.
FEBRUARY 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008. 2:00 PM. Asian American Cultural Center. Caroline Yang Lecture.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008. 1:00 PM. Asian American Cultural Center. Victor Mendoza Lecture: Coldness, Cruelty, and a Dandy Makeover: Philippine Insurrectos and the Sublime Object of U.S. Imperial Desire
Thursday, February 27, 2008. The Balgopal Lecture on Human Rights and Asian Americans. John Manzon-Santos will be the inaugural speaker. Mr. Manzon-Santos is former executive director of Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center in San Francisco; founding executive director of Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS in New York; co-founder of The Audre Lorde Project, community organizing center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, Transgender People of Color; Principal of pearldiving, a consulting practice; and a Buddhist practitioner in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh..
MARCH 2008
March 28-29, 2008. Korean Education Exodus: (Chogi yuhak): Risks, Realities, and Challenges
March 7-8, 2008. Philippine Palimpsests: Filipino Studies in the 21st Century
APRIL 2008
April 15-16, 2008. Southeast Asians in the Diaspora
