Asian American Theme Dorm 50th Anniversary (10/23)

Fall 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Asian American Theme Dorm. Some members of the Class of 1975 started their Stanford experience in this dorm. The People’s Tea House also began operations in 1971. Alumni responsible for the origins of the Asian American Theme Dorm (many from the Class of 1971) will be invited to participate.  Refreshments will be provided featuring the Peoples' Tea House original menu.

SAPAAC and the Asian American Studies Coalition will also be giving an update on recent progress related to Asian American Studies.

In accordance with the Stanford Reunion policies, this event will require all attendees (including 12+) coming to campus to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Please review the Stanford Reunion FAQ page for more information. 

Register here

Date: October 23, 2021 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM PDT

Venue: Wilbur Courtyard near Okada

Location: 560 Wilbur Way, Stanford, CA 94305, USA

Excavating Asian American Heritage on Stanford Campus (6/6)

“Asian American Heritage on the Stanford Campus: Excavations at the Arboretum Chinese Laborers Quarters”

A webinar on the preliminary findings and archival research of the Arboretum Chinese Laborers Quarters archaeological site, occupied from the late-1800s to the 1920s. Stanford University’s campus archaeology department (Heritage Services), in collaboration with the Stanford Archaeology Center, conducted investigations at a semi-permanent Chinese workers’ camp on the edge of campus from 2017 to 2020. Excavations at the ACLQ site and associated research shed light on the everyday life of Chinese employees essential to the foundation of Stanford University. There will also be a brief presentation about a related research project on Chinese fisheries in 19th-century California.

Stanford Special Collections

Presentations by: Julie Cain, Megan Rhodes Victor, Garrett Trask, Ryan Kennedy & Marguerite L. De Loney

Comments by: Adrian Arima, Prof. Barb Voss & Dr. Laura Jones, University Archaeologist and Director of Stanford Heritage Services

Date/Time: June 6 at 3 PM
Registration: FREE (Click here to register)

Co-Sponsored by the Stanford Archaeology Center & SAPAAC Stanford Asian Pacific American Alumni Club

Event Materials
Watch the webinar video
Presentations: e-mail Julie Cain (jcain@stanford.edu) for the PDF of presentations. Due to permissions, please do not redistribute the PDF or its images without permissions from Julie.
Subscribe to the archaeology list for future updates by visiting: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/aclq_archaeology

Our Stories: AAPI Heritage Month & the Stanford Community

It's Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, and we wanted to hear from diverse voices around the globe about your experiences being AAPI. The pandemic and recent violence around the country have sparked active discussion about the AAPI experience—and we want to hear what it means to you to be Asian American or Pacific Islander.

In a few lines (or up to two paragraphs) please share your thoughts:

* What does your culture/heritage mean to you (however you want to define it)?
*As someone living in the U.S. or abroad, how does this manifest in your daily life—or how do you wish it would manifest?
*Are there ways you celebrate and preserve your culture/heritage?

Some potential themes to help get you started:
Identity / Pride
Preserving Culture, Heritage or Language
Family Relationships (your parents, grandparents, children)
Fitting in (or not) as an American
Erasure / Invisibility
Anything else you’re interested in sharing!

Your entry could be a reflection about growing up in the United States, your time at Stanford, or your life/career today.

Please share your story here.

Anti-Asian hate event ft Helen Zia, Gary Locke, Neal Katyal (5/25)

Anti-Asian Hate and Systemic Racism

Saturday, May 22, 2021. 4:00-5:30PM PST

Virtual Event

Price: Free

Please register here.

Hosted by the AAPI Alumni clubs of Dartmouth, Stanford, Brown, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale. This panel during AAPI Heritage Month will focus on the resurgence of anti-Asian hate/violence and the opportunity it presents for AAPIs to help change systemic racism in America. An underlying theme for the event is “to those whom much has been given, much is expected”; what can Ivy Leaguers do to help make it so?

Featuring panelists Neal Katyal (Dartmouth B.A., Yale J.D.), Former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, who has argued more Supreme Court cases in U.S. history than has any minority attorney; Gary Locke (Yale B.A., Boston University J.D.), First Chinese American governor in U.S. history, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Ambassador to China during the Obama administration; and Helen Zia (Princeton B.A.), activist, author, journalist, and key figure in the Asian American movement.

This panel is moderated by the president of the Asian American Journalists Association, journalist Michelle Ye Hee Lee of The Washington Post.

Angel Island - A National Historic Landmark with Current Day Relevance (5/22)

Saturdays with SAPAAC Speaker Series 2021
Saturday, May 22, 2021. 9:30-11:00AM PST
Virtual Event
Price: $0 for students, $5 for young alumni, $10 for all other alumni
Please register here.

Join us for this panel discussion with Asian American leaders affiliated with Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) -- including Stanford alumni Buck Gee and Kathy Ko Chin -- who will highlight historical immigration through Angel Island, the monumental effort to preserve and protect the site, and the importance of remembering the site’s significance in American and Asian American history.

Live Children's Story Time - Awesome Asian Americans: 20 Stars Who Made America Amazing (5/15)

It's about time - rebel girls, rad women, little leaders, and great guys are Asian American too! Readers will enjoy learning about 20 trailblazers who have contributed to our country. All compelling personalities, these unique men and women come from diverse backgrounds and vocations. Immigrants and their children continue to enrich our nation’s culture. Discover important chapters of American history not covered in school textbooks, and the marvelous accomplishments of these groundbreaking pioneers.

Join us for a book talk with authors Oliver Chin, Phil Amara, and illustrator Juan Calle of Awesome Asian Americans: 20 Stars Who Made America Amazing. You will hear about the journey of Asian American rebels, athletes, and celebrities as artist Juan Calle’s 60 dynamic color illustrations bring these fascinating and relevant portraits to life.

Purchase the book in advance here or at your favorite bookstore.

RAFFLE of a FREE 8x10 print from the book for one lucky attendee!

All ages are welcome! Simply add a guest when registering for the event!

Please register here.

2021 Stanford Alumni Lunar New Year Celebration presented by SAPAAC (2/5 - 2/13)

Stanford Lunar New Year is open to all alumni! Whether it’s your first time celebrating or you've been celebrating your whole life, you are welcome to come as you are, and take part how you wish.

Grab your “festival pass” now, and browse our selection of live events and offerings to be festive at your leisure. Event recordings & more will be on our Stanford Alumni LNY Virtual Scrapbook, where we invite you to add your unique memories, family traditions, & greetings to our alumni community!

Festival Calendar At-A-Glance

Scroll down for more event details and times, and the link to the LNY Virtual Scrapbook.

Click Here to Register for your Festival Pass!

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Fri Feb 5 at 5:00 pm PST (8:00 EST)
Jackie Low's New Year Dumplings Demo!
In this workshop, Jackie Low ‘15 will demonstrate how to prepare and cook a traditional Lunar New Year’s dish - dumplings (vegetarian)! She’ll talk about the significance of foods in the celebration of Lunar New Year and teach people how to prepare, fold, and cook dumplings. You’re welcome to follow along however you would like. (And don’t worry, you have plenty of time to perfect your technique before New Year’s!) 

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Sat Feb 6, 3:00 - 4:00 pm PST (6:00-7:00 EST)
Poems and Paintings: Lunar New Year Traditions and Cultures Retrospective
A 60-min time travel to trace the cultural and traditional roots of Lunar New Year through ancient Chinese poems and paintings. Hosted by Dr Tingting Qu, MS '19.
Dr. De-yin Jeng will be introducing two well-known poems related to Chinese New Year and share with all some relevant information about them.
Prof. Ken wei Teh will illustrate 2-3 paintings relevant to Lunar New Year and share a few behind-scene stories of creating these paintings.

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Sat Feb 6, 4:30-5:30 pm PST (7:30-8:30 EST)
Cantonese Social Mixer
A casual social mixer combined with organizers sharing Cantonese culture for the Lunar New Year. All are welcome, especially if you speak or want to learn to speak Cantonese.

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Thu Feb 11, 7:00-8:00 pm PST (10:00-11:00 pm EST)
Star Fruit & Watermelon
You are warmly invited to join us for a bilingual, intergenerational storytelling event to honor the Lunar New Year. Co Tran ‘17, mother Tu-Anh, and grandmother Loc will be sharing two stories from their history - The Star Fruit Tree and How the Watermelon Came to Viet Nam - along with their wishes and manifestations for you as we begin a new year.

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Sat Feb 13 @ 12:00-2:00 pm PST (3:00-5:00 EST)
Festival Finale
Come one, come all! Drop by our virtual street festival to socialize with friends old and new, and get a "taste" of a variety of traditions and special surprises throughout. Breakouts led by fellow alumni will showcase cultural storytelling, musical offerings, and PRIZES that you must be present to win.

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Stanford Alumni LNY Virtual Scrapbook
View & add your own entries! Check back daily for new festive content, greetings and views from Stanford alumni all around the world, and to share your thoughts with our community. Contributing is simple: visit this webpage and use the password to sign in, view, & add messages, photos, links, & more (no separate account setup is required).

Click here to visit the scrapbook!

Password: StanfordLunar

APA Literature Book Club: Know My Name (01/24)

Save the date: SAPAAC Book Club - Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Sunday, January 24, 2021. 4-5:30PM PST

Virtual Event

Price: Free

Please register here.

SAPAAC will host a book club over Zoom on Chanel Miller’s memoir, “Know My Name”. She “gives readers the privilege of knowing her not just as Emily Doe, but as Chanel Miller the writer, the artist, the survivor, the fighter.” (The Wrap). In the memoir, she discusses her Asian American identity in relation to her identity as a woman who’s experienced sexual assault and seeking redress through the legal system. Our book club discussion will center her identity as an Asian American woman and discuss Asian American feminism more broadly.

See this NYT op-ed: Why It Matters That ‘Emily Doe’ in the Brock Turner Case Is Asian-American.

We encourage you to read the book beforehand. But if you’re interested in the topic and don’t get a chance to read/finish the book, you’re still more than welcome to join!

Should 10+ members sign up, we will divide into breakout rooms. If you are interested in co-moderating or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Angela Zhang (’16) at zhangela18@gmail.com.