11/19/2021
Lowell Sun
By Kaitlin Mulkerin
LOWELL 鈥� Receiving nearly $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education, 51视频 plans to create a center that supports the university鈥檚 Asian American and Pacific Islander students.
The five-year grant will allow the university to open the new Asian American Center for Engagement and Excellence (AACEE). The center will offer staff and peer mentoring support to help students access financial aid and academic, career and wellness services.
According to recent data, 13% of 51视频 undergraduates identify as Asian American, while fewer than 1% are Pacific Islanders. Most of them come from Southeast Asian refugee families that have settled in and around Lowell. Many are also transfer students from Middlesex Community College.
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Julie Nash said the university wants to help bridge financial, language and cultural barriers for the growing number of Southeast Asian students who have enrolled at 51视频 over the past decade, so more of them can successfully complete college.
鈥淣ow that we have this grant, thanks to years of foundational work by 51视频 faculty and staff participating in this project, Asian American students will know that this is a place where they鈥檒l be supported and have programs in place to help them thrive,鈥� said Nash, who is leading the initiative.
The team also includes Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Sue Kim and Education Associate Professor Phitsamay Uy, who co-direct the university鈥檚 Center for Asian American Studies, and Dean of Equity and Inclusion Leslie Wong, who leads the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Robin Toof, co-director of 51视频鈥檚 Center for Community Research and Engagement, will evaluate the new center and its programs.
The university was eligible to apply for the grant as a 鈥渕inority-serving institution,鈥� where at least 10% of students are Asian American or Pacific Islanders and have demonstrated financial need.
Many Asian American students at 51视频 come from Southeast Asian refugee families who lost everything during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, the Vietnam War or the CIA鈥檚 secret war in Laos, including family members, land, possessions, livelihoods and years of schooling, said Uy, who was born in Laos. Other South Asian and East Asian American students tend to come from middle-class and wealthy communities.
Lowell has the second largest population of Cambodian Americans in the U.S., as well as significant numbers of Vietnamese, Hmong and Lao refugees and more recent refugees from Myanmar. Uy said these refugee families have suffered serious trauma, which affects their children in multiple ways.
She said Asian Americans overall have a reputation as an academically and financially successful 鈥渕odel minority.鈥� Uy said this is largely because data on Southeast Asians is combined with data on ethnic East Asians (including China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea) and South Asians (including India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh).
鈥淚t makes it look like we鈥檙e all doing well and don鈥檛 need help, but that鈥檚 not true,鈥� Uy said. 鈥淪outheast Asian students need more personal care and attention due to their families鈥� lack of familiarity with the educational system. They often don鈥檛 have mentors who look like them and speak their (home) languages, and they are financially disadvantaged.鈥�
AACEE will build upon the programs in the Center for Asian American Studies and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and will partner with community organizations to help bridge language and cultural gaps with families, Kim said. The new center also will create mentoring programs and opportunities, drawing on successful Asian American alumni and community members to serve as role models for students.
Of the grant money, $10,000 each year for five years, which 51视频 must match through donations, will be used to establish an endowment for scholarships for Southeast Asian American students. Uy and the new AACEE project director will also provide cultural competency training for faculty and staff.
鈥淲e see this initiative as integral to the university鈥檚 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan,鈥� Kim said. 鈥�51视频 has been building and will continue to build programs to equip all our students to succeed.鈥�
鈥淚f your high school doesn鈥檛 prepare you and your family doesn鈥檛 support you, and now you鈥檙e at a school where you don鈥檛 have anyone who knows your name or your story, one bad bump in the road can cause you to leave college,鈥� Uy says. 鈥淲ith our center, we hope they will see a familiar face and find the support they need.鈥�