AAPIs@Oakton

We sit down with Dr. Anthony Ramos, Chief of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging Officer at Elgin Community College. Dr. Ramos shares his journey to his current role and his take on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work in higher education.

Century College is the first 2-year college to receive the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving-Institution (AANAPISI) status by the US Dept. of Education in the Midwest. In this episode, Nhia Xiong, AANAPISI Project Director, shares her experience managing the grant and navigating conversations on support for AAPI students at Century.

This month, we interviewed members of the South Asian Club at Oakton College, the second largest AAPI student organization on campus. They shared their ideas and ways the college can better support South Asian and other AAPI students on campus.

According to the 2020 AAPI Census Data Report, there are about 16,000 Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders living in IL. At Oakton, there are only a handful of NHPI students.

In this episode, we interviewed  Lydia Cruz, our student trustee, about her journey to higher education, her plans for the year as the student trustee, and ways higher education can uplift the Pacific Islander community.

We wrap up this season with the recap of the 2nd Annual Asian Night Market at Oakton College, Des Plaines Campus.

This event was organized by Oakton's Center for Organizing Minority Programs to Advance Student Success (COMPASS) and Everybody's Market.

In celebration of the Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month at Oakton College, we interviewed members of Pilipino in Alliance Yearning for Opportunities (PAYO), a Filipino student organization on campus. We asked for their takes on ways the college can better engage with students and secrets on keeping their organization active.

Microaggressions are comments or actions that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally express a prejudiced attitude or biased toward historically marginalized groups. This episode features an interview with a former Oakton student who experienced a microaggression in her class. With our guest co-host, Dr. Jacob Chacko, we discuss ways the college can do to minimize microaggressions on campus. 

Oakton's Discrimination & Harassment Complaint Form

In this episode, we're continuing our conversation with Karen Su, Clinical Assistant Professor of Global Asian Studies, Principle Investigator and Project Director of the UIC AANAPISI Initiatives, about her experience navigating institutional climate and creating a campus culture for Asian American and Pacific Islander students.

The University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC) is the first school in the Midwest to receive the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) designation by the U.S Department of Education. 

University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC) is the first school in the Midwest to receive the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) designation by the U.S Department of Education. In this episode, we're talking to Karen Su, Clinical Assistant Professor of Global Asian Studies, Principle Investigator and Project Director of the UIC AANAPISI Initiatives, about her experience navigating institutional climate and creating a campus culture for Asian American and Pacific Islander students.  

In this episode, we'll be talking about the history of night market and its cultural impact in Asian American communities.