Harvard is set to expand its Asian American Studies program after receiving $45 million in donations from ten Asian American alumni, The Harvard Crimson reports.
The donations will help fund new professorships, graduate fellowships and research.
According to The Harvard Gazette, the expansion of the Asian American Studies program is part of Claudine Gay’s, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, plan to strengthen ethnic studies programs.
“I am deeply grateful for these vital investments in Asian American studies, which are foundational to our goal to augment the study of ethnicity, indigeneity, and migration across many diasporic communities, and to create momentum around research on race and inequality,” Gay told The Harvard Gazette.
The program received donations from the following alumni:
- Joseph Y. Bae ’94 and Janice Lee ’94
- Kenneth Y. Hao ’90
- Lorence H. Kim ’95 and Sherry H. Hsiung
- Susan Kim ’96, MBA ’03 and David Lee ’93
- Roger G. Kuo ’93, MBA ’98 and Julia L. Wong
- Tony W. Lee ’94 and So-Chung Shinn
- Young J. Lee ’94, MBA ’98 and Young Ju Rhee
- Melissa J. Ma ’92, MBA ’96
Hedge fund manager Joseph Y. Bae ’94 and writer Janice Y. K. Lee ’94 led the initiative.
“We are thrilled to support Harvard’s long-term commitment to the field of Asian American studies and Dean Gay’s vision to advance racial justice by attracting exceptional faculty and students to Harvard,” they told The Harvard Gazette.
“Harvard’s leadership in this important area of scholarship is absolutely critical in helping society understand the full breadth of the Asian American experience, its many unique struggles, and the significant contributions Asian Americans have made in shaping our country,” they added.
Students at Harvard who have pushed for strengthened ethnic studies programs are grateful for the donations.
“Learning our histories is the first step to correcting the structures which materially shape the Asian American experience, now and in the future,” Thuan H. Tran ’23, a spokesperson for the undergraduate groups Harvard Ethnic Studies Coalition and Task Force for Asian American Progressive Advocacy and Studies told The Harvard Crimson.
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