2026-03-02
- Please join us in celebrating AAS Faculty Member Junaid Rana and Graduate Student Anirban Mukhopadhyay on their acceptance into the 2026-27 HRI Fellowship. Rana and Mukhopadhyay are joining a cohort of seven faculty members and seven graduate students from all across the UIUC campus to explore the theme "Up Against Erasure".
2026-02-26 - The Department of Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, is pleased to announce the availability of a graduate student research grant. The grant is designed to assist a graduate student with their research in areas directly relating to Asian American studies. This research grant is named for Jeffrey S. Tanaka, a professor in the University of Illinois’...
2026-02-24 - Mellon Foundation awards Sawyer Seminar grant to Illinois faculty At Risk U will examine challenges to democracy and academic freedom in U.S. universitiesA multi-disciplinary team of faculty researchers from the University of Illinois has been awarded a Sawyer Seminar grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to study the challenges to democracy and academic...
2026-02-23 - AAS is thrilled to announce that Dr. Soo Ah Kwon is a recipient of this year's Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. The College of LAS has selected 19 professors, graduate students, lecturers, and advisors as recipients of this year's awards, and it is no surprise to see Kwon's name among the winners. To learn more about the award and Kwon's achievement, read the...
2025-12-02 - AAS celebrates our lecturer David Siglos and his most recent publication."Filipino Dreaming: The Powers of Death and the Limits of Diagnostic Narratives" can be found in this special issue of American Studies in Scandinavia.
2025-10-27 - AAS is excited to offer nine different courses for the upcoming spring semester, including brand new topics as well as the tried-and-true classics you know and love. Here they are:AAS 100: Intro to Asian American StudiesDr. David Siglos | MW 10:00-10:50 AM + Friday Discussion Sections | CRN 30106AAS 200: US Race & EmpireDr. David Siglos | TR 12:30-1:50 PM |...
2025-09-08 - Every semester, students have the opportunity to evaluate their courses, and we are proud to see so many of our faculty receive top marks!Congrats to all our faculty ranked 'Excellent' for Spring 2025. We are lucky to have them in our department. Recipients of this distinguished title include: Carrie Geng- AAS 100Simi Kang- AAS 370Soo Ah Kwon- AAS 539David Siglos- AAS 300*Special...
2025-05-23 - AAS celebrates post-doc Ningning Huang on winning the 2025 Chancellor’s Dissertation Medal for the UCSD School of Arts and Humanities.The UCSD Graduate and Professional Student Association recognizes Huang’s outstanding doctoral research-highlighting her insight, originality, and creativity.Her work will be published soon in Emerging from the Rubble: Asian American Writings...
2025-05-08 - The Jeffrey S. Tanaka Grant for Asian American Studies is awarded to U of I graduate students who are conducting research related to Asian American Studies. This year, the department is pleased to announce our award-winners: Inyoung Jang and Anirban Mukhopadhyay. Inyoung Jang is a PhD candidate in the School of Information Sciences here at the University of Illinois. She is working on their...
2025-04-03 - The Department of Asian American Studies invites you to join us for the 17th Annual Balgopal Lecture on Human Rights and Asian Americans next Thursday, April 10th, 2025. This year's prestigous talk features Dr. Nayan Shah, Professor of American Studies & Ethnicity and History at the University of Southern California. He has authored two award-winning books: Contagious Divides: Epidemics...
2025-03-10 - AAS honors professor emeritus George Yu, who passed away on Saturday, March 1, 2025.Prof. Yu taught at the University of Illinois from 1965 to 2005 and served as the founding director of the Asian American Studies Program from 1997 to 2002. He also served as director of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies from 1992 to 2004 and head of the Department of Political Science from 1987 to...
2025-03-06 - AAS celebrates Professor Emeritus Pallassana Balgopal on his most recent publication: "Theory and Practice of Social Group Work in Indian Society." Dr. Balgopal is a beloved member of both the Department of Asian American Studies and the University of Illinois School of Social Work. He is an educator, researcher, and practitioner with more than sixty years of teaching, curriculum development,...
2025-02-25 - AAS is thrilled to host filmmakers Cathy Linh Che and Jess X. Snow for an exclusive screening of their short film We Were the Scenery. Their film tells the story of Hoa Thi Le and Hue Nguyen Che and their escape to Vietnam by boat in 1975 as well as their arrival in the Philippines, where they were utilized as background extras during the filming of Apocalypse Now....
2025-02-20 - AAS is gearing up for an exciting Fall 2025 semester. Students currently will have nine AAS courses available for selection. All four core courses for our major and minor are being offered, as well as several new, exciting learning opportunities. AAS 258: Muslims in America and AAS 365: Asian American Media and Film haven't been offered since before COVID, and the...
2025-02-11 - Professor Junaid Rana recently released his newest publication: The Anthropology of White Supremacy: A Reader. This collection of twenty-four essays gives readers a thoughtful analysis of not only how anthropology can better help us understand white supremacy, but it provides insight on how to begin the arduous task of dismantling it. Rana serves as both an editor and contributor...