Cornell University: Asian American Studies celebrates 35th anniversary

The Asian American studies program (AASP) in the College of Arts and Sciences will celebrate its 35th anniversary this year with a symposium featuring current and former students, staff and faculty. A special guest will be the program’s second director, Gary Okihiro, visiting professor of American studies, ethnicity, race and migration at Yale University.

The program, founded in 1987, was the first of its kind within the Ivy League and offers a graduate and undergraduate minor that stresses interdisciplinary approaches to studying ethnic Asians in the Americas (both North and South America), their cultures, histories and communities. AASP faculty are affiliated with various humanities and social sciences departments in the College, including the American studies program and the Department of Music.

AASP’s symposium will be held Saturday, Nov. 12 in Physical Sciences 120. The in-person event will feature two panels, one a group oral history of the program with Okihiro and current AASP faculty; the second a discussion between noted Cornell alumni and Asian Americanists on the past, present and future of Asian American studies, American studies and critical ethnic studies at Cornell and beyond.