Keynote Presentation
Presenter: Dr. Michele M. Tugade
Bouncing Back Stronger: Exploring the Dynamics of Resilience to Thrive in Challenging Times
Co-Sponsors: SMU Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Asian Studies Program
In the face of adversity, individuals often exhibit remarkable resilience, displaying the capacity to navigate challenges and maintain psychological well-being. This talk explores current research highlighting the significance of positive emotions in resilience-building processes. It examines how positive emotions, such as gratitude, hope, optimism, and joy can contribute to individuals’ ability to cope effectively with adversity.
Dr. Tugade will delve into the multifaceted nature of resilience, exploring its psychological, social, and environmental dimensions. Drawing from psychological research on stress and coping as well as real-life examples, attendees will uncover the key strategies for enhancing resilience at both personal and societal levels, particularly for faculty, staff, and students from AAPI and other ethnic minority backgrounds. From building coping mechanisms to fostering support networks, we will examine the mechanisms that empower individuals to bounce back from setbacks and emerge stronger. By understanding resilience as a dynamic process, this talk will illuminate pathways towards cultivating resilience in an ever-changing world. Join us in the journey to investigate the secrets of resilience and discover how to harness its power to thrive amidst adversity.
Panel Discussion
Building the Future Together: Community Partnership and Solidarity Among Campus Affinity Groups
Panelists: Dr. Jennifer “JJ” Jones, Caroline Kim, Dr. LaiYee Leong, and Staphany Lopez-Coronado
Moderator: Dr. LaiYee Leong
Co-Sponsor: SMU Office of Diversity and Inclusion
Affinity groups (also called employee resource groups) have become increasingly important for higher education institutions to achieve their goals of community and belonging. Research has shown that affinity groups can foster mutual support and understanding, enhance employee engagement, and even facilitate transformative policy change. While the outcomes of affinity groups can be promising, barriers often exist that keep these groups from functioning fully – scarce resources, institutional constraints, political tensions, to name a few. It appears critical for affinity groups to work collaboratively, rather than in isolation, to accomplish their common goals.
In this session, employee affinity group leaders from the Black Faculty and Staff Association, Hispanic Faculty and Staff Association, and Association of Asian and Pacific American Scholars and Allies at Southern Methodist University and Asian American and Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group at the University of Texas at Dallas are coming together to discuss challenges the communities face and the unique challenges facing each community. Importantly, the conversation will focus on how we can build bridges, form partnerships, and support one another, making sure our collective voice is heard and nurturing a positive, inclusive campus environment.
Lunch & Recognition
Recognizing AAPI Student, Faculty, and Staff Leaders
Panel Discussion
Moving Beyond Another “Statement Against…”: Proactive Approaches for Educating and Engaging Faculty, Staff, and Students Across Disciplines
Panelists: Dr. Kerk Kee, Dr. Simon Mak, Shriya Siddhartha,
Dr. David Son
Moderator: Dr. Simon Mak
Co-Sponsor: SMU Office of Diversity and Inclusion
In the last few years, there has been a torrent of public statements against violence, from the murder of George Floyd to the anti-Asian hate crimes and most recently the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Academic institutions have come forward, showing their support for those affected and condemning the perpetrators, one incident after another. While these declarations may be well-intended, questions can be raised about their efficacy and unintended effect of validating the negativity, hence perpetuating it. This panel will explore the implications of these public statements and aim to serve two goals. First, the panelists – an AAPI undergraduate student and faculty members representing the business, communication, and STEM fields – will exchange ideas on proactive strategies for increasing cultural understanding and acceptance that may prevent racist acts in the first place. Second, the panelists will offer insights for encouraging AAPI individuals and allies to take more active roles and engage in community-building efforts. To these ends, this panel will answer how we can move beyond issuing another “statement against…” and inspire real change.
Research Presentations
Co-Sponsor: SMU Center for Teaching Excellence
Moderator: Jennifer Malone
Empowering AAPI Students Through Trauma-Informed Pedagogy
Presenter: Dr. Misbah Hyder
Trauma-informed pedagogies are increasingly at the forefront of latest conversations about equity-oriented teaching. The ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic’s lasting effects on health, poverty, and anti-Asian hate crimes, along with the reckoning about racial justice in the US through Black Lives Matter movements, and now the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, have been the impetus for important conversations on the impact of trauma in higher education. This talk will introduce participants to the principles of trauma-informed pedagogy, particularly focusing on how AAPI students can connect with and use this approach within their own in-classroom learning and on-campus activism. Given the vast diversity of the “AAPI” category itself and how respective communities connect to the American imperial experience, a trauma-informed approach can provide tools for students to build communities of solidarity and empower themselves within their own learning experiences.
The Case for Asian American Studies in Texas Higher Education Institutions
Presenter: Hannah Park Lee
The Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American demographic within the U.S. is very heterogeneous, with ethnicities that have roots in more than 40 countries. In addition, with the rapidly growing and diversifying AAPI population across U.S. and especially within the context of higher education, there has been a growing need to address issues that are specific to this population. One of the ways to address the APIDA community is through Asian American Studies. Asian American Studies explores and researches the context of the APIDA demographic. Of all 4-year higher education institutions in the U.S. only 71 institutions offer Asian American Studies, with only one in Texas – the Center for Asian American Studies (CAAS) at The University of Texas at Austin. In addition, ongoing legislation to block critical race studies and curriculum as well as banning diversity programming in Texas institutions has shown the crucial need for programs like CAAS. The purpose of this study was to bring visibility to student experiences within Asian American Studies. There is a need for Asian American studies so that AAPI students can not only learn about their own experiences, histories, and contexts, but for scholars to continue to produce research on the APIDA community. This research was grounded in Hurtado et al.’s (2012) Diverse Learning Environments and focused on curricular and co-curricular programming at CAAS. The findings showed key themes around curriculum, identity development, and community organizing that arose for students who were part of CAAS. This talk will elaborate on those key findings and discuss implications and recommendations on moving forward with Asian American studies.
Poetry in the Park
Making the Invisible Visible Through Poetic Form
Presenter: Dr. Samyak Shertok
Making the Invisible Visible Through Poetic Form is an outdoor poetry reading accompanied with the discussion of how the poetic form (inherited, found, hybrid, and invented) can be used to express and explore marginalized voices and identities and to bring a community closer. The session will conclude with the participants writing, and then reciting, a communal self-love poem in an inclusive and safe space.
Location: Simmons Hall Lawn
Workshop
Microaggressions and Emotional Labor in U.S. Colleges: Applying a C.H.A.NG.E. Approach to Communication with AAPI and “Immigrant” Women Faculty
Presenters: Dr. Yea-Wen Chen and Dr. Brandi Lawless
Co-Sponsor: SMU Women and LGBT Center
The purpose of this workshop is to expand participants’ understanding of what microaggressions and emotional labor are, how they manifest in academic spaces, and how to address microaggressions and better support AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) and “immigrant” women faculty. Specifically, this workshop focuses on the particular ways in which AAPI folks and “immigrant” women become targets for microaggressions on college campuses, explores the subsequent emotional labor, and offers a C.H.A.N.G.E approach to promote more inclusive communication practices. We place the term “immigrant” in quotation marks intentionally and strategically to be inclusive of varying immigrations statuses: F-1 student visas, H1B work permit holders, green card holders, and naturalized U.S. citizens. Based on our own research (Chen, 2014, 2018, 2020; Chen & Lawless, 2016, 2018; Lawless & Chen, 2015, 2017; Lawless, 2018), we offer some tips, tools, and recommendations.
The facilitators have presented on these topics at Arizona State University, the National Communication Association, San Diego State University, University of San Francisco, City College of San Francisco, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. To read more about this topic, read their book, Teaching Social Justice: Critical Tools for the Intercultural Classroom.