Members of the University of Maryland’s Asian American studies program, the Asian American Student Union and other campus community members are working to expand the current Asian American studies minor into a major — an effort that has been in the works for decades.
The department and student union hosted a town hall meeting Wednesday to discuss the next steps in creating a major from feedback from a student survey. Janelle Wong, the Asian American studies program director, said the relationship between the program and the AASU is something unique to this university that she has not seen before.
“This curriculum, this minor, and the whole Asian American studies program is really the result of student activism,” Wong said.
At the meeting, Wong discussed the results of a survey AAST minors and students enrolled in Asian American studies classes took. Out of 144 respondents, 36 percent said they would consider enrolling in an AAST major, which Wong said she considers to be a good foundation for creating a major. The survey also found that most students would take the major in addition to another major.
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Students who took the survey asked how they would apply a potential Asian American studies major to their professional lives, which the department sees as an opportunity to host alumni panels and career development workshops, Wong said.
Other student demands included offering more courses regardless of whether the department establishes a major. Wong said to meet this demand, the department needs to hire more staff. They currently have only two full-time faculty and two joint appointments, which Wong said is equivalent to three total full-time faculty.
In their previous meetings with this university’s Provost Jennifer King Rice, program members said the school would prefer if they rely on affiliate faculty, or staff who already work full time for a different department and have…
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