Dear AAAFSC members:

Please vote by this Friday, December 17 by 5pm to fill our executive board vacancies for vice chair and member at large by using this google form. This will take you less than five minutes to do! 

Candidate bios can be found here [link].

If you would like to review our by-laws to read about the roles and responsibilities for these positions, you can find that here  [link]. 

Many thanks,

The AAAFSC board: Tamara Bhalla (chair), Shuyan Sun, (member at large), Christopher Tong (member at large) Fan Yang (secretary)

Dear All--A few reminders!

1. Membership meeting in one week:  Please attend our online membership meeting on Dec 8, from 12-1pm! 

There is no “agenda” or need to prep! Just come to our virtual space, bring your lunch or a beverage and chat! We’ll talk about our future directions for AAAFSC, elections, spring book club, and just catch up!

Meeting link:

https://umbc.webex.com/umbc/j.php?MTID=me43d733a3ce76c825a80e26d8b86ed7f

Meeting number:

2624 651 3474

Password:

x4nSNmgsk39

1. Minor Feelings Book Club and Book Giveaway 

UPDATE: Several copies still available!

In Feb 2022 AAAFSC will be hosting a book club organized around the bestselling work essay collection, Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong. In this short volume, Hong explores Asian American racial consciousness with incisive honesty.

The first 10 AAAFSC members to respond to this email (by writing to tbhalla@umbc.edu) with their Name and Departmental Address will receive a free copy of the book! Books will be sent to you via interdepartmental mail.

A PDF is available as well, if you prefer.

1. Elections! Please consider running for Vice-Chair OR Member-At Large.  Please note, the board currently has no representation from staff nor from CNMS or COEIT.

UPDATE: We have one candidate for Vice-Chair and none for member-at-large! Please consider running!

The Vice-Chair responsibilities include:

• Running the election of AAAFSC Executive Board members.

• Helping the chair set and draft the agenda for Executive Board meetings and membership meetings.

• Assisting chair in drafting, coordinating, and sending communications with Executive Board and membership.

• Collating information and data on Asian and Asian American faculty and staff within the university so that it may be shared with the membership with help from the chair.

• Assisting the Chair’s other responsibilities as needed.

The Vice-Chair also receives yearly compensation of $1000 for the duration of their term.

At large council members 

• Aid in the recruitment  and outreach of new members across the colleges and among staff.

• Assist in AAAFSC programming and coordinating tasks as needed.

The At Large Council Members receive yearly compensation of $450 for the duration of their term.

If you would like to run: please email tbhalla@umbc.edu by Dec 10 with a brief bio we can share with the membership.

The elections will take place in early December 10,  with the new incumbents beginning at the start of Spring 2022.

Dear AAAFSC Members:

We hope that your fall semester is going well! We write to tell you about all the news, changes, and opportunities that have arisen in AAAFSC over the past few months. There’s a lot covered in this email, so please read carefully!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Departure of Soonhee Lee:

Our wonderful Vice-President, Soonhee Lee has left UMBC. We are so grateful for her leadership of AAAFSC. She will be sorely missed, but we wish her the very best on her new adventures.

South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), Our Stories Book Club and Publication

The Department of American Studies has sponsored a membership for the Our Stories Book Club with the South Asian American Digital Archive—an excellent resource for Asian American and South Asian American community building and history.

The Our Stories book club, launching on November 7, will meet online monthly and offer behind-the-scenes conversations with our authors and deep dives into the important stories shared in the book. It's the perfect entrypoint to learning about the diversity, vibrancy, and power of the South Asian American community, especially for students. We have a 10% off discount code for all purchases of the book: "OURSTORIES-UMBC"

EVENTS:

Membership Meeting: Dec 8, 12-1pm:

Please attend our online membership meeting on Dec 8, from 12-1pm! We’ll be discussing all the announcements below and our spring book giveaway and book club!

Minor Feelings Book Club and Book Giveaway 

In Feb 2022 AAAFSC will be hosting a book club organized around the bestselling work essay collection, Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong. In this short volume, Hong explores Asian American racial consciousness with incisive honesty.

The first 10 AAAFSC members to respond to this email (by writing to tbhalla@umbc.edu) with their Name and Departmental Address will receive a free copy of the book! Books will be sent to you via interdepartmental mail.

A PDF is available as well, if you prefer.

Election of a New Vice-President:

Please consider running for Vice-President. We will be holding elections at the end of November. The vice president receives yearly compensation of $1000 for the duration of their term.  We currently have no staff representation on the board with the loss of Soonhee OR representation from CNMS or COEIT.

If you would like to run: please email tbhalla@umbc.edu and adesai1@umbc.edu by November 15 with a brief bio we can share with the membership.

Many thanks to you all and we hope to see you at the December meeting!

Tamara Bhalla, AAAFSC Chair

Hello community,

Forwarding information about a series of events for Asian Pacific American Heritage month put on by the local literary non-profit, CityLit Project (AAAFAC member-at-large Aditya Desai is on the CityLit board).

The event, The Invisible Invincible Asian American: Telling Our Stories, is a virtual celebration of Asian American writers, poets, playwrights, and graphic storytellers, including two Zoom panels and an online showcase. Both panels are FREE but Registration is required to get a link.

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Tuesday, May 18th: A craft panel titled Re-Imagining Our Histories, with AAPI writers whose work builds on the literary and real histories of Asian America, and/or our ancestral homelands, asking questions such as: How do you see your writing in conversation with these histories? And how does your work re-contextualize the Asian American narrative in the present and posit its future? Audience Q&A to follow. 

Featuring Anjali Enjeti, Lisa Ko, Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis, and Paisley Rekdal. Moderated by Aditya Desai.

Live on Zoom, 7:00 - 8:30 PM EDT. REGISTER HERE.

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Wednesday, May 19th: A publishing panel titled Publishing Asian Voices, where published AAPI writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction who also serve in editorial roles at literary journals, discuss their considerations as a writer when submitting your own work for publication, versus their considerations as an editor when deciding what work to publish. Audience Q&A to follow.

Featuring Hannah Bae, Jennifer Chang, James Han Mattson, and Hasanthika Sirisena. Moderated by Jung Yun.

Live on Zoom, 7:00 - 8:30 PM. REGISTER HERE.

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All Month: Our online Baltimore AAPI Spotlight, a series of interviews with local AAPI writers and artists that will be promoted on CityLit’s YouTube, and social media channels throughout the month.

Follow @CityLitProject on all Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Featuring local talent including, Ryan Artes, Rajani Gudlavalleti, Nancy Nguyen, Nguyen Khoi Nguyen, Sunmi, Lyra Yang,  and more!

Dear AAAFSC members:

Please vote by April 19th at 5pm to fill our executive board vacancies for vice chair and member(s) at large by using this google form. 

Candidate bios can be found here [link].

Voting will take a minute or less; please help us to repopulate our board to full capacity!

If you would like to review our by-laws to read about the roles and responsibilities for these positions, you can find that here  [link]. 

Please note: In the event that our vice chair position is filled by our current board member, Soonhee Lee, who is running for that position, their vacated position as member at large will be filled in order of most votes received by the other candidates who have indicated their willingness to serve as members at large.

Many thanks,

The AAAFSC board: Tamara Bhalla (chair), Aditya Desai (member at large), Soonhee Lee (member at large), Shuyan Sun, (member at large), Fan Yang (secretary)