Fall 2023 Newsletter

American Indian Studies Center (AISC) Asian American Studies Center (AASC)

Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies (Bunche)

iac.ucla.edu

Message from the Vice Provost

The fall season, with the start of our academic year, is a time of bustling activity and new

beginnings. As always, we are guided by our mission as a public university and our commitment

to advance research for social justice, reﬂected in the many programs and projects underway.

Best wishes,

David K. Yoo

Vice Provost & Professor

Shannon Speed, Director of the American Indian

Studies Center, receives $1 million grant from Mellon

Foundation

Professors Shannon Speed (American Indian Studies, Gender Studies,

Anthropology) and Zrinka Stahuljak (Comparative Literature and Director

of CMRS Center for Early Global Studies) received a grant from the Mellon

Foundation to support their project, “Race in the Global Past through Native

Lenses.” Project goals include elevating Native American, Paciﬁc Islander

and other Indigenous scholarship on historical articulations of “race” and

“Indigeneity” and supporting eﬀorts to recruit and retain Indigenous faculty at UCLA.

Never Forget Digital Exhibition and Workshop Panel

On September 21, 1972, Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines marking

51 years since the start of the Marcos Dictatorship. AASC launched Never Forget, a digital

exhibition of political posters and oral histories chronicling the transnational Anti-Martial

Law Movement. This permanent digital collection from the UCLA Asian American Studies

Center highlights the Filipinx American community’s participation in the transnational

struggle for human rights and democracy in response to the Ferdinand E. Marcos regime

(1965 to 1986). AASC started oﬀ the Fall with an art-making workshop and educational panel

centered on the exhibition.

Oceanic Studies Book Forum

On November 15, 2023, 12:00–2:00 PM, at the James West Alumni Center –

Founders Room, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center will be co-hosting

a book forum with UCLA Alums and authors Alfred Flores, Tip of the Spear:

Land, Labor, and US Settler Militarism in Guåhan, 1944–1962, and Christen

Sasaki, Paciﬁc Conﬂuence: Fighting over the Nation in Nineteenth-Century

Hawai‘i.

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L to R: Zrinka Stahuljak and

Shannon Speed

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Fall 2023 Newsletter

Lorrie Frasure named new director of Bunche Center

Professor Lorrie Frasure (Political Science and African American Studies), who is

also the inaugural Ralph J. Bunche Endowed Chair, succeeds Professor Kelly Lytle

Hernández. Frasure said, “Since 1969, the Bunche Center (founded as the Center

for Afro-American Studies) has served as a national and global leader in the study

and uplift of Black life. Through longstanding and new collaborations, we will

continue pioneering research as well as academic and community-based programs/

initiatives, with broad impact for our communities both in the United States and

internationally.”

Bunche Fellows Program (BFP)

BFP welcomed its ﬁfth cohort in Fall 2023, expanding the new class of Bunche Fellows to its largest to date, with

60 individuals (including 20 faculty-led project mentors, 20 undergraduate fellows, and 20 graduate fellows)

participating in the program. The initiative will also strengthen the community of graduate fellows by oﬀering more

resources in the program and will reﬁne recruitment eﬀorts to increase south campus engagement. Under the

leadership of Dr. Walter Allen and Dr. Ketema Paul, the Bunche Fellows Program (BFP) supports faculty-led research

projects in Black Studies. The program also funds undergraduate and graduate students who work on the faculty

projects throughout the entire academic year.

Chicano Studies Research Center welcomes

new HSI faculty and postdoctoral fellows

On October 2, over 75 campus leaders, faculty, staﬀ, and

students convened to celebrate a successful recruitment

year for the UCLA Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI)

Infrastructure Initiative. CSRC Director Veronica Terriquez

introduced a historic 13 new faculty members whose

teaching, scholarship and/or mentoring has ties to Latinx

experiences, and 9 new and returning HSI Chancellor’s

Postdoctoral Fellows, together representing north and

south campus. Chancellor Gene Block, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt, and the UCLA Hispanic

Serving Institution Inaugural Director Elizabeth Gonzalez were among the speakers addressing the importance of

diversity, inclusion, and student support as UCLA pursues the federal designation of Hispanic-Serving Institution.

Chicano Studies Research Center cohosts Latina Equal Pay

Day event at UCLA

On October 5, the CSRC, the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI), and a

coalition of advocacy groups hosted a Latina Equal Pay Day event on UCLA campus.

The program showcased latest ﬁndings from LPPI revealing the persistent wage gap

that Latinas face. The event was part of Latina Futures, 2050 Lab, an initiative led

by the CSRC and LPPI to investigate Latinas’ experiences in the labor market, their

participation in civic leadership, and their well-being. California First Partner Jennifer

Siebel Newsom, a champion of the California Equal Pay Pledge, provided remarks.

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Fall 2023 Newsletter

Gold Shield sponsors four IAC-ethnic studies student internships

for summer 2023

Each of the four ethnic studies centers received sponsorship from Gold Shield for an

undergraduate student summer internship with a community partner in advancing

equity, inclusion, and social justice. The Gold Shield summer 2023 interns were Jessa Fate

Bayudan (LOUD For Tomorrow), Kahlila Williams (Students Deserve), Linsey A. Rodriguez

(Future for Lompoc Youth), and Omar Federico Mondragon (Mid-City Community

Advocacy Network).

New IAC Program Collaboration

Launches the UCLA Ethnic Studies

Specialization Program (ESSP) for

K-12 Educators

In summer 2023, we launched the inaugural UCLA

Ethnic Studies Specialization Program for K12

Teachers, a pioneering collaboration between the

Institute for American Cultures (IAC), the Graduate

School of Education and Information Sciences

(SEIS), and Extension (UNEX). The ESSP welcomed

a cohort of 25 teachers to UCLA for this tuition

free pilot program for K12 teachers with an interest

in expanding their knowledge of and training in

ethnic studies curriculum. The six–week summer

component of the program began in June 2023. Participants took two UNEX courses in summer 2023 and a third

course that will meet online throughout Fall 2023/Winter 2024. Through Ethnic Studies education and research, we

will continue to expand our engagement with the Los Angeles metro area schools, teachers, communities, families.

For more information contact, Lorrie Frasure at lfrasure@bunche.ucla.edu.

Come join us for our late October events! https://iac.ucla.edu/news-events/calendar

Monday, October 16 12:30–1:45 PM Fa’atasiga O Uso’s/Gathering of Brothers (F.O.U.)

@ Royce Hall Room 362

Tuesday, October 17 5:30–9 PM Dan Mayeda Retirement Celebration &

Documentary Film Legal Clinic ﬁlm screening of Ricochet

5:30 PM - Reception @ Coral Tree Walk (Macgowan Hall)

7 PM - Film Screening @ James Bridges Theater

Thursday, October 19 5–7 PM Installation of Paula Gunn Allen Chair Professor Shannon Speed

@ UCLA James West Alumni Center - Collins Conference Room

To support our work, visit UCLA Giving.

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