News
Director's Message
The start of a new academic year after the summer hiatus is always both hectic and energizing. As we embark on another year together, I find myself reflecting on the past year at CAPS, and with gratitude and excitement, I share some of our accomplishments, progress, and plans for the coming year.
We successfully completed our Academic Program Review — the first in 12 years. The process offered me a deeper appreciation for the history of CAPS, the resilience of the center despite many challenges, and the steadfast dedication of our faculty. Coming into this space relatively recently, I felt both humbled and privileged to serve in this position. Shortly thereafter, in the spring semester, I had the opportunity to serve as an external reviewer for the Asian Studies program at another CSU campus. While concerns about low enrollment remain, this program is, in fact, growing, and to my knowledge, it is the largest Asian Studies program across the CSU system. These experiences prompted me to think more deeply about the place of the CAPS not just at SDSU but across CSU more broadly.
One of the most significant milestones this year was the renaming of CAPS to the Charles Wei-hsun Fu Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, in recognition of the Fu Foundation’s generous support. Thanks to the unwavering commitment of Sandra Wawrytko and the Fu Foundation, CAPS has been revitalized into a vibrant space where students come together to build a community around what we now call Asian+ Studies — an inclusive term reflecting the five programs CAPS offers: the Asian Studies major, Asian Studies minor, Chinese Studies minor, Japan Studies minor, and Korean Studies minor.
A particularly meaningful development has been the opportunity to hire Asian+ Studies students for the center’s operations. These student assistants gained valuable experience in higher education, organized cultural events, and fostered deeper connections among their peers. It has been my distinct pleasure working with them who brought new energy and fresh perspectives. One highlight was our 2025 calendar project, featuring photos taken by CAPS faculty and students across Asia — a celebration of our shared experiences and global connections.
This year also marks another exciting first: the establishment of a scholarship dedicated specifically to Asian+ Studies students. We were proud to award the inaugural CAPS Scholarship to four outstanding students: Jerald Lipa (Asian Studies major), Jade Lacelot (Asian Studies major), Meleana Love Suarez (Asian Studies minor), and Gemiel Smith (Japanese major). Through this scholarship, we hope not only to support their academic journeys but also to strengthen the sense of community within Asian+ Studies.
It is also worth celebrating the recent milestone for Asian American Studies, which, after being temporarily housed within CAPS for the past three years, has now become its own department. I extend my warmest congratulations to Alvin Henry for this tremendous accomplishment and invaluable contribution to the SDSU community. CAPS looks forward to continued collaboration with AAS in the years ahead.
Looking ahead, I see more work to do — revising curriculum, creating new courses, expanding outreach, and getting to know more of our Asian+ Studies students. As director, I remain committed to cultivating a space where every student feels seen, supported, and inspired.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the dedication of our faculty, and I am especially grateful to the CAPS Core Committee for their unwavering commitment to our shared mission.
I wish you a meaningful and successful year!
Minjeong Kim
Director of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies
Professor of Sociology
Faculty News
Kathryn Edgerton-Tarpley was invited to deliver, by video, one of the opening speeches at an academic symposium
titled “A New Era in Disaster History Research: China and the World.” The symposium
was held in Changshu, China to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the
Modern Chinese Famine Research Team at the People’s University of China. Professor
Edgerton-Tarpley spoke in memory of renowned historian and former university president
Li Wenhai. She discussed Professor Li’s pathbreaking impact on the field of Chinese
famine studies, his research on the relationship between natural and human causation
in historical disasters, and his deep commitment to promoting international dialogue
and collaborative research projects. 
Virginia Loh-Hagan was the keynote speaker at the OCDE Model Curriculum Summer Institute on Monday July
28. Titled, “Centering Cambodian, Hmong, and Vietnamese American Experiences in Education,”
Loh-Hagan spoke to over 300 educators committed to ensuring Southeast Asian American
history is taught in K-12.
Stephen Suh was awarded the 2025 Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) Fellowship in Korean Studies
at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. As a fellow, Suh helped to organize an
international conference at Goethe University, titled "Diversity in/and Korea." He
also taught a summer seminar course at Goethe University, titled "Diversity in Korea."
Sandra Wawrytko held a lecture titled “Experiential Wisdom of ‘Just This’: Basho’s Haiku (Poems)
Composition Viewed Through Neuroscience.” Located at the Hsi Fang Temple, this lecture
was part of the temple’s “Thank Buddha It’s Friday” program which opened with meditation,
followed by a light vegetarian dinner, and closed out with this special lecture by
Wawrytko. She spoke upon her findings regarding how the Zen Poet Bashō utilized haiku
composition as a form of experiential wisdom to access “just this” — a direct, non-discriminating
awareness of reality, free from the distortions of self. 
Chuyun Oh hosted and taught K-pop dance classes for exchange students abroad. See more news coverage. 
Erin Riley spent six weeks in the field in Indonesia, this past summer, engaging a group of
five SDSU students and five students from Hasanuddin University (UNHAS), Sulawesi,
Indonesia in how to conduct field research on human-primate interactions. The intercultural
exchange was transformative for both U.S. and Indonesian students. This work is part
of her collaborative project with UNHAS, “Project SEED” – Sulawesi Ecology and Ethnoprimatology
of Dare (the moor macaque) and is funded by a NSF International Research Experience
for Students grant.
Grace Cheng gave two lectures on “International instruments on Indigenous Peoples" and "Extractivism
and Environmental Rights" at a summer course on Access to Justice in Southeast Asia
and Beyond at the University of Jember, East Java, Indonesia. The course took place
from July 21 to August 11. Four SDSU students also participated in the course and
were also able to attend the 8th International Human Rights Conference at the University
of Airlangga in Surabaya, Indonesia (August 12 and 13), where I also gave a plenary
address on "Human Rights Challenges in the Political Economy of Extractivism."
Jaeyoung Kim carried out archival research in South Korea and presented his papers at a multitude
of conferences including: the 2025 Korean Association of International Studies (KAIS)
Annual Summer Conference in Yeosu, June 25-27; the 2025 International Political Science
Association (IPSA) World Congress in Seoul, July 12-16; the Kangwon National University
(KNU) International Conference. "From Research to Publication: Remapping Conversations
in Social Sciences from East Asia and Beyond,” July 17-20; and the Seoul National
University (SNU) International Conference for Contemporary Korean Studies, August
22-23.
Zheng-sheng Zhang started his new position as an assistant editor on the editorial board of the quarterly
journal Fulbright Chronicles. It is reported that he will hold this position for a
three- year term. On September 3, Zhang will also be giving a talk at Duke University
in Kunshan China about his 2024 book “Chinese Signs: An Introduction to China’s Linguistic
Landscape” published by Cambridge University Press.
Mei Zhong was named by the SUNY Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Center
as the COIL Ambassador of SDSU. COIL is a teaching methodology that allows college
faculty and students to connect virtually with their international counterparts around
the world. It provides the opportunity for global interaction and international learning
without having to travel abroad.
Publications
Edgerton-Tarpley, Kathryn. “Agency and Coercion: Fighting ‘Women’s Illnesses’ with Chinese and Western Medicine during the Great Leap Famine of 1958-1962,” pp. 192-214. In “Negotiating In/visibility: Women, Science, Engineering and Medicine in the Twentieth Century,” edited by Amelia Bonea and Irina Nastasă-Matei. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2025.
Kim, Minjeong. 2025. “Cross-Border Anxiety among Korean Border Commuters at the US-Mexico Border.” Journal of Borderlands Studies
Lan, Pei-Chia and Minjeong Kim (eds.) 2025. “The Emerging Second Generation in Asia.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 48 (6): 1185-1199.
Kim, Minjeong and Ilju Kim. 2025. “The Second Generation’s Perceptions of South Korea’s Public Support Programs for Multicultural Families” Ethnic and Racial Studies 48 (6): 1218 – 1236.
Kim, Jaeyoung. “Conclusion: Rethinking Great Powers, Regions, and Peaceful Change in the New Cold War Era.” In T.V. Paul and Markus Kornprobst (Eds). “The New Cold War and the Remaking of Regions.” Georgetown University Press. July 2025.
Oh, Chuyun. 2024. “Authenticities of K-pop Cover Dance Influencers in/from Bali, Indonesia.” Dance Chronicle, 47(3): 407–432.
Virgina Loh-Hagan also co-wrote an article in “The Social Studies: Texan” titled, “Vietnamese Fisherman’s
Association vs Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (1981).”
Student Highlights
Lola Fregoso: 2025 Asian Studies Outstanding Graduating Senior
Lola Fregoso was selected as our Asian Studies outstanding graduating senior in 2024.
Fregoso named Linguistics Professor Zheng-sheng Zhang the most influential faculty. Fregoso and Professor Zhang joined the dean’s platform at CAL commencement.
Nya Kim: IS3D major with Asian Studies as an area and CAPS student assistant (2024-2025)
I chose to pursue Asian Studies after transferring from Public Health to Interdisciplinary Studies. During my early education, I received limited exposure to Asian history and culture which motivated me to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more. The wide range of courses offered at SDSU allowed me to explore these subjects in depth.
Meleana Love Suarez: Political Science major and Asian Studies minor
My Study Abroad Experience
I have always dreamed of going to Asia and helping others since I was 10 years old. I am beyond grateful to get a scholarship to study abroad in Indonesia at the University of Jember this summer taking a class on access to justice in Southeast Asia.
From the CAPS Director
Welcome to Academic Year 2024-2025!
I am excited to return from my restful sabbatical as I have some wonderful news about CAPS.
Let me first, however, start by expressing my deepest gratitude to Jocelyn Killmer who served as the interim director in AY 2023-2024 while I was on sabbatical. Her presence has been very valuable for the center.
We begin this year with two new programs: minors in Korean Studies and Asian American Studies which have been approved and are now available for SDSU students. This coming year, the Asian Studies program will have a much overdue program review, which I hope will provide an opportunity to not only assess and reflect on our current status but also think about our future directions and opportunities.
Also, CAPS is planning programs and events that could connect us with our students as we work with Asian American studies and the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Center.
Last year, CAPS received a historic planned gift in the amount of $1 million from the Charles Wei-hsun Fu Foundation. Thanks to Sandra Wawrytko’s unwavering support and guidance, the Fu Foundation has
made an additional gift to support program operations and student scholarships. This
generous donation will be critical to further advance CAPS and the Asian Studies program,
starting this year.
A celebration to name the center in honor of the Fu Foundation will be held Nov. 13,
and we hope that many of you can join us.
Last but not least, I want to express my gratitude to all Asian Studies faculty members for their tireless work for our students, especially those on the core committee for their service. Please see below what our outstanding faculty members do.
I wish you a productive and fabulous academic year and I look forward to working with you all.
Cheers,
Minjeong Kim
Director of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies
Professor of Sociology
From the Interim Director
This past year CAPS has focused on increasing our outreach to potential Asian Studies
majors and minors with the goal of growing our undergraduate program. I look forward
to seeing our program thrive in the coming years as we continue to graduate students
with the skills to confront global problems. I am happy to pass the torch back to
Minjeong Kim as she returns from sabbatical – welcome back!
Jocelyn Killmer
Lecturer, Asian Studies and Anthropology
From the Asian American Studies Director
In May 2024, our minor was approved and students can now declare a minor in Asian American Studies — a long awaited first for SDSU. Even more good news: the Chancellor’s Office approved our major in Asian American Studies just last month — a significant accomplishment for campus, our communities, and a first for the San Diego region. Students will be able to declare a major in Asian American Studies starting fall 2025 — both as new students, transfer students, and current students.
Making the minor and major happen involved the hard work of many people not only in CAPS and the College of Arts and Letters but also around campus in various divisions, not to mention approvals by the Board of Trustees, Chancellor’s Office, and our accrediting agency. Multiple committees reviewed our courses and without their help and professional reviews, we could not have a modern curriculum: many thanks to all the committee members who spent hours reviewing, improving, and approving our individual courses.
We faced multiple hurdles and with a concerted team effort, our minor and major have been approved. A big thank you to everyone who helped in getting the major and minor recognized as valuable and transformative and a necessary component of an undergraduate education for SDSU students.
To misquote Kevin Costner in “Field of Dreams,” “If we build it, they will come.” The students have indeed arrived into our courses and demand has increased by leaps and bounds. AY23-24 was our first time to offer our lower-division coursework and we had 1,200 students enroll. In comparison to our fall 2024 enrollment, we have seen a 100%+ increase from fall 2023! Our courses would not be a success without our wonderful instructional team. Besides myself and Stephen Suh (who was also granted tenure and promoted to associate professor, way to go Stephen!), we were joined by Professors Amira Noeuv, James Paligutan, and JoJo Allen Ruanto-Ramirez last year as our inaugural faculty team. This year we have additional new faculty: Professors Joshua Bender, Katie Bui, and Kirstin Curtis (M.A. ’22) and the students are already raving about them. I am so grateful that we have such dedicated teacher-scholars.
Our work will be partially funded this year from the help of Professors Killmer, Suh, and myself who helped draft curricular elements for the grant that Virginia Loh-Hagan successfully won to support APIDA needs on campus. These initiatives are in the works so be on the lookout for new activities and community-engagement in the spring semester as we implement the grant. This grant will help us implement a broad range of coursework that is community-engaged, career ready, and intellectually stimulating.
We look forward to an exciting academic year where students will be able to work toward their minors and majors in Asian American Studies. Next steps include becoming recognized as an academic department and then we will be fully represented and have a recognized voice on campus. Thank you to everyone who supported our mission and the many tasks — including critical Senate votes — required to make the minor and major a reality.
Alvin Henry
Director and Associate Professor of Asian American Studies
Faculty Fellow for Student Career Readiness
Faculty News
Kate Edgerton-Tarpley presented her research in China and the U.S.: "Hot Topics in Modern Chinese History in U.S. Academic Circles: Current Status and Future Prospects" (美国学界中国近代历史热点话题: 研究现状与展望) at Xinan University in Chongqing, China (July 2024); "'Self-Rescue Via Production:' the Chinese Communist Party's Vision of Conquering Famine by Harnessing the Energy of the Masses, 1942-1962" at the Association of Asian Studies Annual Conference in Seattle (March 2024); and "Understanding China's Present by Exploring Its Past" at Covenant Living at Mount Miguel in Spring Valley, California (October 2023).
Minjeong Kim has been elected to serve on the Northeast Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies (2024-2027). She was invited to present her research findings at the Conference of Transnational Families and the Second Generation in Asia at the National Taiwan University (with Ilju Kim, July 2023), at the International Conference on Sociology of Korea at the University of Pennsylvania (Oct. 2023) and at the International Conference on Global Korea/Asia Pacific, Transnational Koreans/Asians (virtually, May 2024). Kim was quoted in a New York Times article, "Found in Translation: Asian Languages Onscreen."
Virginia Loh-Hagan (she/her) has been promoted to executive director of AANAPISI (Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution) Affairs at San Diego State University. In this inaugural role, she will continue to direct the APIDA Center and oversee campus-wide AANAPISI efforts.
Since the founding of the APIDA Center in 2020, Loh-Hagan has coordinated several efforts to secure our AANAPISI designation and AANAPISI funding. With the establishment of the APIDA Center and now, the Office of AANAPISI Affairs, SDSU is poised to be a model of servingness for APIDA/AANHPI students. She is looking forward to further supporting APIDA students, faculty, and staff.
Stephen Cho Suh was interviewed for: “Return of the descendants,” by Jessica Buchleitner in Aeon. April 23, 2024. Aeon
Sandra Wawrytko spent her sabbatical last year working on a book project entitled "Reading The Tale
Of Genji Through The Lotus Sūtra: Murasaki’s Philosophical Insights." Rather than
approaching the text as a literary work Wawrytko employs creative hermeneutics to
examine the epistemological and neuroscientific aspects of what has been categorized
as a psychological novel. She focuses on the use of expedient means (upaya) in the
“Lotus Sutra,” especially the parable of the burning house (Heian-kyo), drawing parallels
to the works of Buddhist poets in China (Bai Juyi) and Japan (Princess Senshi, Dogen,
and Basho).
Grants and Awards
Kathryn Edgerton-Tarpley received a 2024 SDSU Seed Grant Program award to fund a summer 2024 research trip to China for her project titled "The Wartime Dismantling of China's City Walls as Event, Experience, and Memory, 1938-2023."
Minjeong Kim (sociology and Asian and Pacific studies) and Stephen Cho Suh (Asian American studies
and sociology) are co-PIs of the 2023 Laboratory Program for Korean Studies Grant
(PI - Jeehun Kim, Inha University in South Korea) from The Academy for Korean Studies.
Their project is titled “Global Korea, Transnational Koreans: Comparative Approaches
of Korean Migration and Dynamic Mobilities of Koreans and Asians" and the grant (KW
300M or approximately $230,000) will be used to organize international conferences
and book publishing.
Publications
Kim, Minjeong. 2024. Book review of “The Politics of International Marriage in Japan,” by Viktoriya Kim, Nelia Balgoa, and Beverley Anne Yamamoto, Contemporary Sociology 53 (1): 60-62. New York Times
Loh-Hagan, Virginia. 2024. "Diversifying Classrooms: Including Asian American and Pacific Islander Stories." The California Reader (Fall 2024, Volume 57, No. 3, pp. 21-25).
Suh, Stephen Cho and Brian Woohyun Kim. 2024. “Serving Diaspora in the Homeland: Korean American culinary entrepreneurs in Seoul’s food & beverage industry.” Identities. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/1070289X.2024.2362011
Yusupov, Ruslan, Stephen Cho Suh, Leland Tabares, Jennifer R. Shutek, and Erica Maria Cheung. 2023. “Recipes for Messiness.” Verge: Studies in Global Asias 9(2): 74-102.
Wawrytko, Sandra. Forthcoming: “Daoist Philosophies, Past, Present and Future: Curing The Platypus Syndrome,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy, “Literature, Arts, Science and Humanity: Chinese Philosophy as Contemporary Philosophy.”
Zhang, Zheng-Sheng. 2024. “Chinese Signs: An Introduction to China’s Linguistic Landscape.” Cambridge
University Press.
Student Highlights
Kylie Nguyen: 2024 Asian Studies Outstanding Graduating Senior
Kylie Nguyen was chosen as our Asian studies outstanding graduating senior for 2024.
Nguyen named Asian studies lecturer Jocelyn Killmer as the most influential faculty. Nguyen and Killmer joined the dean’s platform with other award winners at graduation.
Lola Fregoso: Asian studies major and 2023-24 CAPS student assistant
在台北留學的經驗 – My Study Abroad Experience
This past summer contained some of the most unforgettable experiences of my life. As I’m sure that studying abroad is a dream of many students, I am happy to say that I was given the privilege to make this dream into my own reality by attending the ICLP (International Chinese Language Program).
From the CAPS Director
Welcome to the new academic year (2023-2024)! With great enthusiasm, I bring this inaugural newsletter of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies to you.
It has already been a year since I started my CAPS directorship. It has been an honor and privilege to serve in this role and in the past year, as we phased out of the pandemic period, we took some actions to jumpstart the center. For example, with the support of the CAL Dean’s Office and the participation of the CAPS core committee, we developed the new CAPS policy file.
Michelle Lenoue in the CAL Student Success Center started her work as the advisor for Asian Studies students. We began to make some significant curricular changes.
More importantly, I would like to share two most noteworthy pieces of news. First,
two new faculty members, Drs. Alvin Henry and Stephen Suh, joined CAPS and SDSU, for ethnic studies, specifically for Asian American Studies.
Both have worked diligently developing new Asian American Studies courses. Dr. Henry
is serving as the director of Asian American Studies with an important task of developing
an Asian American Studies department at SDSU. Second, CAPS received a substantial
amount of planned gift from the Fu Foundation to support CAPS and a study abroad program
for Asian Studies students. These developments will help CAPS grow further and mark
CAPS’ promising paths forward.
Personally, the most delightful part of my work as the CAPS director was learning
about CAPS faculty and their work as well as Asian Studies students’ experiences.
CAPS has also worked with the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Center,
which opened three years ago during the pandemic, in order to connect with SDSU students
with APIDA heritage.
In my position, I received a lot of support from CAL faculty and staff and I would like to note two people. Special thanks to Dr. Sandra Wawrytko, former CAPS director and one of the longest serving CAL faculty members, whose unwavering dedication to CAPS and SDSU has been an inspiration to me. Also, I greatly appreciate her support and guidance in bringing the planned gift to CAPS. Last but not least, I thank Jocelyn Killmer who helped me have a smooth transition into CAPS. Like the year before, she will again serve as the interim director in AY 2023-2024 while I am on sabbatical.
I wish you a wonderful academic year and I look forward to continuing to work for CAPS when I return.
Cheers,
Minjeong Kim
From the Interim Director
I am honored to serve as the Interim Director of CAPS in 2023-24. For those who don't
yet know me, I am a cultural anthropologist specializing in gender and health care
in India. I have been a lecturer at SDSU for seven years, teaching in anthropology,
Asian Studies, and the Weber Honors College, and was previously CAPS interim director
in 2021-22. I am excited to carry our current momentum forward in hosting speakers
and social events for the CAPS community and beyond next year. Please don't hesitate
to reach out if you would like to collaborate with CAPS on an event!
— Jocelyn Killmer
From the Asian American Studies Director
The academic year 2022-2023 was a milestone for Asian American Studies as we moved toward creating the major at San Diego State University. Many people have already helped with the journey: a big thank you to CAPS faculty, APIDA staff, CAL faculty, SDSU administration, APIDA Center staff and students, ERG Groups, and the University Library.
Last academic year, AY22-23, Asian American Studies continued to offer our existing courses in Filipino American Studies and Asian American Experiences. Many thanks to Professor Ofelia Dirige for launching courses in Filipino American Studies; I hope that Ofelia is enjoying her retirement. I am also grateful for Professor Chiou-Ling Yeh for creating the course Asian American Experience many years ago in 2007 and bringing in community partners to dialogue with our students.
This academic year, AY23-24, we launch a new roster of exciting courses that will help further lay the foundations for an Asian American Studies major. We plan to offer our existing courses plus these new courses: (1) Asian American History, (2) Politics, Power, and Asian America, (3) Introduction to Korean American Studies, (4) Asian American Film and Media, (5) Eating Asian America, and (6) Gender, Sexuality, and Asian America.
This fall I will be submitting the applications for the major. There are two separate applications: one to the CSU Chancellor’s Office and another to SDSU. In addition, this fall we will be submitting additional courses in Asian American Studies that will support the major. In AY24-25 we will unveil more lower-division and upper-division courses that will speak to students around campus.
Next Steps Beyond Creating the Major
My next endeavors include building more relationships and partnerships with local
businesses and nonprofits. In addition, we need to start thinking about developing
financial resources to support our students as well as developing career readiness
materials for the students.
I look forward to your insights and continued support for the development of Asian American Studies. Have a wonderful semester!
— Alvin Henry
Welcome Stephen Suh
Dr. Stephen Cho Suh is assistant professor of Asian American Studies at San Diego State University. His scholarly interests lie at the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, migration, and culture, especially in relation to Asian Americans and the Korean Diaspora. His current book projects examine the culinary entrepreneurship of 1.5 and second-generation Korean Americans and political activism among contemporary professional athletes, respectively. Having grown up in and around Los Angeles, Dr. Suh is an unabashed, if not sometimes problematic, fan of the Lakers and Dodgers.
During Dr. Suh's first year at SDSU, he taught ASIAN-422 (Asian American Experiences) and developed two new future courses, ASIAN-104 (Korean American Experiences) and ASIAN-361 (Eating Asian America). Courses on the racialization and intersectionality of Asian Americans are currently being developed. He also organized and hosted a talk by Dr. Hyangeun Kim (Kosin University) about the integration of North Korean refugees in Busan, South Korea. He is excited to help build Asian American Studies at SDSU in the years to come!
Faculty News
Grace Cheng participated in a Fulbright Specialist Project at the Center for Human Rights, Multiculturalism, and Migration at the University of Jember in Indonesia (September-October 2022). In June-July 2023, she was a visiting fellow at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) in Leiden, the Netherlands, to conduct research on the decolonization of Netherlands New Guinea and its aftermath.
Kate Edgerton-Tarpley has received National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2021-22) to work on her book manuscript, titled “The Loss of Heaven: Changing Responses to Famine in Modern China, 1876-1962.” In October 2022, she was invited to deliver discussant comments, “The Qing State and Its Administrative Revolution,” at the “China: State and Revolution” symposium held at the University of California, Irvine.
She also arranged for the history department to host Professor Cao Xi, a visiting scholar from Anhui University in Hefei, China. She arrived at SDSU in February 2023, and will remain here until March 2024.
For community, in May, 2023, Edgerton-Tarpley served as a judge at the Global Language and Leadership Program Mandarin Capstone Fair at El Capitan High School in Lakeside, California, where she assessed the Mandarin-language capstone presentations delivered by graduating seniors in the Lakeside school district's K-12 Mandarin immersion program.
Minjeong Kim gave invited talks on her recent book, “Redefining Multicultural Families in South Korea,” at Soongsil University in South Korea (June 2022), UC, Berkeley (Sept 2022) and at Portland State University (April 2023). She also gave talks on her other projects at Kyung Hee University (June 2022), Yonsei University (June 2022), and Hanyang University (July 2022) in South Korea, as well as at her alma mater, the University at Albany in New York (October 2022). In 2023-2024, Kim will be on sabbatical.
Virginia Loh-Hagan published children's books, “A is for Asian American” and “Born Reading.” In recent
months, she has spoken at various professional meetings including the Association
for Asian American Studies, Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education, Teaching
For Justice, The Asian American Foundation Summit. Los Angeles County Office of Education
Ethnic Studies Symposium, and Riverside County Office of Education Ethnic Studies
Symposium. She is a regular contributor for The California Reader as the Cover Editor
and Book Nook Columnist.
Todd Myers has been a contributor to the American Institute of Economic Research, publishing
articles such as "The Green Economy, Interethnic Conflict, Corporate Mining, and West
Papua," "Justifying Liberalism in Singapore," and "Russia's Africa Policy: Geopolitics
and Commercial Interests." He will begin a sabbatical from Grossmont College in fall
2023 studying Big Data and the Social Good at SDSU.
Stephen Suh gave an invited talk titled "Gendering 'Return': The Gender Experiences of Korean American 'Returnees' in Transnational Perspective" for the Korean Studies Guest Lecture Series at Goethe University in April 2023.
Publications
Kathryn Edgerton-Tarpley. “From Bodhisattva Earth to Man-Made Meat Essence: Famine Foods in Late-Qing, Nationalist, and Maoist China,” Environment and History 26 (Spring 2020): 105-130.
Jocelyn Killmer. 2021. “Outsiders in the Village: Class, Space, and the Shortage of Women Doctors in Rural Rajasthan, India.” In Childbirth in South Asia: Old Challenges and New Paradoxes, edited by Clémence Jullien and Roger Jeffery. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Minjeong Kim and Hyeyoung Woo (eds.). 2022. Redefining Multicultural Families in South Korea: Reflections and Future Directions. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Minjeong Kim and Rachelle Brunn-Bevel. 2023. “No Face, No Race? Racial Politics of Voice Actor Casting in Popular Animated Films.” Sociological Forum. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12892
Minjeong Kim and April Lopez. 2021. “The Deployment of Gender for Masculine Balance: Analyzing Multi-Platform K-Pop Performances.” Feminist Media Studies https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.2006259 pp. 1-17.
Kim, Ilju and Minjeong Kim. 2021. "Paths to Civic Engagement: Opportunity Structures and Marriage Immigrants’ Associational Lives in South Korea." Journal of Asian Sociology 50 (1): 247-271
Virginia Loh-Hagan, Stewart Kwoh, and Pat Kwoh. Guest Editors of Special Issue, “Teaching and Learning about Asian American History.” Social Education 86: 2 (March/April 2022)
Virginia Loh-Hagan, Jing Kwoh, Jayson Chang, and Pat Kwoh. 2022. “Excluded From History: The Page Act of 1875” Social Education 86 (2): 73-78.
Virginia Loh-Hagan, and Terry Matsuoka. 2022. “Japanese American Incarceration: Seeking Truth, Healing,
and Reconciliation Through Art.” Social Education 86 (2): 79-86.
Todd Myers. 2020. "Pyramids of Skulls: Unacceptable Violence, Transcendence, and the Image of
Timur in the Thought of Eric Voegelin and Contemporary Scholarship” in Eric Voegelin's
Asian Political Thought edited by Lee Trepanier.
Jinwon Kim, Soo Mee Kim, and Stephen Cho Suh (eds.). 2020. Koreatowns: Exploring the Economics, Politics, and Identities of Korean Spatial Formation. (New York: Lexington Books).
Stephen Cho Suh. 2022. “Nostalgic for the Unfamiliar: Korean Americans’ ‘Imagined Affective Connection’ to the Ancestral Homeland.” Ethnicities 22(1): 66-83.
Alex Manning, Stephen Cho Suh, and Kyle Green. 2021. “Discursive Footwork on the Hardwood: Players’ Negotiations of the NBA as a Contested Racial Arena.” European Journal for Sport and Society 18(3): 208-228.
Stephen Cho Suh. 2023. “Gendering Return: Korean American Femininities in South Korea.” In Yonson Ahn, ed., Korea and the Global Society. (Oxfordshire: Routledge). 120-139.
Stephen Cho Suh, Alex Manning, and Kyle Green. 2022. “Contesting ‘Lin’inality: The evolution of Jeremy Lin’s racial subjectivity.” In Steve Bien-Aime and Cynthia Wang, eds., Perceptions of East Asian and Asian North American Athletics. (London: Palgrave Macmillan). 291-318.
Sandra Wawrytko. “Murasaki’s Epistemological Awakening: Buddhist Philosophical Roots of The Tale of Genji” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 49 (2022), 36-49.
Sandra Wawrytko. “Lessons in Non-Dualism from World Philosophies,” Journal of World Philosophies, 6 (Winter, 2021)
Sandra Wawrytko. “The Continuing Relevance of Congruent/Incongruent Names Revealed by Buddhist Epistemology,” DAO: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, September 2020.
Sandra Wawrytko. “Murasaki Shikibu of Japan” & “Sun Bu’er of China,” Women Philosophers from Non-Western Traditions: The First Four Thousand Years, Mary Ellen Waithe and Therese Boos Dykeman, editors (Springer, 2023)
Chiou-Ling Yeh. “Anti-American Expressions: the 1957 Incident and Chinese in the Philippines, Thailand, and Hong Kong,” Journal of East Asian and American Relations 28 (2021): 319-349.
Student Highlights
Pandora Outhone — 2023 Asian Studies Outstanding Graduating Senior
I am a recent graduate who double majored in Asian Studies as well as graphic design. A lot of my personal projects revolve around my own heritage and things that I have learned throughout my studies. I draw a lot of my inspiration from the world around me and strive to promote positivity as well as cultural diversity through my work.
Emily Diễm Trần — Class of 2023
I am a queer, second-generation Vietnamese American and the eldest of three children. I received a bachelor’s degree in gerontology with a minor in Asian Studies. I am passionate about improving aging services, with a nursing license and residential care facility for the elderly administrative certification.
I serve on several advisory and leadership boards for both the county and city levels.
Grace Cheng Named Most Influential Faculty by Pandora Outhone
Dr. Grace Cheng is the director of the Center for Human Rights at San Diego State University (SDSU), where she also teaches courses on human rights, political violence, global resistance, and Asian politics. Her interests are in comparative perspectives on human rights, peace, and security, as well as the study of conflict and post-conflict transitions. She served on a Fulbright Specialist project and continues collaborations with the Center for Human Rights, Multiculturalism and Migration at the University of Jember in Indonesia.
Cheng has lectured and advised on developing curricular content for peacebuilding and post-conflict development programs at various institutions and is involved in scholar-practitioner projects to integrate human rights principles and redress for past abuses in efforts to re-establish peace, including as advisor for programs for the International Institute for Peace and Development Studies (Thailand). She also serves on the boards of the Forced Migration Studies Center for Afghanistan and the West African Transitional Justice Centre.
Alumni Highlights
Stephanie Asi — Class of 2021
Initially, I was a major in a different discipline. I had always been interested in Japanese language and culture, so I took Professor Dumas and her passion for Japan and deep dive into various “taboo” topics like the yakuza and otaku culture reminded me of why I fell in love with Japan in the first place.
Philanthropy
Transformative $1M Gift Bolsters the Future of Asian Studies at SDSU
A planned gift from the Charles Wei-hsun Fu Foundation will support scholarships, events and programming, and operations for the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies.
As a faculty member for more than 40 years, Sandra Wawrytko has seen Asian Studies
manifest a steadily increasing importance at San Diego State University. Now she’s
committing herself to a personal role in ensuring the university’s resources keep
up with the times.
A planned gift of $1 million from the Charles Wei-hsun Fu Foundation, named for her
husband who was born in Taiwan and died in 1997, will support an endowment for the
Center for Asian and Pacific Studies (CAPS) providing additional money toward scholarships,
events and programming, and operations. The Fu Foundation was created after Charles’
death and is now a tax-exempt family educational foundation.