AAST and AASU Host Town Hall on AAST Expansion Efforts
On Wednesday, March 8, AAST and the Asian American Student Union (AASU) hosted a town hall to provide updates to AAST minors and the broader campus community on current efforts to expand AAST.
The town hall kicked off with a screening of the AAST Now! Documentary, highlighting the origins of AAST by student activists and the development of the AAST minor program. As in the past, student activism is driving the growth of Asian American Studies on our campus today. Student demands for an AAST Major were presented to Provost Rice last spring (2022). A group of AASU leaders and I met with Dean Cohen (UGST) and Provost Rice at the beginning of this semester (2023) to share data and underscore student interest in Asian American Studies. The Town Hall last week was an opportunity to keep this momentum going!
We highlighted
Growth - from 2013 to 2022, AAST Minor enrollment grew from 22 to 114
Robust course enrollments - for Academic Year 2021-2022, AAST offered 18 classes and enrolled 750 students; In the Spring of 2023, 11 out of 12 AAST classes had waitlists
Our Fall 2022 AAST survey shows that of the 144 students (minors and students in AAST classes) who participated, 36% would consider enrolling in an AAST Major if it were available. This is a strong foundation for growth toward a potential Major in Asian American Studies. We discussed 1) consistent and increasing numbers of AAST minors and 2) hiring at least one more faculty member as critical next steps before a Major can be explored. It became clear that to sustain expansion, we must show interest in the existing AAST Minor program and we must also be able to meet the teaching demands of increased enrollments. In 2013, there were 3 tenure track faculty in the AAST program. Today, despite the surge in AAST Minors and robust enrollments in AAST classes, there are 2 tenure track faculty in the AAST program, along with 2 full-time professional track faculty, as well as a postdoctoral researcher.
There was a lively discussion among students, staff, and faculty about ideas fore xpansion and ideas for future class offerings. As a follow-up to these developments, AASU andAAST have been working together on a proposal to hire a new faculty member in the Asian American Studies Program and it is currently moving forward.