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Alumni
Recent Alumni News
In the January 2025 College of Arts & Sciences Perspectives Newsletter, AES alumnus Paulo Pontemayor was highlighted in a story titled, "Advocating for Better Health Care". Pontemayor is currently senior director of government relations at the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), the national leadership organization of more than 2,200 Catholic health care systems, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and related… Read more
American Ethnic Studies had the pleasure of hosting visits from Highline Public School's 8th graders. Students from several schools in the district visited the campus as part of an introduction to student life at the University of Washington. Chris Carr, and Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky, AES staff and faculty, respectively, presented information about the origins of AES. They helped students envision the pathway towards a career and lifestyle that would support ideas for a potential career.
AES… Read more
The Autumn Quarter 2024 APPI Thrive Newsletter was recently posted. In this newsletter, AES alumnus Nestor Enguerra, Jr. shares his Director's Message. There are also additional newsworthy sections to read through, like AAPI Thrive Project's impact, their new location, welcoming the 2024-2025 cohort, and much more! … Read more
Welcome to a brand new schoolyear – 2024-2025 – and warm hugs to our new and returning students, our faculty and staff, and you, the members of our set of collectives in AES! As the lead positive thinker and doer in our department, I always try to embrace whatever comes our way, whether they’re opportunities that are waiting for us to take on, or a couple of bumps on the road needing our engagement. The theme of our recent departmental retreat surely embodies this ethos: … Read more
Francisco “Frank” Irigon died Thursday, September 12, 2024, at age 77. He passed away surrounded by his family.
Irigon had many identities. He was a family man, a husband, father and grandfather. He was a veteran, executive director, newspaper founder, community builder and political candidate. He will be remembered by many as an activist, first and foremost, champion of civil rights and social justice, and a lifelong advocate for the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Island (AANHPI… Read more
Congratulations to AES alumnus Paulo Pontemayor (graduating class of 2004) for making it as a delegate in the 2024 Filipino Young Leaders Immersion Program. He will join a cohort of leaders from across the U.S. who will embark on a week-long immersion trip to the Philippines. This year’s program aims to provide a fresh perspective on the Philippines, immersing delegates in both the rich history of the capital and the vibrant culture of the Visayas.
You can read more about this program and… Read more
The Lunar New Year is based on the moon's phases and not the traditional calendar so it falls on a different day every year - usually sometime between the end of January and middle of February. This year, the holiday fell on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. Many Asian countries celebrate it, and some traditions are shared, while some are not. For example, Koreans don't seek out oranges. Instead, they make it a point to eat rice cake soup or ddeokguk. It's thought you don't age another year until… Read more
This past summer, American Ethnic Studies alum Nestor Enguerra Jr. became the project director for UW Tacoma's AAPI Thrive project. The U.S. Department of Education awarded UW Tacoma a $2 million grant to expand support and services for AAPI and low-income students. "I think we (Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans) were always on the margins of education", said Enguerra.
Part of Enguerra’s focus is on meeting the requirements of the grant. “My priority is making sure students that I work… Read more
This past summer, the Washington State Attorney General's Office appointed UW AES alum Alyssa Au in the Wing Luke Civil Rights Division. Au previously did some work in the private sector after getting her Law Degree at The University of Pittsburgh School of Law before returning to Seattle and going over to the public section at the height of COVID in 2020.
Alyssa graduated from The University of Washington with a double major… Read more
Schoolyear 2022-2023 is upon us, and we’re excited to begin it with you! I was just saying a version of this greeting to my ten-year-old grandnephew who is similarly embarking on a return to school. And as soon as he facially responded with what looked like a combination of dread and hesitation, I said to him, why don’t we just give it a try and embrace what’s up ahead? Doing so will, at the very least, take us a step forward into facing our negative energies head on.
For… Read more