Recent News
Application deadline: May 5, 2017
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Over the last several months, many students at the University of Washington and across the country have felt personally vulnerable as a consequence of increased incidents, including hate speech and propaganda, physical intimidation and verbal assaults aimed at disrupting their lives by making them apprehensive and fearful about the future. As members of the Department of American Ethnic Studies, we want you to know that we value the inherent dignity and uniqueness of all individuals and... Read more
In Autumn 2017, AES will welcome two new Assistant Professors to the department.
Professor Jang Wook Huh received his PhD in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, with a dissertation focusing on Afro-Korean connections in literature. Huh is originally from Seoul, South Korea where he attended Seoul National University. Since receiving his PhD, Huh had been teaching literature at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. At UW, Huh will be teaching Comparative American Ethnic... Read more
On February 4th, 2017, several AES professors attended the 5th Annual Legacy Soiree presented by the UW Black Student Union at the Husky Union Building. Those in attendance included AES Professors Rick Bonus, La TaSha Levy, LaShawnDa Pittman, and Sonnet Retman, as well as AES lecturer Brukab Sisay and Professors Ileana Rodriguez-Silva and Stephanie Smallwood from History.
As Professor Bonus explains, “It was important to have a group of faculty attend an event that honored the legacies and... Read more
During Spring Quarter 2017, Professor La TaSha Levy offered a course on the Black Lives Matter movement for an engaged student community. Because it is a nascent movement, Professor Levy believes that the Black Lives Matter community and message is often mischaracterized in a way that provides a strong pedagogical incentive for an intervention through course work in her class. As Levy explains, there is a distinct disconnect between people’s perception of the movement and the actual action... Read more
During the 2016-2017 school year, Professor Emeritus Stephen Sumida was able to serve as a host and mentor to a visiting scholar from the University of Dalian in China, Professor Helen Jiang. Jiang is an associate professor of literature who has published scholarly work in American Ethnic and African American literary studies.
Jiang contacted Sumida in 2015 to express interest in studying with him at the University of Washington. She wanted to come to work with Sumida to enrich her studies in... Read more
Professor Erasmo Gamboa, who retired from AES at the end of Spring Quarter 2017, brought a nearly 50-year stay at the University of Washington to a dramatic close on May 17 as one of 18 award recipients at the first annual Latinx Faculty Recognition Event sponsored by the UW Latino Center for Health. At the event, Gamboa was recognized for his many accomplishments and contributions to the UW by President Ana Mari Cauce, Provost Jerry Baldasty, and Graduate School Dean Dave Eaton, among them... Read more
In March, AES major Nicolas Khamphilom was recognized as a member of the prestigious cohort of the Husky 100. The Husky 100 is a university award that recognizes both undergraduate and graduate students from across the Bothell, Tacoma, and Seattle campuses. Students recognized for the Husky 100 award are honored because they “actively connect what happens inside and outside of the classroom and apply what they learn to make a difference on campus, in their communities, and for the future.”... Read more
In Fall Quarter 2016, Professor Rick Bonus was approached by a group of students in his AES 360 course on Critical Filipino American History. The group of AES students—John Robyn Buenavista, Bryttnii Cariaso, Jelwyn Agbayani, Megan DeMorse, and RJ Dumo—were all interested in doing an independent study to help contribute to the upcoming centennial anniversary of the founding of the Filipino American Students Association (FASA) at the UW. Before long, this small group of students began to pursue... Read more
In February, AES professors emeriti were active in organizing a Day of Remembrance event on the UW campus. The event, titled “How Could Concentration Camps Happen?,” was held in Kane Hall on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, which allowed for the incarceration of Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II. AES professors emeriti Gail Nomura, Stephen Sumida, and Tetsuden Kashima were heavily involved in continuing their legacy of holding events... Read more