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FORGING. UNDERSTANDING. EMPOWERING. LEADING
SPEAKERS
CHRISTINE CHEN
Christine Chen was the founding executive of APIAVote, a national nonpartison organization that works to mobilize Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in electoral and civic participation, from 2006 – 2008. In 2011, she returned to serve as Executive Director. Profiled by Newsweek magazine in 2001 as one of 15 women who will shape America’s new century, Chen served from from 2001 to 2005 as national executive director of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), one of the leading APIA civil rights organizations in the country. Leading an organization with more than 80 chapters and affiliates across the nation, she worked with OCA’s national board, executive council, chapter representatives, members and funders while managing a staff of 13. Chen is well-known by activists across the county. Her track record in building coalitions and working at the grassroots and national levels established her as one of the strongest voices in the APIA community. She has more than a decade of experience in organizing and advocating on issues such as immigration, hate crimes, affirmative action, census, racial profiling, voting rights, election reform, and various derogatory and racist media incidents. Her role as a trusted coalition builder has her effectively building relationships with key Congressional offices including the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, federal agencies, and the administration.
GEM DAUS
Gem P. Daus teaches Filipino American History and Biography, Asian American Health, and Asian American Sexualities. His classes emphasize identity development and community building as it intersects with public policy. His teaching is informed by 20 years of community based advocacy for equitable access to health care. In 2010, Gem received a student-nominated award for a UMD faculty member whose excellence in teaching has changed the lives of her/his students: changed or reinforced their career direction, made a difference in how they view the world, been there for them as a mentor, or improved their understanding of challenging material. In his spare time, Gem plays soccer and dances hula.
PHIL NASH
Phil Tajitsu Nash is a member of the Asian American Studies Program (AAST) and Latin American Studies Center (LASC) at the University of Maryland. He has served as the Founding Executive Director of the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), Staff Attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Curator at the Asian Pacific American (APA) Program at the 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and columnist for the N.Y. Nichibei and Asian Week newspapers.
Phil has taught law and urban studies classes, as well as APA history, art, and public policy classes, at UMCP, Yale, NYU, and the C.U.N.Y. and Georgetown law schools. His most recent activities include participating in a campus-wide initiative to help students develop Cultural Competence, and working with LASC to bring Study Abroad students to study indigenous communities and rainforest conservation issues in the Brazilian Amazon.
Phil was privileged to work with Yuri Kochiyama and the other strong progressive Nisei women who were leaders in the New York City Japanese American community, including Kazu Iijima, Michi Weglyn, and Takako (Taxie) Kusunoki. He saw from their example that one could change the world while raising a family and building a sustainable community at the same time.
DEEPA IYER
Deepa Iyer has 15 years of experience working with Asian American communities in the DC area and around the country. She was the first Executive Director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), the only national organization addressing policy issues affecting the South Asian American community. During her nearly ten-year tenure at SAALT, Deepa developed a national coalition of local South Asian groups, testified before Congress on immigration reform, and became a visible media spokesperson on civil and immigrant rights issues. Deepa chaired the National Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans for two years. She has also worked as a Trial Attorney at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and is the Legal Director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center in DC.
Deepa’s writing has been featured in the New York Times, New Jersey Star-Ledger, Detroit Free Press and Huffington Post. She served as guest editor of Field Notes from the 9-11 Moment, an academic journal, and was the Executive Producer of a 26-minute documentary about hate violence which has been screened at college campuses, conferences, and film festivals.
DEVAN SHEA
Devan Shea is a member of the leadership team of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) DC Chapter, and the policy and outreach associate at the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), a U.S.-based NGO whose mission is to promote the sexual and reproductive health and human rights of women and girls globally by shaping the development and implementation of U.S. policies. She studied women and gender with a focus on transnational and intersectional feminisms at Barnard College.
NEHA SINGHAL
Neha Singhal is a social justice educator, community organizer, full-spectrum doula, and proud Maryland alumnus (go Terps!). She has had the opportunity to work in the immigrant rights movement from the Texas-Mexico border to the D.C. area. During her graduate studies she worked on the development and implementation of anti-oppression curriculum for high school and college level courses.
WENDY MARIE LAYBOURN
Wendy Marie Laybourn is a Doctoral Student in the University of Maryland's Sociology Department. As a Korean adoptee who grew up in Memphis, TN, she was acutely aware of racial politics, the continuing legacy of the Civil Rights movement, and the work that is still to be done. Experiences of racial division and bridge building have informed her perspective and academic work. Wendy's research interests focus on race/ethnicity and identity and examining them within socio-historic context, particularly U.S. racial ideology. In addition to her academic research, Wendy is the current coordinator for the Sociology Department’s Critical Race Initiative.
MIKAEL OWUNNA
Mikael "Chuks" Owunna is a Nigerian-American photographer, blogger and podcast host. He writes about race through an intersectional lens on his blog "Owning My Truth" and discusses these issues weekly in his podcast "Hyphenated Lives." His writing has been featured and quoted in a number of online publications including Salon, Buzzfeed and The Guardian, and his blog has drawn almost 1 million page views to date. He has been involved in online activism for about two years now and draws much of his inspiration from the following bell hooks quote,"There can be no love where there is domination. And anytime we do the work of ending domination, we are doing the work of love."
MANJUR AHMED
Born in 1991, Manjur had spent the first 9 years of his life in Dhaka, Bangladesh. After moving to the states in the early 2000’s, he had started his formal education in American. Currently, he is a senior in college studying Electrical Engineering. During his senior year, he has become President of the Bengali Student Association, the Social Chair for IEEE@UMD and a member of Major Definition hip-hop dance team. Recently, Manjur had also enrolled into the national chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), a student organization spread across the United States that fights injustice in working conditions for laborers around the world.
YVES GOMES
Yves Gomes is a senior at the University of Maryland College Park, set to graduate in Fall 2014 with a BS in Biochemistry. Yves is a member of the Young Leaders Council of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), ALF-CIO. He is also a member of the Maryland Dream Youth Committee, a student led grassroots organization focused on fighting for immigrant rights. Yves spends his time volunteering with the aforementioned organizations in whatever capacity he is needed.
KATIE PLANK
Katie Plank is a regional organizer with United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, she is currently a junior at American University studying environmental science and Mandarin Chinese. Katie has been a member of AU’s Student Worker Alliance (SWA) for two years now. She has been heavily involved in SWA’s AU End Deathtraps campaign to get AU to cut contracts with brands that refuse to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which was finally won this October when AU officially ended its contract with Jansport and two other brands. She is now working with SWA to support AU’s food service workers in filing grievances against mistreatment and disrespect by management as well as beginning a campaign against Teach for America and its practices that harm teachers and teachers’ unions. As the USAS regional organizer for the DMV area, she also has been working with students at George Washington University on their End Deathtraps campaign and is excited to learn more about what students are working on at the University of Maryland-College Park.
ROSA LOZANO
Rosa Lozano is a second-generation Salvadoran immigrant. Born in South Bronx, NY and raised in Mt. Pleasant D.C. after her parents fled persecution in El Salvador for being part of the guerrilla resistance during the civil war in the 80's.
Rosa has been very involved in different organizations and initiatives to support social and political movements in El Salvador and she has been active in solidarity work with Central America, Mexico, and Cuba fighting for social justice (working around issues of militarization (e.g. coups), free trade, mining, human rights issues, etc.)
As a student she organized on campus (University of Maryland College Park) around issues of labor rights through Feminism Without Borders and was part of two successful corporate responsibility campaigns led by United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) against Russell Athletics and Nike Inc.
In 2010, Rosa launched the very first Youth Program at CASA de Maryland as the Youth Organizer and successfully helped pass the MD Dream Act since it was originally proposed 10 years ago.
Currently, Rosa Lozano is an Organizer at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 400 where she recently pushed fighting for the rights of immigrant market workers in MD, DC, and VA.
AKIRA HORIGUCHI
Akira Horiguchi is a senior at the University of Maryland pursuing a degree in Mathematics. He is in the Mathematics Honor Society at UMD, the Gemstone Honors Program, and is a member of TOTUS. He enjoys writing poetry, prose, and everything in between, and has performed at the Hyattsville Busboys & Poets. Additionally, he likes research, eating vegetarian meals, and watching The Voice.
PRIYA KRISHNAN
Priya Krishnan is a senior at the University of Maryland pursuing a double degree in Physiology & Neurobiology and Music. She is a Lannan Fellow, a member of TOTUS, and a resident of the Jimenez-Porter Writers’ House at UMD. Her poetry will appear in the forthcoming Write Bloody anthology, We Will Be Shelter. Additionally, Priya is an Adventure Trip Leader and Challenge Course Facilitator for the Maryland Adventure Program. She is passionate about eliminating healthcare and gender disparities and advocates for these causes as President of the UMD Chapter of MEDLIFE (Medicine, Education, and Development for Low-Income Families Everywhere), President of the recently-founded UMD Chapter of Help Save The Next Girl, and 2013 Ride Director for 4K for Cancer, a summer cross-country bike ride benefiting the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. As Research Assistant to Professor Emeritus Suheil Bushrui at The George and Lisa Zakhem Khalil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace, she works to promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue, as well as to encourage collaboration between the STEM fields and the humanities. She enjoys running very long distances, bizarre vegan meals, yoga, and dark chocolate.
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