Asian, Asian American, Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group (AAAPI ERG)

Announcements

As the fall semester gets underway after an eventful summer, we’d like to start this month’s newsletter by expressing our gratitude to a few individuals who have made an outsized impact on our Asian, Asian American & Pacific Islander ERG community:

Thank you to ERG volunteers Sandy Lee and Hannah Hahn for conducting a fair and thorough elections process. Their leadership has been invaluable, and we’re incredibly appreciative for their work, which brought us to another exciting summer development:

Thank you and a very warm welcome to Saurabh Mitra and Katie Fan for joining us as the newest members of the AAAPI ERG Executive Board! Both have been enthusiastic participants in our past events, and now they are stepping up as our new Communications/Events/Membership Chair and our new Medical Center Representative. We’re so grateful they’ve joined our board — excited to see their contributions unfold!

Thank you to two board members who have recently stepped into emeritus roles: Susan Cheng and David Mao. Susan has joined the leadership team at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo , while David has been named the Librarian of the Supreme Court of the United States . We couldn’t be prouder of their achievements and we’re lucky they both maintain ongoing affiliations with Georgetown. Their leadership and friendship have made a lasting impact on our group.

Please read on for more group member shout-outs following our events/resources round-up below!Upcoming Events (at Georgetown)

Happening now: South Asia Speaker Series: Srila Roy’s “Changing the Subject: Feminist and Queer Politics in Neoliberal India”
September 11, 3 – 4:30 PM | Mortara Center, Georgetown University
Join the Asian Studies Program, in partnership with the Women’s & Gender Studies Program and the LGBTQ Resource Center, for the first South Asia Speaker Series event this semester. Dr. Srila Roy will discuss her award-winning book, Changing the Subject: Feminist and Queer Politics in Neoliberal India. 

Starting next week: Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month
September 15 – October 15 | Georgetown University

Later this month: Staff/AAP Appreciation Picnic
September 26, 11am – 2pm | Leavey Center Esplanade, Hilltop Campus

Next month: AAAPI ERG Quarterly (FY25 Q1) Town Hall
October 3, 12 PM (noon) ET | Virtual via Zoom

In the works: Inter-ERG Picnic
Please reach out to Chandra via aaapi@georgetown.edu  if you want to help plan this event!

In the works: AAAPI ERG Book Club DÌDI (弟弟) film screening/discussion
Please contact Anupam via aaapi@georgetown.edu  if you want to help plan this event

Further ahead:

• October is OUTober  and Disability Cultural Awareness Month
• Cross-Disability Solidarity Workshop with Disability ERG and Mia Ives-Rublee , Director of the Disability Justice Initiative at American Progress, on October 4, 10 AM via Zoom
• Save the date: Black Diaspora ERG’s Fall Social Event on October 10

Recent Past Gatherings

September 10, 2024 | Disability, Health Equity, & Healthcare
AAAPI ERG Board Liaison Dr. Chandra Char, a Health Equity Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgetown University Medical Center and 2023-2024 AAMC CHARGE Ambassador, presented her research on disability health equity and the disparities that occur in healthcare for people with disabilities.

September 4, 2024 | Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders Community Mixer
We were thrilled to join the SFS Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for an open house and mixer with students, staff, and faculty. Please contact our friend Carmen  if you want to get involved in the SFS DEI community!

August 14, 2024 | Thanks to all who joined our casual dinner at local biryani spot Maharaja DC !Upcoming Events (Local/Community)

Crafting Paper Flowers (book talk/demo)
September 12, 7 – 9pm |  National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC
With Korean-American botanical artist Emily Paluska

Connie Chung (interview/memoir discussion)
September 18, 6pm | Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Washington, DC

Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) Family Festival
September 21, 11am – 4pm | National Museum of Asian Art, DC
With special performances, food, crafts, programming from local community groups, and more

White House Initiative on AA & NHPI Policy Summit
September 26, 8am – 5pm | Department of Transportation HQ, Washington, DC
A summit focused on data disaggregation, language access, and combating anti-Asian hate.

Concert Series: A Moving Sound (modern Taiwanese folk)
September 28, 7 – 8:30 fm, Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Liwanag: Filipino Lit Fest DC
October 27, 2024 | Washington, DC
Featuring Filipino authors like Gina Apostol, Abi Balingit, Regie Cabico, and more at this family-friendly event with a pandesal opening, kids activities, and a karaoke afterparty.News/Articles of Interest

Ted Chiang in the New Yorker: “Why AI Isn’t Going to Make Art”
(Shared by Anupam) “Because language comes so easily to us, it’s easy to forget that it lies on top of these other experiences of subjective feeling and of wanting to communicate that feeling. We’re tempted to project those experiences onto a large language model when it emits coherent sentences, but to do so is to fall prey to mimicry; it’s the same phenomenon as when butterflies evolve large dark spots on their wings that can fool birds into thinking they’re predators with big eyes. There is a context in which the dark spots are sufficient; birds are less likely to eat a butterfly that has them, and the butterfly doesn’t really care why it’s not being eaten, as long as it gets to live. But there is a big difference between a butterfly and a predator that poses a threat to a bird.”

NBC News: “Asian Americans have largest voter registration increase, new analysis shows”
(Shared by Anupam) “Researchers looked at national voter registration data up until June 4, the latest date for which all 50 states released their numbers, and compared them to the same point in 2020. They found that registration for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders increased by 43%, from 550,682 to 787,982 voters. That’s more than double the increase compared to both new Black and white voters.”Celebrating Our Community

On the board, we’re feeling grateful for the moments our community’s professional talents and contributions are recognized by our colleagues, including Yvette Jiang’s web article by the McDonough School of Business , the announcement of Sheyna Arthur’s promotion to CPO in the Blue & Gray newsletter , and Anupam Chakravarty’s web article in the Georgetown Faces series .

But we’re celebrating our personal highlights, too – like the birth of Anupam’s new daughter Reya this summer! We want to share more of your announcements, milestones, and shout-outs at our Town Halls, in our newsletters, and on social media—please send us clips, links, and photos that celebrate your professional & personal successes so we can cheer each other on.

Connect with us on Instagram  to hear (or tell us) about events happening between sends that we haven’t gotten to include in our newsletter yet.

Want to get more involved in the Asian, Asian American & Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group? We’d love to hear from you: email us back at aaapi@georgetown.edu  to get in touch.

Reminders

Connect with us on Instagram  to hear (or tell us) about events happening between sends that we haven’t gotten to include in our newsletter yet.

More information about board elections coming soon! Please send us an email at aaapi@georgetown.edu  with your questions about any of our open positions (Faculty Co-Chair, Communications/Events/Membership Chair, and Medical Center Representative).

Resources

• AAPI Tool Kit
• View slides from the Town Hall Meeting (June 15, 2023)
• What should we do next? Fill out our Summer (& beyond) Availability form
• How are we doing so far? Email us here or use the anonymous feedback form

Memories