Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Celebration (APIAHC) Calendar

Join us as we kickoff our month long celebration with our Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Kickoff Celebration and Awards Ceremony.

This year’s theme highlights the national AANHPI theme: “A Legacy of Leadership and Resilience.” This year’s theme honors the hard work of AANHPI leaders who established a foundation for future generations to thrive and adapt to change and adversity. The event will include live cultural performances, inspiring words from keynote speaker Shyama Kuver—a celebrated writer, poet, and founder of Heart Over Crown, a platform dedicated to storytelling around love, loss, and healing—and the presentation of awards honoring outstanding students, faculty, and staff. 

Time: 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Location: Price Center West Ballroom

To sponsor a table, please contact apiahcelebration@ucsd.edu 

For individual tickets, please make a contribution to the Pan Asian Staff Association Fund (fund #7826) of $30 or more, and forward screenshot/confirmation email of the gift to apiahcelebration@ucsd.edu by April 29.

Sponsored by: Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month with an exhibit honoring cultural heritage, resilience, and community contributions. With a spotlight on artist, advocate, and pioneering leader, Tom Hom, the display also features campus and Library resources highlighting APIA voices, immigrant stories, and the rich diversity of San Diego’s Asian and Pacific Islander American communities.

When: May 1-June 29, All Day

Location: Sally T. WongAvery Library Breezeway

More information available at the Library event website.

Sponsored by: UC San Diego Library

We will discuss how storytelling can foster community, share ways to create community, and provide an opportunity for people to reflect on storytelling and what community they are seeking to build.

Time: 10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Location: Zoom (registration required)

Celebrate five years of GROW, a student-led initiative preserving the history of AAPI activism at UC San Diego. This exhibit showcases how students, faculty, staff, and librarians have cross-pollinated ideas and experiences to document the untold stories behind the creation of UCSD’s AAPI Studies Program in Fall 2020. The process of archiving fosters new growth amplifying AAPI stories, empowering change, and inspiring engagement.

When: May 5-August 10, during Geisel Library's open hours

Location: Geisel Library, Main Floor, West

More information available at the Library event website.

Sponsored by: UC San Diego Library

Join us for a panel exploring eras of on-campus activism for social justice, ranging from the fight for Asian American Studies at UCSD to protest after the Rodney King verdict to the Black Winter of 2010 to questions about this moment and students' rights to protest.

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Location: Marshall College Room, Price Center West

RSVP: Registration recommended

Sponsored by: Marshall College; UCSD Ethnic Studies; Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Studies

Join us for the talk by Dr. Junyoung Verónica Kim - "MISSING/DISAPPEARING BODIES AND FORGOTTEN GEOGRAPHIES: A Korean Argentine Diasporic Viewing of Im Heung-soon’s Good Light, Good Air." Situating the Gwangju Uprising and the Argentine Dirty War as part and parcel of the diasporic, this talk proposes that paying attention to Korean-Latin American intimacies offers a possibility of fabulating a decolonial and demilitarized world.

Dr. Junyoung Verónica Kim is a visiting scholar at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University, where she will be joining Liberal Studies starting Fall 2025 as Visiting Assistant Professor of East Asian Cultures. Her interdisciplinary research examines how settler militarism, imperialism, and racial capitalism intersect in East Asia and Latin America and across hemispheric Asian American diasporas.

Many thanks to Dr. Andrea Mendoza, IAH, UCHRI, and the Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts for making this event possible!

Time: 6:00 p.m.

Location: Mosaic Hall 113 (in the North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood)

RSVP: Registration recommended

Sponsored by: Institute of Arts and Humanities (IAH); Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Studies; IAH Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program; Chicanx and Latinx Studies, School of Arts and Humanities Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts; University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI)

This workshop is comprised of four first daughters who will share and invite others to talk about how their first daughterness has shaped not only their worldview, but their outlook on higher education. Part of the “Equity Exchanges: Staff Collaborations for a Just Campus” Series hosted by the Cross-Cultural Center. This event is directed toward UC San Diego faculty and staff. Please visit the Cross-Cultural Center website for more information.

Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Location: Cross-Cultural Center | Price Center East Level 2

RSVP: Registration recommended

Sponsored by: Cross-Cultural Center (CCC); Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services (OASIS); Pacific Islander and Asian American Staff Association (PASA)

Join us for the 6th installment of the Humanities Event Series, featuring Victoria Chang, author of With My Back to the World (2024). The collection engages with abstract artist Agnes Martin and explores the interior life of the self as we navigate the challenges of a world too often marked by indifference with wonder, beauty, and humor.

Time: 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Location: Price Center Theater

RSVP: Registration recommended

Sponsored by: Humanities Program; Revelle College; Dimensions of Cultural (Marshall College); New Writing Series.

We invite community members to learn about historic oppression and systemic racism and share their lived experiences for personal and community empowerment. Valerie Francisco-Menchavez, PhD is an award-winning scholar-activist, researcher, writer and educator whose academic and political work calls attention to the experiences of Filipina migrants in carework industries and their indelible abilities to form solidarities and organize with one another. Dr. Francisco will discuss her newest book "Caring for Caregivers". Drawing on surveys, individual interviews, and caregivers’ stories as told through kuwentuhan, a Philippine cultural practice of collective storytelling, "Caring for Caregivers" offers an intimate examination of intergenerational care work in the Filipino American community.

Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Location: Skyline Hills Library, Multipurpose Room (7900 Paradise Valley Rd. San Diego, CA 92139)

RSVP: Registration recommended

Sponsored by: UC San Diego Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Studies; San Diego Central Library

UCSD's Nikkei Student Union (NSU) presents this year's culture show! Culture Show is an annual student run show held each school year to recognize and educate individuals on Japanese American experiences. This year’s show, Chōwa (調和) will be about Kokoro, a Nisei Japanese American girl who finds herself conflicted with who she is as she graduates high school. However, in college, she meets a community of other Japanese-American students like her and begins to figure out how to balance her multicultural identity.

Time: Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Location: Price Center Theater

RSVP: Registration encouraged

Sponsored by: UC San Diego Nikkei Student Union (NSU)

In celebration of Asian Pacific Islander Heritage month, CARE at SARC will be hosting a Healing Beyond the Horizon workshop. This workshop will highlight alternative means of healing with influence from API cultures and communities. This event is open to all graduate and undergraduate students.

Time: 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Location: CARE at SARC

More information available at the CARE at SARC website.

Sponsored by: CARE at SARC

Join us for a unique cultural experience as we explore the history and meaning of Henna tattoos in a 20-minute interactive workshop led by our special guest artist Shaira Alam. Following the workshop, attendees will have the opportunity to receive a simple Henna tattoo from Shaira as a symbol of beauty, protection, and blessing.

Time: 12:00 p.m. (noon) - 1:00 p.m.

Location: Henry Booker Room, Jacobs Hall, 2nd Floor

RSVP: Registration required (limited spaces)

Sponsored by: Pacific Islander and Asian American Staff Association (PASA)

Salar Mameni (UC Berkeley) discusses Terracene: A Crude Aesthetics (Duke, 2023), which considers the emergence of the Anthropocene as a new geological era in relation to the concurrent declaration of the War on Terror in the early 2000s. Playing on the words “terror” and “terra,” Mameni proposes the term “Terracene” in order to think of the planetary in conjunction with ongoing militarization of transnational regions under terror. The book engages contemporary art and aesthetic productions, paying particular attention to artists navigating the geopolitics of petrocultures and climate change. This talk also presents Mameni’s new work on extreme heat waves, flooding and cyclones in the southern coastal regions of Pakistan.

Time: 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Location: DeCerteau Room, Ridge Walk Academic Complex (RWAC) 335

Sponsored by: Mellon Foundation; Institute of Arts and Humanities (IAH); Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Studies; Nature, Space & Politics; Department of Ethnic Studies; Department of Literature

Join the Pacific Islander and Asian American Staff Association (PASA) for a Taiko Drum workshop with UCSD Recreation Instructor Jeff Onuma. Be sure to bring a water bottle and a towel!

Time: 12:00 p.m. (noon) - 1:00 p.m.

Location: UCSD Main Gym

RSVP: Registration required (limited spaces)

Sponsored by: Pacific Islander and Asian American Staff Association (PASA); UC San Diego Recreation

Join KOTX in their K-pop Random Play Dance (RPD). RPD is a medley of K-pop song choruses that play in random order for fans to dance to if they know the choreography. Attendees can show off their K-pop dance knowledge or watch and cheer on dancers.

Time: 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Location: Pacific Hall, UC San Diego

Sponsored by: KOTX

For more information, contact kotx@ucsd.edu

Looking for a lunch buddy? Stop by our "Bring your own" Pasifika Luncheon. Together we will be in community to highlight the beauty of connection throughout Oceania!

Time: 12:00 p.m. (noon) - 1:30 p.m.

Location: Roosevelt College Room, Price Center West (2nd Floor)

RSVP: Please register by May 16 at 12:00 p.m.

As part of the Student Health and Well-Being (SHW) Lunch and Learn Series, the panel will explore strategies to enhance the well-being of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) students. Drawing on research, data and real-world case examples, the presenters will offer insights into addressing clinical needs, service utilization and access to care for API student populations.

Time: 12:00 p.m. (noon) - 1:00 p.m.

Location: Murray's Place, UCSD Student Health Services

RSVP: Registration encouraged

Sponsored by: Student Health and Well-Being (Triton CORE, Student Health Analytics and Assessment)

A beginner-friendly K-pop dance workshop, all inclusive led by the student organization KOTX!

Time: 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Location: Pacific Hall, UC San Diego

Sponsored by: KOTX

For more information, contact kotx@ucsd.edu

Come experience some JOY at a Kpop photo card trading event hosted by Sharon Young and the Pacific Islander and Asian American Staff Association (PASA)! Participants are encouraged to bring their lunch and binders. All groups welcome!
Korean cream puffs by Mon Chourie provided~
Bring a bag for a ton of Kpop freebies and possible trivia prizes*

Time: 12:00 p.m (noon) - 1:00 p.m.

Location: Israni Biomedical Research Facility (IBRF) 1102

Sponsored by: Pacific Islander and Asian American Staff Association (PASA)

Join the community to connect with students, staff, and faculty in the Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Desi American (APIMEDA) community at UC San Diego and to celebrate the graduating students with the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Studies minor.

Time: 12:00 p.m. (noon) - 2:00 p.m. 

Location: Angela's Space (4th Floor of Oceanview Terrace underneath Oceanview Terrace, OVT, Dining Hall)

RSVP: Registration recommended

Sponsored by: APIMEDA Programs and Services; Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Studies

Join us for a screening of the documentary, New Wave at The Loft!

Mile-high hair. Synthesized music. Underground parties. Elizabeth Ai was on a mission to excavate an untold story of rebellious punks in the chaotic world of 80s Vietnamese new wave until she rediscovered a hidden past.

This film is free for members of the UC San Diego community with their ID.

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Location: The Loft, Price Center

Sponsored by: APIMEDA Programs and Services, Artpower

Aloha! Talofa! Hafa Adai!

Come celebrate graduation with PISA's Lei Making event! Come learn how to make candy and ribbon leis for either yourself and/or any friends graduating, all materials will be provided! When you RSVP, reserve a fresh ti leaf lei or a poni honi orchid lei from Leilani's Leis free of charge! There is limited quantity so first come first serve, students who can make the event will have first priority. Any leis left over will be available after the event.

Time: 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Location: Revelle College Room, Price Center

RSVP: Registration required to reserve the lei

Sponsored by: UC San Diego Pacific Islander Student Association

Come celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month with PASA! Food, drinks, and fun!

There will be a semi-hosted bar for sustained members of PASA.

Time: 4:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Location: Cutwater Tasting Room (9750 Distribution Ave, San Diego, CA 92121)

RSVP: Registration encouraged

Sponsored by: Pacific Islander and Asian American Staff Association

Join the Pacific Islander and Asian American Staff Association (PASA) for a Bollywood workshop with UCSD Recreation Instructor Pranathi Nagendrakumar. Be sure to bring a water bottle and a towel!

Time: 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.

Location: RIMAC Room 2

RSVP: Registration required (limited spaces)

Sponsored by: Pacific Islander and Asian American Staff Association (PASA); UC San Diego Recreation

The Asian Pacific Islander Alumni Council is hosting an in-person gathering and all alumni and the Triton community are invited to join us for the fun!

Current scholars – we hope you can take a break from your activities and classes to join us! If you are a recent graduate or haven’t connected with us before or if it has been a while, we hope to see you! Sign up today for this great opportunity to gather as community!

Time: 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Location: La Jolla - Address will be provided to Registered Attendees

RSVP: Registration required

Sponsored by: Asian Pacific Islander (API) Alumni Council

Come together with fellow staff to read, discuss, and learn from & with each other. For our spring read, in honor of Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month, we will be reading "All This Could Be Different" by Sarah Thankam Matthews.

Time: Noon - 1:30 p.m.

Location: Cross-Cultural Center | Price Center East Level 2

RSVP: Cross-Cultural Center (CCC) Website

Sponsored by: Cross-Cultural Center (CCC)