Subscribe to our newsletter by emailChancellor’s Living Our Values Award Recipient Andy Nguyen Le Designates His Gift to the UCI Libraries’ Southeast Asian Archive
Each year, the Chancellor's Living Our Values award "honors faculty, staff and students whose actions best embody the university's values of respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation and fun." Of the eleven individuals selected for the 2014 awards, one honoree has a close connection to the UCI Libraries Southeast Asian Archive. A perk that comes with the award is the opportunity to direct funds toward a campus program or unit of the honoree's choice. Andy Nguyen Le, a campus leader and honoree, chose the Southeast Asian Archive for these reasons:
"As a recent first-generation Vietnamese-American college graduate, the Southeast Asian Archive was a powerful foundation to my student activism and understanding of the Southeast Asian refugee experience. I am honored to make a contribution to a transformative space that has empowered multiple generations to reclaim Southeast Asian voices and stories that still remain forgotten in chapters of America's history. I welcome current and future Southeast Asian undergraduates to continue the movement in their hearts and become the forefront of our resilient diasporic communities."
A 2014 UCI graduate, Andy majored in criminology, law, and society. Some of Andy's significant achievements include co-founding the Southeast Asian Student Association (SASA) in 2012. In its first year, his organization won the Anteater Award for "most promising new group." Andy interned at the Student Outreach and Retention (SOAR) Center where he developed and facilitated a new leadership class called "Southeast Asian Retention through Creating History-SEARCH" during winter and spring of 2014. The peers Andy mentored look to him as a role model and trusted advocate.
In his senior year, he met regularly with Dr. Thuy Vo Dang in the Southeast Asian Archive and brought SASA and SEARCH groups through for orientations, tours, and instruction sessions. His efforts culminated in a short promotional video he created about the importance of the Southeast Asian Archive as a resource for students and the community at large. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rudh23GBqBE
The UCI Libraries thank Andy for his support and we continue to nurture new generations of scholars and leaders in their efforts to share their stories, create spaces of understanding, and make a difference.
For further information, please contact Thuy Vo Dang, Archivist, Southeast Asian Archive & Regional History at 949-824-1878 or thuy.vodang@uci.edu