Supporting our AAPI Community

OFFICE OF THE DEAN

Thursday 3/19/2021 7:00 p.m.

Dear Anderson Community,

As the tide of anti-Asian racism and violence across the country rises, many members of our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community are feeling great distress, fear and anger.

Once again, in this most difficult year, I am asking all of us — students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters — to pull together as a unified community to respond with compassionate support and dedicated action.

Most urgently, for those in our AAPI community who might need immediate emotional support and counsel, I am sharing links to our Student Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and to our Staff and Faculty Counseling Center. UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion offers a number of additional resources.

Aside from these professional services, it is the personal care and concern of our family, friends and colleagues that matter most. We can each make a difference today. I encourage each of you to reach out to anyone in our community – or beyond -- who you know is feeling hurt and frightened.

Beyond personal compassion and professional support, the Anderson community is also creating opportunities to share insights and build understanding that will prepare all of us to address generations of national systemic anti-Asian racism, and make a meaningful difference through purposeful acts, both large and small.

I am grateful to students across our programs, particularly the leadership of many of our AAPI identity clubs, and to our FEMBA Council, who are partnering with faculty and staff to build understanding of this issue and to provide our community with insights and tools to address it.

Tomorrow, we will launch a new series of AAPI initiatives that will include communications, conversations and workshops. We’ll begin by sharing a new podcast, “What People of Asian Descent in America Face Now,” an interview with Anderson professor and UCLA BruinX Associate Vice Chancellor Margaret Shih exploring current cultural and workplace conflicts.

When students return for spring quarter, we will share a calendar and details on a number of key initiatives that will be open to our entire community and draw on the expertise of our alumni and scholars across Anderson, UCLA and UC campuses. Among them are the following:

  • UCLA Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Anna Spain Bradley will lead a UCLA community-wide conversation on April 7.
  • The FEMBA Council and leaders from our AAPI identity clubs will follow that with an Anderson-specific conversation later in the month.
  • Professor Chris Tang and Matt Gorlick, director of student development and executive coach for the FEMBA and EMBA programs, will co-host an anti-Asian racism panel and dedicated intergroup dialog workshop, also in April.
  • Professor Noah Goldstein and Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Heather Caruso will co-sponsor an event with Red Canary Song and the International Institute.
  • Later in the quarter, scholars across campus will join us for a panel on “The History of Anti-Asian Racism in America.”
  • Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications Mary Osako will host a panel on “Effective Cross-Cultural Communications.”
  • Assistant Dean Heather Caruso and postdoctoral researcher Gautam Sood will conduct an intergroup dialog session on racial discrimination.
  • Professor Margaret Shih will host a custom workshop tentatively titled “A Call to Civility.”
  • Professor Chris Tang will lead a panel discussion on “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling.”
  • Leaders from across campus will host a panel on “Anti-Hate Advocacy.”

In the meantime, I want to encourage you all to join our broader UCLA community in the organized efforts of Stop AAPI Hate (in partnership with the UCLA Asian American Studies Center):

As Professor Chris Tang has often said and written, “We need to support love and speak against hate.” When anyone in our community is targeted, we must all stand up together in support and compassion.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management