Asian American Studies 2023 End of the Year Banquet 

On Friday May 26th, UC Davis Asian American Studies Department held our annual End of the Year Banquet at the UC Davis Conference Center Ballrooms. The event celebrated the 2022-23 school year graduating seniors and their achievements. The event also included presenting awards to acknowledge outstanding students who have made exceptional contributions to the department and the greater Asian American Pacific Islander community. We also acknowledged the department's accomplishments for the year which included the ASA-STS joint hiring, welcoming upcoming faculty member Dr. Natalia Duong who will be joining us in Fall 2024. Moreover, we highlighted the retiring ASA faculty members Dr. Robyn Rodriguez and Dr. Wendy Ho who together served over 40 years at Asian American Studies. This included speeches from undergraduate and graduate students who honored the two faculty members, sharing their stories and success here in UC Davis. The event also included a photo backdrop, made by Stacey Anne Baterina Salinas and a dance party from DJ Ray Valido. Lastly the guests ended the day exiting the Conference Center with boba drinks provided by local Davis boba shop RareTea. 

Thank you to the students, staff, faculty, alumni, retired faculty, campus affiliates and community members who joined us to celebrate a successful year. We also give our thanks to the UC Davis Conference Center, UC Davis Olive and Vine Catering, Davis RareTea, and DJ Ray Valido for their contribution to the event. Lastly we give our thanks to our Program Coordinator Angel Truong, SAO Joe Nguyen, Peer Advisors Nico Ong and Alexandra Slusser-Banh and graduate student Stacey Anne Baterina Salinas for their hard work on the logistics for the event from reserving the venue, DJ, and catering to decoration.