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Symposium on Enhancing the Experiences of Students of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Middle Eastern Descent 

Feb 11-13, 2025 | Times 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

This in-person Symposium is a multi-day, learning opportunity whose goal is to increase awareness of the experiences of students of Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, and Asian descent at UC San Diego.

The topic of focus this year is to explore UC San Diego's Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) designation. The theme of the 2025 symposium is transforming from simply serving students to creating an environment in which students can thrive. 

Participants are encouraged to attend all days and participate fully across the workshops and lectures curated to engage participants to learn more about our diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander student populations and to consider ways to create environments that best support our students. 

Symposium 2025 Learning Outcomes

  1. Participants will understand what an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) designation is. 
  2. Participants will be able to state what UC San Diego’s status is as an AANAPISI and as a Minority Serving Institution.
  3. Participants will develop the skills to identify needs and gaps for students who identify as Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander.
  4. Participants will leave with at least one action plan to increase support for Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander students from their positionality on campus.

What is an AANAPISI?

AANAPISI stands for Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution. AANAPISI is a federal designation from the United States Department of Education. AANAPISI-designated institutions are eligible to apply to receive grants and related assistance to improve and expand their capacity to serve Asian American, Native American Pacific Islanders, and low-income students.

Note: Students of Middle Eastern descent are not included within the the AANAPISI federal designation.

More information about UC San Diego's AANAPISI designation is available on the EDI website.

Who are Students of Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern Descent?

The broad group of student identities and student experiences focused on in this symposium mean it is essential to specifically define these identities to accurately understand how students engage with the campus.  Since these are used in an American context, even to describe our international students, information will draw on how these identities have been constructed in the United States.

Due to the vastly different experiences students from these backgrounds may experience, the word "Descent" is used to illustrate that ancestral origin ties these groups of students together, rather than nationality.

Asian

The term Asian has historically been used to describe people having origins in the continent of Asia, however the US Census (and other US government agencies) defines Asian as people with origins or ancestry in the Far East, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.  Individuals with ancestral origins in West Asia are typically categorized as Middle Eastern.

According to the UC Office of the President, the term Asian refers to Asian Indian, Bangladeshi, Cambodian, Chinese, East Indian, Filipino, Hmong, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Other Asian.

Pacific Islander

The term Pacific Islander generally refers to the indigenous people from Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. While the US Census had grouped Pacific Islanders with Asian Americans in 1980, it is generally agreed that a grouping of “Asian Pacific Islander” typically masks the needs of Pacific Islander peoples, as they are a very small population in the United States.

According to the UC Office of the President, Pacific Islander refers to Fijian, Guamanian/Chamorro, Native Hawaiian,  Samoan, Tongan, and Other Pacific Islander.

Middle Eastern

The term Middle Eastern is a term first used by the British. The term was coined to refer to its location east of Britain, with the areas centered around China being the “Far East” and the areas around the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea being the “Near East”. An American Naval strategist later used the term Middle Eastern to describe an area made up of what had been both the Near East and the Middle East and discussed its importance to passage for the British military.

It is important to note that many groups, including the UC Office of the President, are using the term “Southwest Asian and North African”, or SWANA, interchangeably with Middle Eastern. SWANA is a term to distinguish the region geographically from a non-Eurocentric or Western perspective.  SWANA peoples come from a diversity of ethnic backgrounds, which can be reflected in the number of languages spoken, religions practiced, and cultural traditions that exist.  At this time, people who identify as an ethnicity within SWANA on the US Census or with the US Departments of Education and Justice are counted in demographic information as "White".

According to the UC Office of the President, SWANA refers to Afghan, Algerian, Armenian, Assyrian/Chaldean, Azerbaijani, Bahraini, Berber, Circassian, Djiboutian, Egyptian, Emerati, Georgian, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Jordanian, Kurdish, Kuwaiti, Lebanese, Libyan, Mauritanian, Moroccan, Omani, Palestinian, Qatari, Saudi Arabian, Somali, Sudanese, Syrian, Tunisian, Turkish, White/Middle Eastern, White/North African, Yemeni, Other North African, Other Southwest Asian.

SCHEDULE

Each day of the Symposium will have a specific focus, allowing participants to actively engage as well as reflect on their learnings.  A simplified summary of each day is provided and a more detailed schedule will be provided once we are closer to the date of the symposium.

Feb 11, 2025

This day focuses primarily on introducing our topic and hearing from our keynote speaker

  • More details to come!

Feb 12, 2025

This day focuses primarily on breakout sessions to engage in and advance our learning.

  • More details to come!

Feb 13, 2025

This day focuses primarily on knowledge integration, reflecting on how we can put into practice our learning from the symposium into our everyday work.

  • More details to come!

Committee Members

This symposium would not be possible without the planning and organizing efforts of the entire committee. These are staff and faculty members who are champions of advancing our collective efforts toward creating a campus environment that enhances the experiences of students of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Middle Eastern descent as well as all students at UC San Diego.

Symposium Committee Members

Coming Soon!