UBC experts on Asian Heritage Month

UBC experts are available to comment on various topics this Asian Heritage Month.

Anti-Asian racism and society

Dr. John Paul Catungal (he/him)
Assistant Professor, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, and Interim Program Director of the Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies program
Email: catungal@mail.ubc.ca, jpcatungal@gmail.com
Language(s): English, some Tagalog/Filipino

  • History of anti-Asian racism in Canada; Asian Canadian community organizing, especially in relation to health, social services, education and policymaking; migration and transnationalism; gender and sexuality as Asian Canadian issues; Filipino Canadian issues; solidarity building among Asian Canadians and with other marginalized communities; difference and inequality among Asian Canadians; COVID-19 and Asian Canadians

Dr. Carol Liao
Associate Professor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, and Director of the Centre for Business Law
Email: liao@allard.ubc.ca
Language(s): English

  • Anti-Asian racism, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), employment, business ethics, and law

Dr. Guofang Li
Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Language and Literacy Education
Email: guofang.li@ubc.ca
Language(s): English, Chinese

  • Anti-Asian racism, model minority myth, Asian cultural diversity; Asian children and students’ languages and identities

Immigrant experiences and challenges

Salima Samnani
Lecturer and Co-Director of Legal Services, Peter A. Allard School of Law
Phone: 604-345-6881
Email: samnani@allard.ubc.ca
Language(s): English

  • What it means to be an Asian immigrant in Canada, challenges faced when adjusting to a new life in Canada, and barriers to entry in social activities and high-level jobs.

Dr. Yue Qian (she/her)
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
Email: yue.qian@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English (preferred), Mandarin

  • Sexual racism experienced by Asian men, immigrants’ need for love and companionship, rise of anti-Asian hate during COVID-19 pandemic

*limited availability on Tuesdays

Dr. Miu Chung Yan
Professor, School of Social Work
Email: miu.yan@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English, Cantonese

  • Chinese and Hong Kong immigrants’ settlement and integration issues; racism against Asians

STEM, science and innovation

Dr. William Cheung
Professor and Director, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Email: w.cheung@oceans.ubc.ca
Language(s): English, Cantonese

  • Role modelling in STEM, climate change, oceans, fisheries, biodiversity

Dr. Maria Palomares
Senior Scientist and Manager of Sea Around Us Research Unit, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Email: m.palomares@oceans.ubc.ca
Language(s): English, French, Tagalog, Spanish

  • The importance of role modelling in STEM, fisheries science, fish biology, biodiversity information systems, Sea Around Us and SeaLifeBase.

Maria Tokuyama, PhD (she/her)
Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Science
Email: maria.tokuyama@ubc.ca
Language(s): English

  • Having a justice, equity, diversity and inclusion mindset in research, Asian women in STEM

Dr. Siyun Wang
Associate Professor of Food Safety Engineering, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Email: siyun.wang@ubc.ca
Language(s): Mandarin

  • Food science, food safety, food microbiology, STEM-driven innovation

Dr. Rickey Yada (he/him)
Dean and Professor, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Email: r.yada@ubc.ca
Language(s): English

  • Food Science, innovation, food systems, food waste, food policy, agricultural policy, food protein chemistry, enzymes (aspartic proteases), carbohydrate biochemistry, food nanotechnology.

*Unavailable May 26-27

History

Dr. Laura Ishiguro (she/her)
Associate Professor, Department of History
Email: Laura.Ishiguro@ubc.ca
Language(s): English

  • Japanese-Canadian history