Learning to Serve: Building a Research-Practice Partnership to Improve Higher Education for Asian American and Pacific Islander Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 12:40 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Leadership, Higher Education, and Career Trajectories With AANHPI Communities (Table 3)

Abstract

Federal Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) funding is intended to serve the racialized needs of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students in higher education (HE). This requires institutions, and practitioners within them, to learn to move beyond colorblind norms in HE and offer race-conscious programming. We report on how a research-practice partnership (RPP) between an AANAPISI program at a large public university and a research team organized learning to ensure the AANAPISI program responds to the racialized contexts and needs of AAPI students. We share three core practices in the partnership that organizes learning: building on Asian American and Ethnic Studies, leveraging interdisciplinary expertise, and engaging in multi-level sensemaking. Implications are discussed.

Authors

• Ung-Sang Albert Lee, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Odorico San Nicolas, University of California - Los Angeles

• Xinghua Toby Wu, New York University

• Mike Hoa Nguyen, New York University

• Federick Ngo, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Caroline Hong, Queens College - CUNY

• Amy Wan, Queens College - CUNY

• Annabelle Park, Queens College - CUNY

• Soniya Munshi, Queens College - CUNY