DATE: Thursday, May 12, 2022
TIME: 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. EDT
LOCATION: Zoom

Join the Cornell Asian Alumni Association and our campus partners the Asian and Asian American Center (A3C), and the Asian American Studies Program (AASP) at Cornell for a spotlight panel as we kick off Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!

Have you ever wondered about the work that goes on behind the curtain that the A3C and AASP do to help Asian and Asian American students thrive on campus? Learn about the history of these two programs, as well as the projects and initiatives that they are working on currently, followed by an audience Q&A. This event will feature the Program Director of the Asian American Studies Program, Dr. Christine Bacareza Balance, and the Kent G. Sheng ’78 Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Asian and Asian American Center, Dr. Nancy Martinsen. Moderated by Marvin Chang MBA ’98.

Prior to the event, please send in questions to caaa.programming@gmail.com.

Speaker Bios:

Dr. Christine Bacareza Balance, Program Director for the Asian American Studies Program
Christine Bacareza Balance is Associate Professor of Performing & Media Arts and Asian American Studies. Her first book, Tropical Renditions: Making Musical Scenes in Filipino America (Duke University Press, 2016), examines how the performance and reception of post-World War II Filipino/Filipino American popular music compose Filipino identities, publics, and politics. It received the Best First Book award from the Filipino Studies caucus of the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS). Her current book project, Making Sense of Martial Law, analyzes how the former President Ferdinand Marcos and First Lady Imelda Marcos employed the sensorial and sensational, during their 21-year dictatorial rule, and how U.S.- and Philippines-based performances, events, and cultural objects critique the “Marcosian imaginary,” modeling new forms of cultural memory. With Prof. Lucy San Pablo Burns (UCLA), she is co-editor of the artist-scholar anthology, California Dreaming: Movement & Place in the Asian American Imaginary (University of Hawai’i Press, 2020).

Dr. Nancy Martinsen, Kent G. Sheng ’78 Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Asian and Asian American Center
Nancy Martinsen is an Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Asian & Asian American Center at Cornell. She received her B.A. in Human Communication with an emphasis in Journalism and Media Studies from California State University, Monterey Bay. She earned her M.A. in Education with a concentration in Counseling and Student Personnel at San Jose State University. In Fall 2017 she completed her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at San Francisco State University, her dissertation was titled “Supporting Pacific Islander Student Success in Higher Education through Culturally Sustaining Leadership.” She has prior student affairs experience in Admissions and Outreach and Student Equity and Success. Nancy utilizes the strengths of her Filipina culture to guide her leadership and she strives to create a sense of belonging for students.