Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Asian American Studies Center, it is with sincere gratitude that I inform you that Professor Robert Teranishi has concluded his two terms as holder of the Morgan and Helen Chu Endowed Chair in Asian American Studies. He will continue to serve as the co-director for the UCLA Institute for Immigration, Globalization and Education and pursue his research interests on race, ethnicity, and the stratification of college opportunity.

Professor Teranishi was appointed in 2013 as inaugural chair holder, when he joined the UCLA faculty as part of the Department of Social Science and Comparative Education in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Teranishi is an expert on the causes and consequences of inequality in higher education and his research has been influential to federal, state, and institution policy related college access and affordability. He has provided congressional testimony regarding the Higher Education Reauthorization Act and No Child Left Behind, informed state policy decisions related to selective college admissions, and his research has been solicited to inform U.S. Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action and school desegregation. He received his Ph.D. in Higher Education and Organizational Change from UCLA.

Teranishi has received numerous awards from national higher education organizations, including the Center’s 2020-21 C. Doris and Toshio Hoshide Distinguished Teaching Prize in Asian American Studies and the 2021-22 Don T. Nakanishi Award for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship in Asian American & Pacific Islander Studies. He is also the recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award and Daniel E. Griffiths Research Award at New York University. He has been named one of the nation's top "up-and-coming" leaders by Diverse Issues in Higher Education and ranked by Education Weekly as one of the nation's most influential education scholars. In 2011, he was appointed by Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan to the U.S. Department of Education's Equity and Excellence Commission and in 2014 he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Board of Education Sciences. He is author of the critically acclaimed, "Asian Americans in the Ivory Tower: Dilemmas of Racial Inequality in American Higher Education" (Teacher's College Press, 2010).

"It has been my honor to serve as the inaugural Morgan and Helen Chu Endowed Chair in Asian American Studies. Over the past decade, these funds have been applied to a number of efforts to advance equity and social justice for AANHPI issues in education, including building the research capacity of postsecondary institutions in Hawai`i and the U.S. Pacific Islands to leverage data and inquiry to inform policies and practices to improve college access and success among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students and to engage in research activities related to the disparate impact of the pandemic on the Asian American community and ways to mitigate these harmful effects," said Teranishi.

I want to personally thank Rob for his extraordinary scholarship, dedication to students, and leadership as Chu Chair in Asian American Studies. During his tenure, he has provided critical guidance and expertise for the Center's multimedia textbook project and UCLA's designation as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution that will provide significant resources to address the needs of underserved AANHPI students.

The Chu Endowed Chair in Asian American Studies was made possible by the generosity of Center Co-Founders and UCLA Alumni Morgan and Helen Chu. A leading intellectual property attorney, Morgan Chu is a recipient of the UCLA Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the university. He received a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from UCLA, a M.S.L. from Yale, and a J.D. from Harvard. He has been named one of the "Top Ten Trial Lawyers" in the nation. Helen Chu served for many years as an elementary school teacher and, with her husband, has been involved in numerous philanthropic endeavors.

Please join me in thanking Professor Teranishi for his outstanding service and contributions to UCLA and beyond. We are truly privileged to have been the beneficiaries of his leadership and his exceptional dedication.

Professor Karen Umemoto, PhD
Helen and Morgan Chu Endowed Director's Chair
UCLA Asian American Studies Center