Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
May is Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Despite budget threats, UC Berkeley invests in six new tenure-track AA & PI specialists
UC Berkeley Ph.D. student leads walking tour highlighting East Asian history on campus
Remembering Our Waves: Lunch and Talk-Story with Thomas Mangloña II
Join on Thurs. 5/7 from noon-2pm
Announcing Berkeley’s Executive Director for AA & PI Thriving Initiatives
Terisa Siagatonu (she/they) will soon be joining Berkeley to lead APASD and AA & PI Thriving Initiatives
This Asian American & Pacific Islander (AA & PI) Heritage Month, we honor the cultures, traditions, and contributions of AA & PI communities at UC Berkeley and beyond.
The term “AA & PI” encompasses dozens of ethnic groups, including over 25 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States and over 7 million in California. At UC Berkeley, this diversity is reflected in our campus community where almost 38% of students and almost 24% of staff identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander. UC Berkeley is proud to be designated as an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) as part of its goal of supporting the diverse and complex needs of AA & PI students, faculty, and staff.
Since 2023, UC Berkeley is a designated Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI), a federal recognition that both celebrates the presence and impact of our AA & PI communities and calls us to deepen our responsibility to invest in their success, expand culturally responsive resources, and advance equity through sustained, intentional action.
Asian American & Pacific Islander (AA & PI) Thriving Initiatives
AA & PI Thriving Initiatives exist to foster a more inclusive campus climate for students, staff, and faculty from Asian American, Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian, Southwest Asian, and North African backgrounds.
Learn more about the AA & PI Thriving Initiatives and the AANAPISI designation.
Student Resources
- Over 50+ registered student organizations like Pacific Islanders at Berkeley and Cal Queer and Asian
- Asian Pacific Student Development (APASD)
- Asian American Political Alliance
- South Asian, Southwest Asian, and North African (SSWANA) Student Development Office
- UC Berkeley Asian American Research Center Pipeline for AANHPI Community Health
- University Health Services (UHS) resources focused on the the Asian American & Pacific Islanders (AA & PI) community at Berkeley
- Letters & Science Satellite Advising - Academic advising for College of Letters & Science students interested in deepening their connection with UC Berkeley’s Asian American, Pacific Islander, South Asian, Southwest Asian, and North African communities
Faculty and Staff Resources
- Asian Pacific American Systemwide Alliance (APASA), including the APASA Mentorship Program and Affinity Groups
- APASA is seeking volunteers for the 2026-27 Steering Committee! We welcome your interest and/or nominations for any of our open committee roles. This is a great opportunity to engage in professional development, meet amazing colleagues from all over campus, and contribute to the AA&PI staff community. To submit your interest or to nominate a colleague, please fill out our interest/nomination form by May 14, 2026.
- Filipinx Faculty and Staff Association (FFSA)
- Honoring Ancestry and Uniting Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans
- MENASA (Middle Eastern, North African, South Asian) Staff Organization
- UndocuAlly Spring 2026 Training
- It is important that we acknowledge the intersectional identities that exist within communities. While it is an issue that impacts several communities beyond Latinx, we would like to take this time to invite staff and faculty to join an upcoming UndocuAlly Training to learn about how to support undocumented students, especially in the current times. Visit the UndocuAlly page for more details and to sign up.
Task Forces/Advisory Bodies
Research, Centers, and Departments
- Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies
- Asian American Research Center
- East and Southeast Asian Studies Research Centers
- Center for Race & Gender
- Critical Pacific Islander Studies Library Guide
- Critical Pacific Islander Studies Collective (CPISC)
- Department of Ethnic Studies
- Department of South and South East Asian Studies
- East Asian Languages and Cultures
- Ethnic Studies Library
Read and Watch
- Announcing UC Berkeley’s inaugural Executive Director for Organizational Transformation, Asian American & Pacific Islander Thriving Initiatives
- Despite budget threats, UC Berkeley invests in six new tenure-track Asian American and Pacific Islands specialists
- What counts as 'Asian American literature,' anyway?
- The complex story of how the pandemic impacted the Asian American diaspora
- Legacy of Chiura Obata, artist and former UC Berkeley professor, endures on campus
- UC Berkeley Ph.D. student leads walking tour highlighting East Asian history on campus
- UC Berkeley receives $5 million grant to study Christianity among Asian American and Pacific Islander believers
- How instilling pride in their cultural heritage helps Asian American men flourish
- Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (ISSI) round table talk: Life in the Asian American Movement and After
- “First-Gen @ Cal” by fourth-year student Rico Bolos
- “Hi, I Studied Abroad in Tokyo” by fourth-year student Nina Takahashi
Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2026
A message from leadership to the campus community.
Events
- Pacific Islander Community Office Open Hours - weekly during Spring semester
- May 2, 2026: Pilipinx Culture Night (PCN) 50 “Sana Nandito Ka” (Wish You Were Here)
- May 5, 2026 from 6:30-8pm: SEALIVES-linked Event: Beyond Displacement: The Rohingya Struggle for Justice
- May 6, 2026: Filipinx Faculty & Staff Association Annual Pistahan Potluck
- May 6, 2026 from 3-4pm: 1 in 5: Priorities of AAPI Californians
- May 7, 2026: Remembering Our Waves: A Lunch & Talk-Story with alumni Thomas Mangloña II
- May 7, 2026 at 7pm: Film Screening – “Memoria”
- May 7, 2026 at 5pm: The Production of Buddhist Scrolls in Dunhuang Through Collaboration
- May 9, 2026 from 6-8pm: Southeast Asian Graduation Ceremony (SEAgrad)
- May 14, 2026 from 3-4:45pm at the Ethnic Studies Library, 30 Stephens Hall: APASA & Ethnic Studies Library Tour and Zine Workshop
- May 14, 2026: Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month Dinner at all dining commons (Café 3, Clark Kerr, Crossroads, and Foothill)
- May 16, 2026: Pasifika Graduation
Recent past events
- Spring 2026 Semester Lecture Series co-presented by the Asian American Political Activation Program and Dr. Robyn Rodriguez: We Are Not Immigrants: Unsettling Asians in ‘America Lecture Series
- March 3-5, 2026: Critical Pacific Islander Studies Artist Residency with Kerri Ann “Ifit” Na’puti Borja
- March 9, 2026: 'Aina as Pedagogy with Kimeona Kāne & Ethan Chang
- March 9, 2026: "Ua lawa mākou i ka pōhaku: On answerability, ʻāina, and anagrammatical designs for life-giving learning"
- March 10, 2026: Answerable Research Practice Partnerships: Practicing Aloha 'Āina, Cultivating Pilina, and Co-producing Knowledge Accountable to Hawai'i
- March 9-12: Native Seas: Traditional Micronesian Navigators Visit the Bay Area
- March 18, 2026: “Standing Above the Clouds”: A Film Screening & Fireside Conversation
- March 25, 2026: Voices of AAPI Communities: March Briefing on Immigration and the Economy
- April 13-16, 2026: Critical Southeast Asian American Studies Scholar in Residency with Elijah Chhum
- April 13 2026 from 6pm-7:30pm: Transnational Healing Movement
- April 15, 2025 from 6pm-7:30pm: Building Pathways toward Refugee Scholarship
- April 16, 2026 from 3-4pm: Student Wellness Hours with Elijah
- April 16, 2026 from 5:30-7pm: Facing Fear Together: Student Empowerment Workshop
- April 25, 2026: 6th Annual OMAOCh Conference: How Our Waters Remember
- April 29, 2026: 2026 AAPI Policy Priorities briefing
Research
AAPI Data is a leading research and policy organization producing accurate data to shift narratives and drive action toward enduring solutions for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. AAPI Data is based at UC Berkeley and regularly publishes surveys, demographic reports, and policy reports and provides strategic assistance to partners in community-serving nonprofits, government, media, and philanthropy.
- Resource Guide | One in Five: Priorities of AA & PI Californians
- 2026 Policy Priorities Survey: The latest survey on the issues that matter most to AA & PIs, such as cost of living, immigration, healthcare, and more.
- Give in May: A fundraising campaign to boost philanthropic power during AANHPI Heritage Month
Dr. Brian TaeHyuk Keum
Dr. Brian TaeHyuk Keum is an acting associate professor in Community Health Sciences at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. His research focuses on (a) mental and behavioral costs of online discrimination and violence (e.g., online racism, online heterosexism, online gendered racism), (b) Asian American mental health, socialization, and intersectional forms of discrimination (e.g., gendered racism, gendered racial microaggressions), and (c) multicultural and social justice-oriented psychotherapy science. Keum’s work examines culturally informed risk and protective factors related to suicide, as well as gendered racial socialization and pathways to affirmative socialization and flourishing mental health among Asian Americans. He also leads NIH-funded research developing culturally responsive digital mental health interventions and explores the use of digital storytelling to promote anti-racism advocacy and cross-racial solidarity.
Dr. Long Le-Khac
Dr. Long Le-Khac is an assistant professor of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on the culture and literature of Asian Americans, Latinxs, and other racial minority communities. He studies the powers of culture to reveal related struggles and envision solidarities across different racial groups.
He is the author of Giving Form to an Asian & Latinx America. His recent work includes the development of a major dataset on Asian American literature, which uses digital humanities approaches to track the formation of the canon of Asian American literature and scrutinize its inequalities.
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