Asian Americans Animosity and Academia

Fee: This event is FREE of charge.

The recent surge in hate crime toward Asian Americans results from a divided American society that has polarized the people for years. The culture of hate, attacking different views, and discrimination has poisoned people's judgments and brainwashed many who have made efforts to turn the current public health concern into a racial issue. One of the deep causes of hate crime embeds in the lack of understanding of each other's cultural differences. Without recognizing those differences, people easily make judgments based on self-criterion and attack those who do not share the same world of view.

Specifically, Asian American academicians have a distinctive set of values that enhances American universities and colleges. According to the Pew Research Center, "Compared with the general public, Asian Americans stand out for their success in education and career.” (Pew Research Center, 2021)

For this reason, the Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research, as an international research organization, in cooperation with various U.S. universities, will engage in discussion to identify the causes of the new level of xenophobia and do whatever we can to improve the value of an academic society where we experience a more humane and peaceful life.

AGENDA

          9:00 – 9:05 am - Opening and Welcoming remarks

Dr. Simone Cummings, Dean, George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology, Webster University, St. Louis, MO. Dr. Cummings is responsible for providing leadership, management, and oversight of all aspects of the Walker School, including program planning and development, supervising faculty, accreditation, and business and community engagement at more than sixty military, metro, and international locations.

          9:05 – 9:30 am- Keynote speaker - Professor Mary C. Szto

Mary C. Szto is a Teaching Professor at Syracuse University College of Law, where she teaches Asian Americans and the Law. Before entering teaching, Professor Szto practiced law in New York City. She also co-founded a legal aid organization specializing in immigration law.  Professor Szto has published articles on Chinese American property discrimination, real estate agents, anti-corruption law, Chinese law and ritual, and a bilingual text on American property law in China.  She regularly speaks on anti-Asian racism from a historical perspective and places current animus within the context of legal exclusion and conditional inclusion (the model assimilated minority).

         9:30 – 10:10 am - Panel discussions

Panel Chair: Dr. Ran Liu, Assistant Professor in the Marketing department at Central Connecticut State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Marketing with a minor in International Business from Old Dominion University, and his research focuses on online relationships, user-generated content (UGC), and International businesses. He serves as Associate Editor (Asia) for Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research (JEECAR) and Faculty Advisor for American Marketing Association Collegiate Chapter.

Ms. Yang Xinyu, Minister-Counselor, Chinese Embassy in the USA. Ms. Xinyu took the position of Minister Counsellor for Education of the Chinese Embassy in the USA in October 2018 after serving four years for the same position at the Chinese Embassy in Canada. She was the Deputy Secretary-General of China Scholarship Council, a national organization to provide funding for students and faculty mobility for 11 years since 2003. Ms. Yang received a Certificate of Recognition from Global Affairs Canada for her contribution to advancing Canada-China international education initiatives and programs. Yang was the guest speaker at international education conferences invited by AIEA, CBIE, IDP, EAIE, etc.

Dr. Kaustav Misra, Associate Dean, School of Business, Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). Dr. Misra has published in Economics of Education Review, Journal of Socio-Economics, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, and Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship. He received the Outstanding Research Award and the Outstanding Service Award in 2014 and 2017, and the Earl Warrick Award for Excellence in Research in 2018, respectively. He is a pro-community leader who took various initiatives and leadership roles and works with various associations to promote diversity and developing awareness in the tri-city area.

Dr. Jong Bum Kwon, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology in the Department of Global, Languages, Cultures, and Societies at Webster University, St. Louis, MO. He received his doctorate from New York University and is a former Fulbright Scholar and University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Kwon’s research areas include contemporary Korean society and race and racism in the United States. He has published on policing in Korea, multi-racial immigrant labor organizing in Koreatown Los Angeles, CA, and most recently co-edited and contributed articles to a special issue on the Ferguson Uprising in the American Ethnologist – “@Ferguson: Still Here in the Afterlives of Black Death, Defiance, and Joy."

Dr. Chu V. Nguyen, Associate Professor of Finance and former Chair of the FAEIS Department at the Marilyn Davies College of Business, University of Houston- Downtown. He earned an MA in Economics, an MS in Mathematics, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cincinnati. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tropical Star Enterprise, Inc. He once served as an economist and then the Head of the Economic Analysis and Forecasting Department at the 5th District of Federal Home Loan Bank System. He published over 85 publications in the reputable US and international peer-reviewed journals.

          10:10 – 10:25 am - Networking Session 1 (participants will be randomly assigned to multiple 5-6 people groups)

          10:25 - 10:40 am - Networking Session 2 (participants will be randomly assigned to multiple 5-6 people groups)

          10:40 am - Conclusion

Dr. Nikolay Megts, Adjunct Professor at GHW School of Business & Technology at Webster University, St. Louis, MO. Dr. Megits co-founded The Institute of Eastern Europe and Central Asia and is the Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed Journal of Easter European and Central Asian Research. In a short time, he managed the Journal to become internationally recognized and indexed by WoS, SCOPUS, ProQuest, and many other globally recognized academic databases. In 2020, he was awarded a Fulbright Specialist grant to the University of Zagreb, Croatia. Dr. Megits possess the highest scholarly rank in Ukraine as an Academic of the Ukrainian Academy of Economic Sciences. Besides, he organized and delivered many successful international workshops and academic events.

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We invite participants to express candid opinions about Asian-American academic values, cultural and racial inequality and discuss how research and academia, in general, can help resolve those issues.

The Journal JEECAR organizes the event in cooperation with Webster University GHB School of Business and Technology in St. Louis, MO.