Vice Chancellor for Equity & Inclusion Dania Matos and Vice Chancellor for Research Kathy Yelick issued the following campus-wide message on May 10, 2023:
Dear Campus Community,
With great joy, I am sharing the good news that UC Berkeley is officially an Asian American, Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution* (AANAPISI). The Department of Education recently approved our request, giving us the opportunity to apply for funding and build strategic relationships that expand the support, resources, and services we offer to Asian American and Pacific Islander (AA and PI) people and communities across campus. This is something for UC Berkeley to be proud of because it affirms the hard work, leadership, and care that have gone into making this aspiration a new reality.
Pursuing and securing this designation qualifies UC Berkeley as a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), bolstering our pursuit of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). I want to recognize and thank the Director of Asian Pacific American Student Development and UC Berkeley’s AANAPISI/MSI Designate Eunice Kwon; the Deputy Director of the Berkeley Research Development Office Dr. Panos Vagenas; and the Asian American & Pacific Islander Standing CommitteeThey co-led a brilliant, coordinated team of campus partners to pursue AANAPISI designation, and I look forward to supporting them as they begin planning and implementation work.
In March and in partnership with the Division of Student Affairs, we announced the appointment of Dr. Lisa Hirai Tsuchitani as the inaugural Director of Engagement for AA and PI Thriving Initiatives. Dr. Tsuchitani, a faculty member in the Asian American & Asian Diaspora Studies Program of the Department of Ethnic Studies, will guide the development of a campus-wide AA and PI framework, vision, and strategy that helps to realize our federal status as an AANAPISI-serving institution, centering antiracism as a core institutional value.
When we create a campus that uplifts Asian American and Pacific Islander people and communities, we help create a campus that uplifts all people and communities. I am thrilled that we can now celebrate this important milestone that moves closer to our collective thriving goals, and I invite you to celebrate with me. Stay connected to our work by visiting the newly-created Creating an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Thriving Institution web page.
In community,
Dania Matos
she/her/ella
Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion
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*The term "Native American Pacific Islander" used by the federal government in this context means any descendant of the aboriginal people of any island in the Pacific Ocean that is a territory or possession of the United States. For more information, see federal definitions.