Margo Okazawa-Rey Summer Fellowship

Margo Okazawa-Rey Summer Fellowship

Asian American Studies has a tradition of community engagement and working towards a more just society. As such, IDAAS established the Margo Okazawa-Rey Summer Fellowship. This Fellowship is designed to encourage outstanding college students to implement community-based, creative, or research projects that integrate social justice, multi- racial solidarity, and feminism.

The program honors Margo Okazawa-Rey’s outstanding work towards social justice. Okazawa-Rey is among the first generation of mixed-race children born to a Japanese “war bride” and an African American soldier. With an Ed.D. in education from Harvard University, she currently is a professor in the School of Human and Organizational Development at the Fielding Graduate University and a professor emerita at San Francisco State University. Her work examined the connections between militarism, economic globalization and impacts on women of color. She is the author of “Amerasian Children of GI Town: A Legacy of US Militarism in South Korea,” and with Gwyn Kirk, co-editor of “Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives (5th ed., 2009). Her latest publication, “Activist Scholarship: Antiracism, Feminism, and Social Change,” is co-edited with Julia Sudbury. In 2006, Okazawa-Rey was the Scholar/Practitioner-in- Residence in the Intercollegiate Department of Women Studies at the Claremont Colleges

IDAAS awards one or two Margo Okazawa-Rey Summer Fellowships each year. The awards are given on a competitive basis for student-initiated, interdisciplinary projects. The project may be creative, research-oriented, or community “service”/social justice oriented.

The Fellowship is intended to enable individulas to undertake a community-based, creative, or research project in any context, although work pursued in Asian and Pacific Islander communities will be prioritized. The project may involve working with an existing organization or may involve initiating a new effort beside a marginalized community. Projects may focus on any social issue such as reproductive health, AIDS education, sex-trafficking, peace education, and affordable housing. Students are encouraged to conceptualize their projects in ways that make the connections between domestic issues and international/transnational events, trends, and forces.

Click here to learn more about applying to the fellowship.

Past Margo Okazawa-Rey Summer Fellowship recipients:

  • 2009: Leora Aquino, Pitzer: (Film) Agbayani Village
  • 2011: Alda Caan, Pitzer: (Workshops) Prototypes
  • 2011: Evyn Espiritu, Pomona: (Film) Vietnam and Diaspora
  • 2011: Samuel Pang, Pomona: (Book) Malaysia, Food, Immigration
  • 2012: Siwaraya Rochanahusdin: (Visual) Thai Temple Mobilization
  • 2013: Maya Espiritu, Scripps: (Books) Vietnamese Immigration after the Fall of Saigon
  • 2013: Alex Bell, Patrick Liu, Tyler Oe, Pomona: (Workshops) Camp STEP!
  • 2013: Laiseng Saechao, Scripps: (Film) Developing Comm[unity]
  • 2014: Danie Diamond, Scripps: (Study) Success/Health of Trans* Students of Color
  • 2014: Pamela Ng, Scripps: (Zine) Hxtories & Feminisms in Los Angeles
  • 2014: Natalie Yau, Sheena Iwamoto, Scripps: (Curriculum) Empowering Education for Disabled Students
  • 2015: Reynaldo Culannay Jr., Pitzer: (Photos) Equality Through the Lens
  • 2015: Erica Robinson, Pitzer: (Zine) Adoptee Experiences
  • 2016: Kristen Park, Pitzer: (Campaign) For My Asian Sisters
  • 2016: Teofanny Saragi, Pomona: (Film) Stories from Southeast Asian Communities
  • 2016: Nahlee Lin, Pomona: (Curriculum) [Summer] Tongan Education Program
  • 2017: Peter Cha, Pomona: (Study) Post-1995 Vietnamese Identity
  • 2017: Eugine Choo, Pomona: (Study) Korea’s Feminist Reboot
  • 2017: Vy Thuy Doan, Pomona: (Creative Mental Health Resource) Sew & Tell
  • 2017: Kimberly Ha, Pitzer: (Oral Histories) Vietnamese Nail Salon Workers
  • 2017: Jamie Zhou, Claremont McKenna: (Study) Culture and Body Conceptualization
  • 2018: Shreya Basu, Scripps: (Film) Health Beyond Borders: Fi
  • 2018: Rebecca Liu, Pitzer: (Website) Racial Formation Among Korean Adoptees
  • 2018: Kia Vue, Pitzer: (Zine) Hmong American Women in Patriarchal Society
  • 2018: Krystle Yu, Pitzer: (Study) Anti-Blackness Within Asian American Communities