Dr. Thuy Vo Dang Curator for the Southeast Asian Archive at UC Irvine Thuy Vo Dang holds a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego and has conducted research and taught courses on race and ethnicity, oral history, cultural studies, immigration and refugee studies. She is now Assistant Professor at UCLA. Thuy serves on the Board of Directors for Arts Orange County and the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association, both nonprofit arts organizations. She was featured in the OC Weekly’s Inaugural People Issue as the “Studs Terkel of Little Saigon” and received the “Public Image Award” from Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Thuy is co-author of Vietnamese in Orange County, published in 2015, and is currently working on A People’s Guide to Orange County (forthcoming, UC Press), a book project that foregrounds marginalized stories of the region through a social justice lens. Part of a research team awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian grant in the community anchors category, she researches the intersection between ethnic studies theory and community archives practice. Dr. Thao Ha Professor of Sociology at MiraCosta College Thao was born in Vietnam and came as a refugee to the U.S. in 1975 as part of Operation Frequent Wind. She grew up in Houston, Texas, and earned her Doctorate in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin. She is passionate about social justice, equity, lifting up those in need, and empowering others to reach their full potential. Aside from teaching, she owns an online jewelry business (www.thaoha.com) and donates 100% of net proceeds to the MiraCosta Foundation and other philanthropic organizations. Thao currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Oceanside Promise, a non-profit organization that brings the community together to ensure Oceanside’s children and young adults reach their fullest potential in college, career, and life. She’s an associate producer of the documentary film, “Seadrift” (2019), which was inspired by her research and book chapter on Vietnamese refugees in Texas’s fishery industry and the KKK. Dr. Jade Hidle Vietnamese Culture & Art Educator Dr.Hidle holds an MFA in creative writing from CSU Long Beach and a PhD in literature from UC San Diego. She writes about topical issues in Vietnamese art and culture, as well as her experiences growing up as a second-generation, mixed-race Vietnamese in Southern California. She holds an MFA in creative writing from CSU Long Beach and a PhD in literature from UC San Diego. She is a faculty member in the Letters Department at MiraCosta College. As a featured writer for the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network’s website, diacritics.org, she contributes articles on topical issues in Vietnamese art and culture, as well as essays about her experiences growing up as a second-generation, mixed-race Vietnamese in Southern California. Her work has also appeared in the New Delta Review, International Journal of Comic Art, Spot Literary Magazine, Beside the City of Angels: An Anthology of Long Beach Poetry, Word River, and The Ethnic Studies Review. |
