U-M AAAPI Alumni Club

Our first Fireside Chat is coming up! Join us virtually on Wednesday, October 7 (6-7 PM ET) as we sit down with Dr. Mingyan Liu, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering.
Michigan Engineering

Free registration required:
https://umalumni.my.site.com/s/lt-event?id=a1QUS00000CskLV2AZ

A couple weekends ago, we went to the Umbrella Arts Festival, which was organized by our own alumna Melissa Raman Molitor in . It was a well organized event with Asian craft and food vendors, performances, and other activities! Proud to see all our alumni in Chicagoland are up to in making an impact on their communities!

University of Michigan Club of Greater Chicago - UMCGC Evanston ASPA

Michigan alumna Melissa Raman Molitor is planning this event today in Evanston, a north suburb of Chicago! Come if you can!

🎉 TODAY’S THE DAY! 🎉

Join us at the Umbrella Arts Festival for a full day of art, food, performances, shopping, and community celebration ☂️✨

📅 May 30, 2026
⏰ 12 PM – 5 PM
📍 Fountain Square — Downtown Evanston
🎟️ FREE & open to all!

Come explore incredible local artists, small businesses, cultural organizations, live performances, delicious food vendors, and so much more 🌏💖

Bring your friends, family, and neighbors—we can’t wait to celebrate with you!

🌐 https://champ.ly/UO2ml2dV

The Department of American Culture, Asian/Pacific Islander American (APIA) Studies, represented by its new Director, Associate Professor Dr. Melissa Borja, and Assistant Professor Dr. Retika Adhikari, honored the first recipients of the AAUM Asian/Asian American Pacific Islander (A/AAPI) group’s endowed fund to support APIA Studies at Michigan: graduate students Henry Chen (research on socio-cultural aspects of the Chinese Exclusion Act), Wren Palmer (research on mainstream media depictions of Pacific Islander warrior culture), Gina Hsu (research on responses to invasive aquaculture from Asia), and undergraduate student Paolo Poquiz (research on activism in rural communities). President Ed Sim, Secretary Tak Takahashi, VP of Scholarships Ram Ramanujam, and Lecturer Roland Hwang represented the AAUM A/AAPI group. We look forward to hearing more from these scholars in the future!

The APIA Studies endowed fund will annually award students conducting APIA studies research. The A/AAPI group has three scholarship funds supporting the Maize and Blue Cupboard, School of Engineering and APIA Studies. Please consider donating at the below links:

Support of the Maize and Blue Cupboard https://lnkd.in/eqRwQgVV

Support of the Engineering School Student Success and Wellness Fund
https://lnkd.in/dqxp6GMY

Support of the Asian/Pacific Islander Studies program https://lnkd.in/efS_A6NK

Last Saturday, Michigan alum Alice Chow, a Human Relations Commissioner with the Village of Wilmette, a northern suburb of Chicago, organized their fourth AAPI Festival to celebrate diverse Asian cultures. It included family-friendly crafts, good food from local restaurants, and cultural performances, all from a diversity of Asian and Pacific Islander American cultures. The event was fun for all and we are already looking forward to Wilmette's fifth AAPI festival next year!

University of Michigan Club of Greater Chicago - UMCGC Wilmette Park District Wilmette Chamber of Commerce Wilmette Public Library

Join fellow Michigan Alums and their families at the Village of Wilmette’s AAPI Heritage Month Festival, a family friendly event organized by UM A/AAPI Michigan alum and Wilmette Human Relations Commissioner Alice Chow, to celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander culture and heritage.

The festival will have food, crafts, and interactive booths and performances. The event is free for the public.

Please contact Jacob Molewyk at [email protected] to coordinate a meet up time and place to enjoy the festival together as a group of UM Alumni.

May 2, 2026 (Sat)
1 – 4:00 PM CT
Wilmette Community Recreation Center
3000 Glenview Road, Wilmette, IL 60091

University of Michigan Club of Greater Chicago - UMCGC

The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month Festival is next weekend on Saturday, May 2! Come join us at the Community Recreation Center from 1pm to 4pm, as we celebrate AAPI culture from across the world with various demonstrations, performances, and food! Check wilmette.gov/AAPI for updates.

The University of Michigan A/AAPI Alumni Club was deeply honored to co-host the National Asian Pacific American Museum Commission’s Ann Arbor Convening and Listening Session.

We welcomed Commission Co-Vice Chair Tina Wei Smith and Commissioner Dennis Cheng to campus.

This event allowed our community of alumni, students, and advocates to discuss foundational questions about the potential National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture.

Thank you to our co-hosts for this partnership: the Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies at the University of Michigan, Division of Student Life, Office of Access & Opportunity, and the Museum Studies Program University of Michigan. We were proud to provide a space where local and regional Michigan voices could help shape this national legacy.

Learn more about this historic project and share your own input with the Commission by visiting National Asian Pacific American Museum Commission

TAAF joins our South Asian and Southeast Asian friends in celebrating the new beginnings and joy that come with the new year.