Asian American Heritage Conference

Students have some interesting events to look forward to the week back from spring break with the 15th Annual Asian-American Heritage Conference "Human Rights: From Dialogue to Action," taking place from Mar 31 to Apr. 1.

Some highlights include a screening and live discussion with Chicago-based students who are volunteering in Bhopal, India where one of the worst industrial disasters occurred 25 years ago, presentations on globalization, climate change and environmental justice and the celebration of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year to name a few.

Some students may be wondering why Northeastern Illinois University holds all these different conferences every month. According to Yasmin Ranney, Assistant Dean of Academic Development, there are four main reasons why NEIU holds the various heritage conferences. "We are preparing our students for global citizenship," Ranney said. "We want to foster respect, understanding and appreciation of the many cultures that come together on our university's campus to pursue higher education, with the help of the various heritage conferences."  Regarding the conference taking place this week, Ranney shared why the Asian-American Heritage Conference fit that goal adequately.

"We want our students to know about the significant contributions of Asians and Asian-Americans [and the other cultures the heritage conferences focus on] to the United States community," said Ranney,  "[We] really want our students to understand each other." 

These conferences are to help promote awareness of the conditions concerning Asia and create some cultural interaction, especially with Aikido demonstrations through the Japanese Cultural Center and Korean crafts to keep people involved.

April also represents Asian-American History Month and students can look forward to some fun activities like the China Project, which are performances from dancers of China's Nanjing Normal University and NEIU dance program cultural exchange that will take place on Apr. 2 and 3. There will also be a Korean musical and cultural dance performance on Apr. 5.