Life

Looking to find community on campus? The Graduate Student Organization Series features profiles of social, professional, and affinity groups for graduate students to help you expand your personal and professional communities. This article features the Asian Pacific Islander Graduate Student Alliance (APIGSA). Read on to find out how you can get involved!

By Chava Nerenberg, Graduate Programming Assistant
Monday, April 19th, 2021 - 8:30am


Looking to find community on campus? The Graduate Student Organization Series features profiles of social, professional, and affinity groups for graduate students.

This article features the Asian Pacific Islander Graduate Student Alliance (APIGSA).


MISSION

The Asian Pacific Islander Graduate Student Alliance (APIGSA) at UC Santa Barbara is an organization that strives to create and maintain spaces of support for graduate students of Asian panethnicity, while advocating for a more critically accurate representation of Asian American students. APIGSA aims to carry forward critical conversations that are frequently read illegible and absorbed into the background. The Asian panethnic community's plurality of experiences contributes to a rich archive of shared knowledge that networks across ostensibly separate incidents of social injustice. APIGSA members welcome opportunities to critically engage notions of community in their development as students, individuals, and community members.


ACTIVITIES

APIGSA's activities/events tend to fall into one or more of four categories: general meetings, self-care, activism, and social. Over the past year, the organization has hosted and/or co-sponsored game nights and self-care/community care events facilitated by UCSB mental health professionals, which often include dinner and crafts. General meetings provide time for announcements from the wider UCSB community. APIGSA has also been proud to sponsor care packages and micro-grants for members, and care packages for Black graduate students. The APIGSA board meets every other week and the organization hosts at least 2 events a quarter.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Email APIGSA at: apigsa.ucsb@gmail.com

WEBSITES/SOCIAL MEDIA

MEET THE BOARD

Naomi Joseph (she/her): President

Janna Haider (she/her): Vice President

Donna Anderson (she/her): Treasurer

Misa Nguyen (she/her): Community Liaison

Learn about all of the organizations in the series and be sure to subscribe to the GradPost for the latest updates!

Want your organization to be featured in this series? Email gradassistant@graddiv.ucsb.edu.