SHAMIRA ABDULLA
Community Outreach Director, Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project
Shamira E. Abdulla has worked with the issue of oppression and violence against women for the past 7 years in various capacities. She is currently the Community Outreach Director of Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project (A/PI DVRP), in Washington, DC, where she educates the community about domestic violence and issues relevant to A/PI women and A/PI communities; refers abused A/PI women to appropriate social, legal and health services; provides limited peer counseling and victim advocacy to battered clients; provides assistance in obtaining translation and interpretation for battered clients and/or local service providers. In 1999, she earned her Master’s degree in International Development from American University and focused on Gender Issues and South Asia. Shamira received her Bachelor’s degree in 1996 from West Virginia University in Biology, with a concentration in International Studies.
MEIGHAN BELSLEY
Special Assistant to the Executive Director, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
Meighan Belsley, M.S. was born in Washington, D.C. in 1971. She spent her early childhood in Dallas, Texas. In 1978, Meighan returned to the Washington, D.C. area and has lived here since.
Meighan graduated from Virginia Tech in 1993, and received her Masters of Science Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) from the Northern Virginia Center campus of Virginia Tech in 2001. During the MFT program, she conducted 500 hours of family, couples, and individual therapy. For her clinical project, she developed and presented a community model for the prevention of school violence.
As an undergraduate student, Meighan volunteered as a Peer Educator speaking to student groups on a weekly basis about the protection against the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. She was hired as a Peer Educator in her senior year to create and perform in a video-taped series to educate university students about HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and alcohol abuse. Additionally, Meighan served as Deputy Senator for Virginia Tech Student Government, and assisted in establishing a Women’s Center for the University. For her continued service at Virginia Tech, Meighan was selected to the Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society and Who’s Who Among American College and University Women.
Since 1994, Meighan has volunteered her time and energies with various self-awareness workshops. She has produced, coached, and facilitated individuals and groups to increase their own consciousness. Meighan currently facilitates Voice Dialogue, a gentle and effective tool that assists individuals to explore different aspects of themselves, and how to manage their personal and professional relationships.
Presently Meighan is a special assistant to the Executive Director of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), which represents the collective interests of State Mental Health Agencies in the 50 states, 4 territories, and the District of Columbia. NASMHPD establishes key state and federal partnerships to address issues related to public mental health.
Meighan enjoys playing the piano, songwriting, painting, and dancing. She believes that in order to improve the human condition, one must look inward and start with oneself.
LARRY BERMAN
Professor & Director, University of California Washington Center
Berman is the author or co-author of ten books and numerous articles. His research and publications have focused on the presidency, foreign policy and Vietnam. The most recent book, No Peace, No Honor has been featured on C-Span’s Book TV, the History Channel’s Secrets of War, reviewed prominently in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Sacramento Bee, and Washington Times. In July 2002 No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger and Betrayal in Vietnam was published in paperback by Simon & Schuster. The Vietnamese language edition, Khong Hoa Binh, Chang Danh Du: Nixon, Kissinger, Va Su Phan Boi O Viet Nam, was recently published by Viet Tide of Westminster, California.
Berman has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Science Foundation, and several research grants from presidential libraries. He has been a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. and a scholar in residence at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Center in Bellagio, Italy. He has appeared on a number of broadcasts, including Bill Moyers PBS series, “The Public Mind” and David McCullough’s American Experience series, “Vietnam: A Television History.”
Berman received the 1996 Outstanding Mentor of Women in Political Science Award from the Women’s Caucus for Political Science. He received the 1994 Bernath Lecture Prize, given annually by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations to a scholar whose work has most contributed to our understanding of foreign relations.
His class on the American presidency is cited in Lisa Birnbach’s New and Improved College Guide as one of the most recommended classes for undergraduates at UC Davis. He has lectured in Australia, China, Germany, Israel, France, The Netherlands and Vietnam on American politics, foreign policy and Vietnam.
JEAN BRUGGEMAN
Legal Services Coordinator, Boat People SOS
Jean Bruggeman graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2000. She was a Student Attorney in Georgetown’s Domestic Violence Clinic and represented women in obtaining Civil Protection Orders and Child Custody and Support Orders in DC Superior Court. She was awarded a Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship to serve as the VAWA Attorney at Ayuda in Washington DC, representing immigrant women in obtaining legal immigration status, and providing training and technical assistance to service providers nationally.
Jean now serves as the Legal Services Coordinator for Boat People SOS. She currently oversees two programs, focusing on domestic violence and trafficking in persons. The domestic violence program was formed in 1999 to conduct outreach and education within the Vietnamese communities in Northern Virginia. The program has now expanded to provide direct legal and social services, as well as outreach and education in DC, MD, and VA. The trafficking program was formed in 2000 to assist the 250 victims of trafficking (mostly Vietnamese women) enslaved in a sweatshop on the island of American Samoa and is expanding to provide on-going services to these victims now that they are resettling in the US. A new program is also being developed, in partnership with Ayuda, to provide comprehensive services to trafficking victims in the DC area.
KIM-THU BUI
Senior Producer, CNN
Kim-Thu Bui lives near her family in Atlanta, Georgia. She is passionate about her work with the Center for the Visually Impaired and Hands On Atlanta Community Outreach committee. An active member of the Asian American Journalists Association-Atlanta Chapter, she has held every position from Secretary to President and recently completed the AAJA Executive Leadership program in New York.
Kim-Thu is currently a Senior Producer for CNN Special Projects where she supervises the unit and develops, writes, and produces packages for CNN networks. Prior to joining CNN in 1995, Kim-Thu was a writer for the Marietta Daily Journal. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Kennesaw State University. Kim-Thu’s interests include being a “student of life,” practicing yoga, salsa dancing and reading. She was born in Manchester, Connecticut and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area.
CHRISTINE CHEN
Executive Director, Organization of Chinese Americans
Named as one of Newsweek’s “2001 Women of the New Century,” Christine Chen currently serves as the Executive Director for the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), a national Asian Pacific American civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C. representing over 80 chapters and affiliates. She coordinates programs and monitors issues pertaining to the Asian Pacific American community, such as hate crimes, racial profiling, election reform, immigration reform, and affirmative action. Ms. Chen currently sits on the executive board for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans and for YouthVote, and the advisory boards for the Midwest Asian American Students Union (MAASU), and the East Coast Asian American Students Union (ECASU).
Previously, she served as Director of Programs for OCA for six years. She coordinated the first national Asian Pacific American voter registration and education campaign in 1996 and then served as the National Director for the APIAVote 2000 campaign. The campaign initially registered over 75,000 new voters in 1996 and translated and created voter registration posters in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. Ms. Chen also developed a leadership training program, “APIAU: Leadership 101″, which trains over 600 Asian Pacific American college students every year.
NGOC QUANG CHU
President, Vietcare
Dr. Chu is the President of Vietcare. Vietcare was started in 1998 by a small group of Vietnamese Americans who were former refugees. When they were in the refugee camps, each one of them made individual promises to return and provide the same assistance that they had received as refugees. Vietcare began its mission at the last “home” for Vietnamese refugees (the Vietvillage in the Philippines) by taking care of the remaining Vietnamese and proceeded to aid the Filipinos who lived in the surrounding communities. Vietcare aims to help other Vietnamese to learn how to form other volunteer groups so that they too, as Vietnamese refugees, can give back, contribute and continue the spirits that got them to where they presently find themselves.
In 2003, Dr. Chu was nominated and accepted into the American College of Dentists. His induction will be in October 2003. The fellowship in the American College of Dentist is given to those who provide leadership in the field of dentistry and demonstrate commitment to community services. Additionally, he received a Gubernatorial Citation from Governor Parrish Glenndening of Maryland.
CHRISTOPHER DANG
Police Officer, United States Capitol Police
Officer Dang immigrated to the United States with his family in the winter of 1980 when he was 4 years old. Sponsored by a church group in Minnesota, Officer Dang grew up in the inner city of Minneapolis. Following in the footsteps of both his parents who were former police officers in Saigon, Vietnam, Officer Dang knew at a young age he too wanted to be a police officer and serve the community.
Officer Dang attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. While in school, he worked as a reserve police officer for 3½ years and another 1½ years full-time before graduating in 2000. Officer Dang became the head reserve officer of his department and supervised 35 reserve police officers. During this period, Officer Dang also served as a Vietnamese interpreter for the regional police departments, court systems, and hospitals. Officer Dang also served as vice-president of the University’s Vietnamese Association.
In April of 2002, Officer Dang was appointed as a member of the United States Capitol Police. After completing 2 months of basic training in Glynco, Georgia and an additional 3 months of job related training at Cheltonham, Maryland, Officer Dang graduated in the top of his class. Officer Dang is now assigned to the Capitol Division working uder the House Chamber Section. His responsibilities are the protection of Congress, the protection of life and property, preservation of peace, the prevention of crime, and the arrest of violators of the law.
Officer Dang now resides in Northern Virginia.
THE HONORABLE TOM DAVIS
Virginia 11th District, U.S. House of Representatives
Prior to his election to Congress, Tom was the chief elected official in Fairfax County, the eleventh most populous municipality with the second largest county budget in the United States. In 1993, during Tom’s tenure as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Fairfax County was recognized as the nation’s best financially-managed county.
Formerly the Vice President and General Counsel of PRC, Inc., a high technology and professional services firm headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Tom moved to the position of Corporate Counsel upon his election as Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Before his election to that post, Tom served for 12 years as Mason District’s representative to the Board. Tom is also a charter member and past president of the Bailey’s Crossroads Rotary Club, and he has served on numerous charity boards.
Tom was born in Minot, North Dakota on January 5, 1949, and moved with his family to Fairfax County at an early age. He graduated as president of his class from the United States Capitol Page School following four years as a U.S. Senate Page. He went on to Amherst College, graduating with honors in Political Science, and subsequently earned his law degree from the University of Virginia. Tom also attended Officer Candidate School, served on active duty in the U.S. Army, and spent eight years with the Virginia National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve.
A lifelong Republican, Tom was married in 1973 to the former Peggy Rantz. Peggy, a graduate of Fairfax County’s J.E.B. Stuart High School and the University of Virginia Medical School, is a gynecologist in Fairfax. The couple has three children: Carlton, Pamela and Shelley.
Tom’s Legislative Accomplishments:
Tom’s list of legislative accomplishments began almost as soon as he took office, when he was given control of the Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on the District of Columbia. During his first year in Congress, Tom authored and co-sponsored several important bills that were enacted into law, including the D.C. Financial Control Board Act; the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995; the Federal Acquisition Reform Act; and the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Tom quickly earned a reputation among his constituents, colleagues and the media as a strong advocate of federal employees and contractors, and as an expert in federal procurement policy.
Tom also serves as one of four co-chairs of the Information Technology Working Group, a group he founded to promote a better understanding of issues important to the computer and technology industries. In May 1999 he sponsored the Y2K Act, legislation which ensured that businesses spent their money on Y2K compliance rather than saving it for costly lawsuits that might have otherwise arisen. Tom was the recipient of the Electronic Industry Alliance’s 1999 Congressional Technology Policy Award and was inducted into the American Electronics Association’s High Tech Hall of Fame in Spring 2000.
Tom has been a leader in reforming Congress’ lobbying and gift rules and was recognized as a “True Blue Reformer” by the advocacy group “Public Citizen” for his consistently strong support of political and ethics reforms. Tom has earned a “Deficit Hawk” Award and the highest score in Virginia from the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan citizen’s council dedicated to deficit reduction.
In September 1997, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman John Linder named Tom to be his chief recruiter. When the rules were changed in 1998, making the NRCC chairmanship an elected rather than appointed post, Tom won the chairmanship by a convincing margin. After defying the pundits by maintaining the GOP’s majority in the House in November 2000, Tom was easily re-elected to again lead the NRCC through 2002.
Tom stepped down as chair of the D.C. subcommittee at the end of 2000 after a string of legislative wins. Tom backed 1997 legislation granting control of nine city agencies to the Control Board, and in the process secured the closing of Lorton Prison by the end of 2001. In February 1999, Tom sponsored a bill restoring full management powers to the District government; that bill became the first legislation signed into law that year. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment as committee chair came with passage of the D.C. College Access Act, which, for the first time ever, will allow high school graduates in the District to attend public colleges in Maryland and Virginia at in-state rates. In the 107th Congress, Tom will serve as vice chairman of the D.C. subcommittee, as he continues to believe that ensuring the strength and solvency of the Nation’s Capitol is a key to promoting the growth of the entire region.
Tom continues to fight for those issues most important to Northern Virginians, including securing more federal dollars for transportation projects and seeing to it that federal education funding can be spent as local school districts see fit. Tom was instrumental in securing the final $900 million for a new Woodrow Wilson Bridge in 2000, which raised the federal government’s contribution to the new span to $1.5 billion.
In January 2001, Tom was named chairman of the newly formed Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy. He also has reclaimed his seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, with a spot on the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. Both posts are critical to Northern Virginia’s high tech community.
UYEN DINH
Counsel, House Armed Services Committee
Uyen Dinh was born in Saigon, Vietnam and immigrated with her family to the United States on April 20, 1975. She graduated from James Madison University (JMU) in 1993, and from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in 1996. Uyen is a member of the Virginia State Bar.
At JMU, Uyen was a founding sister of the Theta Iota Chapter of Alpha Phi International Fraternity. In addition, she served as the Public Affairs Officer for the Asian American Association, and the program director for the Asian-American Student Conference in 1993. At the Columbus School of Law, Uyen served as the External Affairs Officer for the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA). She also participated in Moot Court and served as Moot Court Judge from 1993-1996.
Uyen is the founder and Director of Empress Productions, a Vietnamese performing arts organization in the Washington, DC area. Empress Productions comprises of young volunteers who perform traditional Vietnamese cultural dances and play traditional instruments. Empress Productions also produce Vietnamese cultural and fashion shows complete with historical narration and authentic costumes. Since 1993, Empress Productions performs annually at the National Independence Day Parade, the Fairfax Fair, Vietnamese American Youth Leadership Conference (VAYLC), and other heritage and culture events in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. Empress Productions is proud to continue this tradition for the 10th consecutive year.
In the mid-1990’s, Uyen served as executive producer and host of Our Generasian, a local cable talk show focusing on Asian-American issues. The weekly show hosted local community and business leaders, scholars, and students as guests to discuss diverse subject matters affecting the Asian-American community. She was a member of the Vietnamese Public Television Board of Directors from 1992-1998.
From 1997-2002, Uyen served as Legislative Counsel for Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA), specializing in national security and defense, international affairs, trade, labor, immigration, civil rights, and First Amendment rights issues. From 2002-2003, she served as Counsel for the Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy of the House Committee on Government Reform. Her portfolio focused on information technology (IT) issues related to national security and homeland defense, first responders, Department of Defense issues, including training, encroachment, and property issues, and nuclear, chemical, biological, radiological (NBCR) terrorism. In early 2003, Uyen served as Counsel on the House Committee on Government Reform where she analyzed statues and legislation within Committee’s jurisdiction, reviewed hearing proposals and analysis for legal issues, and requested audits and reports from Federal agencies. In addition to her Counsel duties, Uyen also served as a senior advisor to Rep. Davis on issues affecting the Asian-American communities in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area.
Presently, Uyen is Counsel for the House Armed Services Committee. Her focus is now authorization and oversight of the Department of Defense IT programs, systems, and policies. Her duties include drafting legislation, preparing hearings, and handling all IT issues for the annual National Defense Authorization Act. She also advises Chairman Jim Saxton (R-NJ) and Members of the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats, and Capabilities Subcommittee on issues involving the Subcommittee’s jurisdiction, House, Senate, and Committee rules, statutes, regulations, and new legislation under consideration in the 108th Congress.
THE HONORABLE VIET D. DINH
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
Viet D. Dinh was sworn in as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy on May 31, 2001.
Prior to his entry into government service, Dinh was Professor of Law and Deputy Director of Asian Law and Policy Studies at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Dinh graduated magna cum laude from both Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was a Class Marshal and an Olin Research Fellow in Law and Economics. He was a law clerk to Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. He served as Associate Special Counsel to the U.S. Senate Whitewater Committee, as Special Counsel to Senator Pete V. Domenici for the Impeachment Trial of the President, and as counsel to the Special Master in In re Austrian and German Bank Holocaust Litigation. He is a member of the District of Columbia and U.S. Supreme Court bars.
As an academic, he specialized in constitutional law, corporations law, and the law and economics of development. His representative publications include Reassessing the Law of Preemption, 88 GEO. L.J. 2085 (2000); What Is the Law in Law and Development?, 3 THE GREEN BAG 2D 19 (1999); Codetermination and Corporate Governance in a Multinational Business Enterprise, 24 J. CORP. L. 975 (1999); and Races, Crime, and the Law, 111 HARV. L. REV. 1289 (1998).
Born on February 22, 1968, in Saigon, Vietnam, Dinh came to America as a refugee in 1978. After 2 years in Portland, Oregon, his family settled in Fullerton, California. He currently resides in Washington, D.C.
JOHN QUOC DUONG
Executive Director, White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
John Quoc Duong is the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In this capacity, he is charged with coordinating all federal activities under Executive Order 13216*, to increase opportunities for and improve the quality of life of over twelve million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). In addition, Mr. Duong works with the White House and the President’s Advisory Commission on AAPIs to advise the President on the needs and concerns of this population.
Prior to joining the Bush-Cheney Administration, Mr. Duong was Vice President of Bridgecreek Development, a real estate development company based in California. He previously served in various capacities in California Governor Pete Wilson’s Office of Community Relations, most recently as Deputy Director of that office. In his appointed capacity, Mr. Duong represented the Governor in all aspects of community affairs throughout the state and was the Governor’s spokesperson to specialty media. He also represented the Governor in protocol matters, including meetings with foreign diplomats, trade delegations, and working with locally-based consulate generals’ offices. In 1999, Mr. Duong founded Q-Strategies, a consulting firm for small businesses.
With a commitment to public service, Mr. Duong has served as a board member on the Contra Costa College Foundation, the Contra Costa County Workforce Development Board, the America Viet League, and the Vietnamese American Council. He was also a member of the Commonwealth Club of California, the Richmond-San Pablo Exchange Club, and the Vietnamese American Public Affairs Committee.
Mr. Duong came to the United States in 1982, at the age of nine, as a refugee from Vietnam. He formerly resided in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis.
JEYON JUNG
Board Member, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
JeYon Jung is an active member and former national governing board D.C. chapter representative to the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (“NAPAWF”), an organization dedicated to forging a grassroots progressive movement for social and economic justice and the political empowerment for Asian and Pacific American women and girls. She is the chair of NAPAWF’s “Comfort Women” Campaign which seeks justice on behalf of World War II’s 200,000 women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery.
Ms. Jung is a civil rights attorney in Washington D.C., where she has practiced housing and public accommodations discrimination law for the last six years. Previously, she clerked for the Honorable Linda K. Davis on the D.C. Superior Court. She received her law degree from the Ohio State University College of Law with honors in 1996. She received a B.A. in Philosophy of Law and Communications from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1992.
PHUONG LY
Reporter, The Washington Post
Phuong Ly got her start in journalism as editor of her high school newspaper in North Carolina. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with degrees in journalism and American history. She worked for two years at the Charlotte Observer before joining the Washington Post in July 1999. Currently, she reports for the paper’s Maryland desk, covering criminal justice and immigration issues. She also sits on the national board of the Asian American Journalists Association, a 1,700-member group that works to ensure fair and accurate news coverage of Asian Americans and increase the number of Asians in the media business.
SHERRI LY
Reporter, WTTG/FOX 5 News
Sherri Ly joined WTTG/FOX 5 as a reporter in September 2002. You will see her reporting on Channel 5 at 10pm weeknights. Since coming to Washington she has covered a wide range of stories, most notably the sniper shootings in October. She is one of a number of reporters who contributed to the station’s sniper coverage, earning Channel 5 a National Edward R. Murrow Award for its reporting.
Prior to coming to Washington, DC, Sherri worked as a reporter and anchor in the Los Angeles area and San Francisco. She traveled across the state, reporting from wildfires in the Sequoia National Forest to snowstorms in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. When not on the road, she also spent much of her time covering political issues. Her five part investigation into California’s mandatory drug treatment law brought attention to substance abuse and sparked debate about the legal system. In Orange County, CA Sherri also covered demonstrations in Little Saigon, when thousands protested the communist Vietnam flag and a picture of Ho Chi Minh at a video store.
Sherri’s mother is Vietnamese. She was born in Okinawa, Japan and grew up in Florida. In her spare time she enjoys sports, traveling and spending time with her husband and family.
CARLTON NGUYEN
Agent, State Farm Insurance
Carlton Nguyen was born in Saigon, Vietnam. He and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1981. After several moves, they settled in Memphis, Tennessee. Carlton grew up in Memphis and earned his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Memphis.
While in college, Carlton interned at Merrill Lynch, NBC Bank, and The Southwestern company-selling books door-to-door. During this period, he attended over 200 hours of motivational seminars listening to speakers from Bob Richards to Rudy.
Carlton began his career with the State Farm office in Nashville, Tennessee immediately after college with the goal of becoming an agent. While in Tennessee, he volunteered with the Junior Achievement and PERT (Partners Encouraging Reading and Tutoring). He also served as Sergeant-At-Arms for Toastmasters International and was a member of the Emerging Markets Council for State Farm in Tennessee and Kentucky. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus.
In 2001, Carlton was offered the opportunity to manage his own agency in Falls Church, Virginia. As a business owner, he runs an insurance and financial services agency. His agency offers auto, life, health, fire, and commercial insurance. Accomplishments with State Farm include: Top 46 Trainee Agent in the nation, Ambassadors for Life, VA Vice-President of Agency Club, and member of National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. Carlton loves his job and enjoys meeting new clients everyday.
PROFESSOR HUNG MANH NGUYEN
Director of Indochina Program, George Mason University
Nguyen Manh Hung is associate professor of Public and International Affairs, director of the Indochina Program, and program coordinator of the Asia Pacific Studies Minor, George Mason University. He received his License en Droit (J.D.) from the Faculty of Law, University of Saigon (1960), and both his M.A. (1963) and Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Virginia (1965). Prior to 1975, Dr. Hung was professor of International Politics, National School of Public Administration and the University of Saigon, Vietnam, and a frequent lecturer at the National Defense College.
Outside the academia, Dr. Hung chaired several committees to reorganize the Vietnamese civil service, served as planning advisor to the President of the National Economic Development Fund, then Deputy Minister of National Planning of the Republic of Vietnam. A former Fulbright Scholar and Social Science Research Council Fellow, Dr. Hung is the author of several books, book chapters, and articles. His major publications include Introduction to International Relations (Saigon, 1971), Peace and Development in South Vietnam (with Nguyen Van Hao et al, Saigon, 1973), and The Challenge of Vietnam’s Reconstruction (with A. Terry Rambo and Neil L. Jameison, Virginia, 1991). His contributed book chapters to New Directions in the International Relations of Southeast Asia (Singapore University Press, 1973), Refugees in the United States (Greenwood Press, 1985), The American War in Vietnam: Lessons, Legacies, and Implications for Future Conflict (Greenwood Press, 1987), Refugees in America in the 1990′s (Greenwood Press, 1996), Southeast Asia On The Growth Path (Universiti Pertanian Malaysia Press, 1997) and published articles in World Affairs, Asian Survey, Pacific Affairs, Amerasia Journal, and Journal of Asian Thought and Society. Dr. Hung is a member of the International Studies Association and the Association for Asian Studies and has participated in major policy working groups on Vietnam and Indochina, including the Indochina Policy Forum of the Aspen Institute, the Indochina Study Group of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Southeast Asia Working Group of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He has served as an advisor to the National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans (NAFEA), the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans (NCVA), and the Vietnamese Association for Computing, Engineering Technology and Science (VACETS).
COURSES TAUGHT: American Foreign Policy, Introduction to International Politics, Government and Politics of Asia
CURRENT RESEARCH: Vietnamese government and politics, U.S.-Vietnamese Relations, U.S. foreign policy toward Asia, Transformation of Communism with special emphasis on China and Vietnam.
KIM OANH NGUYEN
NCVA Lifetime Achievement Awardee
Ms. Kim Oanh Nguyen is an accomplished player of Dan Tranh, a 16-string guitar or zither. Devoted to traditional Vietnamese culture, she has combined her musical training with artistic performances. Ms. Nguyen is a graduate of the Saigon Conservatory of Music and Performing Arts as well as the Gia-Dinh National School of Fine Arts in Viet Nam. She has taught traditional music and dance extensively in Viet Nam and the United States, and in the process, trained hundreds of dancers and musicians. Ms. Nguyen has served as artistic advisor to many well-known Vietnamese musical and dance groups in both Viet Nam and the United States. She is noted for her numerous demonstrations at Smithsonian folk festivals, as well as presentations of traditional Vietnamese music at colleges and universities across America. Ms. Nguyen serves in a leadership role to preserve the rich cultural heritage of Viet Nam, by teaching and advising students the importance of Vietnams’ rich and diverse repertoire of traditional music and dance.
MINA NGUYEN
Director of Public Liaison, U.S. Department of Labor
Mina T. Nguyen was recently named Director of Public Liaison by Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. Serving in the Senior Executive Service for the Bush Administration, Nguyen is responsible for providing advice and counsel to the Secretary of Labor on the vast array of workforce development issues and for planning and development of long-range strategy for achieving Secretarial priorities.
Prior to being named Director of Public Liaison, Nguyen was appointed in September of 2001 to serve as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Labor. In this role, Nguyen worked on the Department’s key initiative by addressing the changing needs of the 21st Century Workforce by leading the Department’s national, state and local outreach efforts.
Prior to her appointment, Nguyen was a management consultant with Accenture, the world’s largest global consulting firm, where she developed business strategies for leading companies in the high-tech, transportation and telecommunications industries.
Nguyen has also been recognized for her public service commitments in bridging the digital divide and assisting in the reorganization of the Bay Area juvenile justice system. She spent 2 years mentoring and working with incarcerated youths as a Juvenile Court Advocate for the Alameda County Juvenile Hall.
Nguyen is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Walter A. Haas School of Business where she received a degree in business administration. She also served in the office of California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher as the UC Berkeley President’s Fellow. Nguyen is a resident of Orange County, California.
1ST LIEUTENANT RYAN PHAM
KC-10 pilot, United States Air Force
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Ryan Pham and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1981 and settled in the Dallas, TX area. Lt. Pham has served in the military for seven years. His major awards include the National Service Defense medal and the Air Force Achievement medal. He received his nomination to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO from Congressman Sam Johnson and graduated in May of 2000 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.
After graduation, he became Assistant Regional Director of Admissions for Air Force ROTC Region 4-5 at Randolph AFB in San Antonio, TX. In this assignment, he was a liaison who cooperated and coordinated with high school counselors to educate high school students about scholarship opportunities through the ROTC program. His efforts helped over 100 students in the south Texas area receive four year Air Force ROTC scholarships. These scholarships offered students the opportunity to attend any of over 900 public and private colleges and universities across the country.
Following his assignment in San Antonio, he started Undergraduate Pilot Training at Columbus AFB in Columbus, MS in August of 2001. At Columbus, he was assigned to the 37th Flying Training Squadron (FTS) and received initial training in the T-37, the Air Force’s primary trainer. After completing T-37 training, he received specialized training as a tanker/transport pilot in the 48th FTS flying the T-1, a military version of the Beech 400 business jet. Upon graduation in September of 2002, he received his Air Force “wings” and was presented the Top Gun Award for T-37 formation flying.
Lt. Pham is currently a KC-10 pilot assigned to the 32nd Air Refueling Squadron at McGuire AFB located in Wrightstown, NJ. The Boeing KC-10 is a variant of the commercial DC-10, originally developed by Douglas Corporation (McDonnell Douglas). This jet is a dual role aircraft because it has the capability to perform air refueling tanker and/or cargo transport missions. Following the September 11th attacks, the KC-10’s from McGuire AFB have been instrumental in the country’s national defense against terrorism. The KC-10 has flown air refueling missions in support of fighters patrolling the east coast and played a vital role in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom by providing aerial refueling for fighters, bombers, and airlifters in addition to transporting cargo to the theater.
THE HONORABLE TU M. PHAM
U.S. Magistrate Judge, Western District of Tennessee
Judge Tu M. Pham was sworn in as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Tennessee on April 21, 2003. At age 31, Judge Pham is the youngest federal magistrate judge in the United States. He is also the country’s first federal judge born in Vietnam.
Judge Pham graduated from Tulane University in 1993 with a B.A. in English, and was president of the Tulane University Vietnamese Association. He received his law degree from The University of Illinois College of Law in 1996, graduating summa cum laude (highest honors), and was a member of the Order of the Coif. While in law school, Judge Pham was the Articles Editor for the law review, a writer for the Illinois Bar Journal–Recent Decisions Section, and an Albert J. Harno Scholar. He also served as secretary for the Asian-American Pacific-Islander Law Students Association.
After law school, Judge Pham was a law clerk to the Honorable William L. Garwood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Judge Pham later joined the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago as a litigation attorney, focusing primarily on complex litigation, antitrust and intellectual property matters.
In 1999, Judge Pham became an Assistant U.S. Attorney, first with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, and later with the Northern District of Illinois. As a federal criminal prosecutor, Judge Pham investigated and prosecuted numerous criminal cases on behalf of the United States, including the successful prosecution of defendants for racketeering, bribery of public officials, tax evasion, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, and gang-related crimes. Just prior to his appointment as a magistrate judge, Judge Pham was assigned to the Chicago Office’s International Narcotics Unit, prosecuting drug trafficking and money laundering by Colombian and Mexican cartels.
Judge Pham was born on November 17, 1971, in Di Linh, Vietnam, and immigrated with his family to the United States in 1975.
THE HONORABLE CHILING TONG
Associate Director, Office of Legislation, Education and Intergovernmental Affairs
Minority Business Development Agency, U.S. Department of Commerce
Chiling Tong is the Associate Director for Legislation, Education and Intergovernmental Affairs, for the Minority Business Development Agency, in the Department of Commerce. Her office is responsible for MBDA’s Congressional outreach, intergovernmental affairs, international trade, advocacy and outreach to federal, state and local governments.
Prior to Tong’s appointment with MBDA, she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia and the Pacific, for the International Trade Administration, in the Department of Commerce, with responsibility for improving access by U.S. companies to Asia-Pacific markets; strengthening the international trade and investment position of the United States; establishing international economic policies concerning the Asia-Pacific region; and carrying out programs to promote international trade. Previously, Tong worked for the State of California to promote California’s economic development, trade and employment services. She was the Director of California’s Office of Trade and Investment in Taipei, Taiwan, and served as Assistant Secretary for International Trade in the California Trade and Commerce Agency. She subsequently worked for the California State Senate Office of Public Affairs as the Chief Asian American Affairs Advisor and was appointed by President George W. Bush as a commissioner of the White House Initiative for Asian Pacific Islander Americans.
Tong received her MBA from California State University at Long Beach and a BA from the Chinese Cultural University in Taiwan. Before joining state government, Tong was awarded a Coro Public Affairs Fellowship. Tong was the President of the International Leadership Foundation, the Chairperson of the Los Angeles County Community Action Board, Vice President of the Monterey Park Community Relations Commission and the Public Affairs Director of the American-Chinese Business Journal. She was also a television anchor and reporter for China TV, a Los Angeles-based international television station. In Sacramento, she served on the Metropolitan Arts Commission and the Sacramento Asian Chamber of Commerce.
Tong is married to Joel Szabat, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy in the U.S. Department of Transportation.
CAPTAIN DUE H. TRAN
Defense Counsel, United States Marine Corps
EDUCATION:
Juris Doctor, Howard University School of Law, May 1997
Bachelor of Science, University of Maryland, August 1994
WORK
United States Marine Corps, 2001 – 2003
Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on August 2001 after graduating from Officer Candidate School. After continuing in the Basic Officer Course 06-01, 2nd Lt. Tran commenced Naval Justice School (NJS) for training in military and operation international law. Upon graduating NJS, 2nd Lt. Tran was promoted to 1stLt Tran and joined 2nd Force Service Support Group (2dFSSG). While at 2dFSSG 1st Lt. Tran worked in the defense billet, and represented Marines and Sailors before courts-martial, and administrative boards. In late 2002, 1st Lt. Tran was augmented to 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade (2dMEB), also known as Task Force Tarawa, in the present Iraqi contingency.
MINH N. VU
Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice
Minh N. Vu is the Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Ralph F. Boyd, Jr. In that capacity, she advises the Assistant Attorney General on matters pending in the Employment, Disability Rights, and Housing Sections of the Civil Rights Division. The Division is the primary institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, gender, handicap, religion, and national origin. The Division also enforces several criminal statutes outlawing violence or threats of violence against people engaged in the exercise of their fundamental rights.
Prior to joining the Civil Rights Division, Ms. Vu was a litigator in a law firm where she specialized in matters involving discrimination in employment, public accommodations, housing, and education. Ms. Vu obtained her B.A. from Columbia College and graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she was an editor of the Law Review. Ms. Vu is originally from Vietnam.
KAYING YANG
Executive Director, Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
KaYing Yang, the Executive Director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC), was formerly the Executive Director of the Women’s Association of Hmong and Lao (WAHL) of St. Paul, Minnesota, a mutual assistance association. A community activist and advocate, Ms. Yang participates in the activities of many civil rights organizations whose mission is to increase the visibility of Asian Pacific American communities locally and nationally. She is a founding member of the Minnesota and Washington, DC chapters of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), the Hmong Women’s Educational Association of Colorado (HWEAC), and the Laotian American National Alliance (LANA). She currently sits on the board of the Asian Pacific American Advisory Committee to the Gates Millennium Scholars Program (GMSP), National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), National Immigration Forum (NIF), Refugees International (RI), LANA, and the Charity Lobbying in the Public Sector (CLPI). In 1998, Ms. Yang was featured by the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper as one of ninety-nine people to watch in 1999. She was also named one of the 500 most influential Asian Americans by Avenue Asia magazine in 1995. In that same year, Ms. Yang was a leading organizer of a group of twelve Hmong women from across the country to participate in the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women and the Non-Governmental Organization Forum in China. She has traveled extensively in the United States and Southeast Asia to speak about the Hmong American experience and diaspora, as well as to learn about the globalization of refugees and the internally displaced people.
A frequently invited speaker and panelist at conferences, seminars and educational symposia throughout the United States, in May of 2000 she joined other Asian American leaders who traveled to Israel as guests of Project Interchange, an international program sponsored by the American Jewish Committee. She has also been quoted in local and national media, and interviews of her life experiences appear in Warrior Lessons, by Phoebe Eng and Women’s Untold Stories, Breaking Silence, Talking Back, Voicing Complexity, edited by Mary Romero & Abigail J. Stewart. In 2000 Ms. Yang was the recipient of the National Hmong Women’s Leadership Award given by the Hmong Women’s Action Team in recognition of her leadership to improve the status of Hmong women and girls. Ms. Yang holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Ms. Yang and her family came to Columbus, Ohio in July of 1976, as refugees from Laos. Her parents, brother, and sister-in-law and two nephews recently made Minnesota their new home state.