San Diego State Adds Asian American Studies Department
By Kelli Luu | 21 Apr, 2025

The third most populous campus of the California State University system meets the demand for an Asian American studies program.

San Diego State University’s Asian American Studies department, launched last month, now provides students an opportunity for either a major or minor degree program.

The department had been approval back in 2022 with the appointment of sociology professor Minjeong Kim, director of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, to lay the foundation.  

Professor Alvin Henry was named inaugural department chair tasked with building the department with an initial $850,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation.  He hired associate professor Stephen Suh and a diverse team of six lecturers.  

The Asian American Studies department is a belated addition to SDSU ethnic studies departments, which already includes Chicano Studies, American Indian Studies, and Africana Studies.  With Asian American students making up 14% of SDSU's 38,000 students the AA Studies Department was long overdue.

To take the curriculum beyond the contents of standard textbooks the department offers courses ranging from subjects like Asian American Film and Media, and Asian Americans and Business, to Eating Asian America. 

The mix of culture, storytelling, and modern perspectives that permeate the program is meant to give students tools not only to share Asian American experiences but to engage with issues of power, identity, and representation in contemporary American society.  

The department will be partnering with the school’s APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Resource Center) and the SDSU School of Theater, Television, and Film.  This will give students hands-on experiences with media shaping contemporary perspectives while enjoying Asian American authors and artists who help them connect with their own cultural heritages.