Jonathan currently serves as the President of the Filipino Cultural Association at the University of Maryland at College Park. Prior to this position, Jonathan had been a National Director and Treasurer for the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue, Inc. In the development of the University of Maryland's Filipino American Studies Program, Jonathan is responsible for assembling and leading the team of students, faculty, administration, and members of the Filipino American professional community that are working on the project.
Farrah OrtizFarrah Ortiz is a Senior Accounting Major at the R.H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has served as Treasurer of the Filipino Cultural Association for the past two years. Farrah also currently serves as Fundraising Chair for the Filipino American Studies Program. Beginning in Summer/Fall 2007, Farrah plans to join PriceWaterhouse Coopers as an Audit Associate.
Phillip WakefieldPhillip Wakefield is a Senior Criminology / Criminal Justice Major. He is an active participant in the Filipino Cultural Association holding a position on the executive board. He is also a co-chair of the sixth district of the Filipino Intercollegiate dialogue. He Tri-Chaired the 2005 Fall Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue at George Mason University.
Pha-le LePha-le Le is a junior doubling in Family Studies and Communication. Besides being involved in FCA through her position as the sports coordinator, she's also a part of the executive board for the Vietnamese Student Association. She's also currently working for the Maryland Vietnamese Mutual Association, a nonprofit organization aimed to help the community. After graduation she will be out of the country for 2 years working in the Peace Corp.
Matthew SinkiatMatt Sinkiat is a sophomore at the University of Maryland. He is the Historian for the Filipino Cultural Association. Matt likes to play tennis and golf and enjoys days at the beach. He's also an avid photographer and takes pleasure in posting up photos of his friends and family.
Carlos CastilloCarlos Castillo is a Senior Family Studies major at the University of Maryland and is interested in working with the youth of his community. Carlos works as the Sports Coordinator of FCA's e-board and is a part of the Curriculum Committee for the up and coming FAST program. He is currently working with the high school youth of his community's parish in Wheaton, Md.
Paolo SianPaolo Sian is a senior, concentrating in Marketing and a possible minor in Psychology. He has an A.A. Degree in General Studies from Montgomery College Takoma Park campus and was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. He is part of the Executive Board of the Filipino Cultural Association (FCA) as The Islander Editor. Paolo is currently employed by the Military Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C.
Christine AggabaoChristine Aggabao is a freshman pre-pharmacy major at the University of Maryland, College Park. She serves as one of two freshman representatives on the Filipino Cultural Association's executive board. Christine is part of the Filipino American Studies Program's curriculum committee, looking to compose the material that students will be studying in this program. She is very excited to be part of this truly ground breaking venture.
Michael MaranaMichael Marana is a junior at the University of Maryland in College Park, and is majoring in Aerospace Engineering. He is also part of the University Honors Program, the Gemstone Program, and the QUEST Program. Michael has been part of the Filipino Cultural Association since the Fall of 2004, and currently serves as the Filipino Cultural Association's webmaster. In addition, Michael holds an internship at Aither Engineering.
Dr. Larry Hajime Shinagawa has been appointed Director of Asian American Studies and Associate Professor of American Studies. For the past 30 years, he has been involved in the fields of sociology, American studies, multicultural education, ethnic studies, and Asian American studies. Prior to coming to the University of Maryland, he was the Director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity and Associate Professor of the Sociology Department of Ithaca College. As the Center Director, he was responsible for the development of academic programs in African New World Studies, Asian American Studies, Latino Studies, Native American Studies, and Comparative American and Ethnic Studies at Ithaca College.
From 1996 to 2002, Shinagawa served as Chair of the Ethnic Studies Departments and American Multicultural Studies (AMCS) at Sonoma State University, which grew into one of the nation's largest set of academic programs in ethnic studies. The AMCS Department, under his leadership, also established the nation's first 4-year integrated teacher credential major program with an emphasis in multicultural education and ethnic studies. During his tenure at Sonoma State University, he was also the Director of the California State University Census Information Center. Shinagawa has been an author/co-author and editor/co-editor of notable articles, books, anthologies, and book series related to ethnic studies, multicultural education, Asian Americans, and demography.
His research areas are in the social demography of racial groups in the U.S., intermarriage, multiracial identity, and Asian American culture and community. His public policy studies and research for national civil rights and Asian American advocacy organizations has led to improvements in health care, redistricting, census counts, and reforms in police practices. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Ethnic Studies and the Association for Asian American Studies and participates as a board member for other national and regional non-profit community-based organizations and research organizations. Shinagawa received his Ph. D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a B.A. in Sociology and a B. A. in Ethnic Studies.
Juanita Tamayo Lott is known as a student leader and founder of the first Filipino American Studies and first Asian American Studies Department in the U.S. in 1969 at San Francisco State University A social scientist and demographer, her over 30-year career in public, private, and nonprofit sectors include management or policy research positions at the National Center for Educational Statistics, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the National Academy of Sciences, and the U.S. Census Bureau. She is also founder of Tamayo Lottt Associates Juanita is active in the statistical community, serving in leadership capacities within the American Statistical Association (ASA) to serve a diverse population and promote statistical literacy. A long-term advocate for cullture and the arts, she was most recenlty a catalyst for the very successful, year-long Smithsonian Insittution Centennial Commemoration of Filipino Americans, 1906 - 2006. She is a recipient of the Associaton of Asian American Studies ledaership
award and honored as a Maryland Unsung Heroine by the Maryland Department of Education and Commission on Women.
Juanita graduated from San Francisco State University and the University of Chicago. She writes and lectures for both popular and academic audiences. Her publications include: Common Destiny: Filpino American Generations (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006); Spotlight on Heterogeneity: Federal Standards of Racial Classification (National Academy Press, 1996); and Asian Americans: From Racial Category to Multiple Identities (Alta Mira Press, 1998); and Demographic Shifts and Demographic Methods (Proceedings of the internatiional Joint Statistical Meetings, 2003) She is a co-editor of FutureTakes, the newsletter of the D.C chapter of the World Future Society. She and her husband, Robert, are proud parents of UMCP graduates David (2002) and Joseph (2003).
Noel Izon is an independent filmmaker based in Washington, DC. He has been involved in print and broadcast production since 1970. His latest documentary feature Sandaan (One Hundred) chronicles a century of Filipinos in America. In March 2007, it won the coveted Outstanding DC Filmmaker Award at the DC Independent Film Festival. His previous documentary was the multi-award winning historical documentary An Untold Triumph: The Story of the 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments which premiered on national primetime PBS in May of 2005. He spent 10 years at PBS affiliate WNVT-Virginia and at the Educational Film Center prior to forming his own company, ICT, Inc.He grew up in the Philippines, completing his university studies with honors from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in English Literature. He has been making films for over 30 years and has been happily married for 33 years. His productions include over 100 programs for national broadcast, two daughters and one granddaughter.
Gloria BouisGloria J. Bouis is the Associate Director in the Office of Human Relations Programs, the equity compliance and diversity arm of the Office of the President at the University of Maryland. Among her responsibilities as an Associate Director is to oversee the Multiversity Project, a research project dedicated to developing comprehensive framework for how intergroup dialogues should be structured to maximize participants’ learning outcomes. The project is a collaboration among ten major universities around the country, coordinated by University of Michigan. She was also the Director of the Diversity Initiative, a campus-wide institutionalized effort to build and sustain a more inclusive learning community. The Diversity Initiative has been a nationally recognized model program by the Ford Foundation, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and the American Council on Education. Currently, she is the Chair of the President’s Commission on Minority Ethnic Issues (PCMEI). Prior to joining the University of Maryland, she was affiliated with Stanford University as an instructor in the Department of Linguistics. She consults with colleges and community organizations on multicultural organizational development, Asian immigrant adjustment issues, and intergroup relations. At the University of Maryland, she has received many awards including the Outstanding Advisor Award, Asian Achievement Award for Outstanding Service, the Women of Color Award given by the President’s Commission on Women Issues, and the Outstanding Staff Award presented at the annual University Faculty and Staff Convocation.
Rita CacasRita Cacas is a native Washingtonian, and first generation daughter of Maria Bello Cacas and the late Clemente C. Cacas - one of the early pioneer Filipinos – who came to the U.S. in 1929. Rita received her B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Maryland, enjoyed a 20-year career at the National Gallery of Art, and for over 30 years has been a professional photographer, painter, sculptor, and graphic artist.
In 1994-95, Rita's photography exhibit, "A Visit with my Elders: Portraits of Washington Area Filipino-American Pioneer Immigrants," documented and shared the stories and lives of 22 early pioneer Filipinos who settled in the Washington DC area between 1900 –1945. Rita was co-curator for the history exhibit, "Everyday Life and Work in the Early Twentieth Century Philippines," sponsored by the Philippine, Arts, Letters, & Media (PALM) Council in June 2003
In 1999, she received a scholarship from the American Library Association, and completed her graduate degree in Library/Information Studies (M.L.S) with a concentration on Archives, from the University of Maryland in 2002. Rita is currently an Archivist at the National Archives in College Park, MD.