Background

Funded by a grant from the United States Office of Education, Funds for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), the institute provides opportunities for educators to investigate the issues and perspectives of multiculturalism, multicultural and multiethnic education as related to educational implications, and practices for culturally responsive teaching.

The institute engages thirty participants each summer in seminars with local nationally recognized scholars in the areas of Asian literature, politics, and history, language workshops in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean (other Asian languages as needed), field trips to museums, and curriculum development of instructional strategies. A resource book is compiled from the curricula developed and field tested.

Mission Statement

The institute's mission is to enable all participants to become empowered with the skills, knowledge, and values necessary to meet the challenges of California's changing demographics by providing quality cultural diversity educational experiences we can envision. The goals of the institute are to:

• Provide an analytical reading of Asian and Asian-American literature for its historical, political, and literary impact on the Asian-American experience.
• Advance a detailed understanding of the development of Asian-American communities from the 19th century to present through an analytical reading of historical texts.
• Investigate and analyze contemporary issues facing Asian Americans as expressed by 20th century Asian-American writers.
• Provide introductory language workshops.
• Engage participants in the development of curricular materials to integrate the Asian American and institute experiences into the classroom setting.

The TASSI page was created by Julie Shen.