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UMass Lowell received a $2.5 million U.S. Dept. of Education Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution grant to expand the work of its Asian American Center for Excellence and Engagement.
The Center, in collaboration with UMass Boston, builds on the initial $1.5 million 2021 grant to launch. From 2010 to 2020, the Asian American population of the Bay State nearly doubled. That increase is similarly visible in the student population at UMass Lowell where Asian Americans now make up 14.8% of the student body. Cherry Lim, program director at UMass Lowell’s Asian American Center for Excellence and Engagement, said she relates to the students who frequent it.
“To be frank, I felt lonely in college … and know the direct impact these grants will have on the student body at UMass Lowell,” said Lim, herself a first-generation Cambodian Chinese American. “I went to a private, four-year college and there weren’t many people who looked like me or had similar experiences.”
The grant supports goals to develop a more detailed, broader image of Asian American students’ experiences in higher education and increase awareness of this demographic on campus; focus on the outcomes of Asian American students by investing in leadership development activities, advocacy and career readiness programming; and increase the number of high-need, low-income Asian American students who enroll at UMass Lowell
Thanks to the grant, Asian American high school students who once couldn’t afford to visit campus can now sign up for an overnight stay.
“For many of these Asian American teens, there are already support systems in place for them to excel at UMass Lowell,” said Lim. “Now, they just have to board the bus for a visit.”
The “centerpiece,” however, Lim explained, is the Asian American Leadership Conference.
“The 2021 grant gave us the opportunity to build a community in Lowell,” said Lim, “the second will help us expand our students’ experiences into Boston. Our hope is that through this conference, Asian American students from UMass Lowell and UMass Boston will get to know one another, share stories and create a stronger bond among fellow Asian American, higher-education students.”