Associated Programs & Projects
The Asian American Research Center at Stanford (AARCS) is part of a vibrant community of Asian American/diaspora research, education, and student organizations from across Stanford's seven schools.
Associated Programs
Asian American Activities Center
The Asian American Activities Center, A³C, is a department under the Vice Provost of Student Affairs and serves as Stanford’s primary resource for Asian and Asian American student affairs and community development. The A³C contributes to the academic mission of the University through its partnerships and collaborative work with faculty, departments and academic programs. Through programming and advising, the center facilitates the multicultural education of all students and the development of leaders who are able to negotiate an increasingly diverse and complex workplace and global environment.
Asian American Studies Program
Asian American Studies is one of the constituent programs that fall under the aegis of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and provides a space for the focused study of topics in Asian America. Writ large, the field of Asian American Studies encompasses such a diverse range of peoples, cultures, and academic foci, and we strive to touch upon a range of areas that reflect this diversity — our course offerings include not only the Humanities and Sciences, but courses in the Schools of Medicine, Law, and Education as well.
In addition, Asian American Studies frequently holds events on focused topics of interest and importance in Asian America. Just in the last year, we held sessions on affirmative action in Asian America; racial justice in college admissions; presented an immersive theater production featuring taiko, big-band jazz, and swing dance in the context of Japanese American incarceration in WWII; had several book talks, guest lecturers, and panel presentations, and sponsored students to attend the annual Association of American Studies Conference.
Center for East Asian Studies
The Center for East Asian Studies is the nexus of East Asia-related research, teaching, outreach and exchange across the Stanford campus. With world-renowned faculty, talented graduate and undergraduate students, internationally-recognized library collections, and outstanding institutional support, Stanford University is home to one of the most distinguished East Asian Studies programs in the country.
The CEAS, established in 1968, supports teaching and research on East Asia-related topics across all disciplines; disseminates knowledge about East Asia through projects of local, regional, national, and international scope; and serves as the intellectual gathering point for a collaborative and innovative community of scholars and students of East Asia.
Center for South Asia
The Center for South Asia is the central forum at Stanford University for the study of South Asia. CSA facilitates research on the region of South Asia which comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Our faculty and graduate students conduct research within and across disciplines to advance the study of South Asia. We convene lectures and conferences that bring together a range of audiences to broaden, nuance, and deepen both scholarly and public understandings of South Asia.
Okada House
The Asian American theme house was established at Stanford in 1971 to create community and center the experiences of a very small and primarily first generation Asian American student population. Renamed in 1979 after John Okada who is recognized as the first Asian American novelist, Okada House continues to explore and celebrate the diversity of Asian American peoples, cultures, and languages in a historical and contemporary context.
Stanford Asian Pacific American Alumni Club
The Stanford Asian Pacific American Alumni Club is one of Stanford University's largest alumni organizations. We are dedicated to connecting Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) alumni to the university and to each other! Membership empowers you to attend numerous events in your region, engage with a thriving alumni community, and receive the latest communications about our alma mater, from an AAPI perspective.
We are active in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, and internationally.
Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education
The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) serves as a bridge between Stanford University and K–12 schools and community colleges by developing multidisciplinary curricular materials on international topics, conducting teacher professional development seminars, and teaching distance-learning courses.
Since 1976, SPICE has supported efforts to internationalize K–12 and community college curricula. As a program of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University, SPICE draws upon the diverse faculty and programmatic interests of Stanford University broadly—and FSI specifically—to integrate knowledge, inquiry, and practice in its curriculum development, teacher professional development, and distance-learning course offerings.
SPICE addresses the Common Core State Standards and other national standards in its work, and recognizes its responsibility to present multiple perspectives and enhance critical thinking and decision-making skills in social science classrooms.
SPICE is a non-profit educational program and receives funding from FSI, several private and government foundations, and private donors.
The Stanford Center for Asian Health Research and Education
The Center for Asian Health Research and Education was founded in October 2018 to provide a common place for research, education and clinical care support allowing disparate faculty, staff, community members and trainees to share ideas and common resources. Currently, there is a lack of resources and community. In particular, given the nature of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AsA-NHPI) Health research, multi-disciplinary groups are needed.
At Stanford, no other centers are significantly investigating and developing educational/clinical care for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AsA-NHPI). Stanford has advantages over other Universities in this area of health research, education and care due to unique patient, faculty/staff and student Demographics, Disease, Epidemiologic/Health economics and humanities expertise.
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) addresses critical issues affecting the countries of Asia, their regional and global affairs, and U.S.-Asia relations. As Stanford University’s hub for the interdisciplinary study of contemporary Asia, we produce policy-relevant research, provide education and training to students, scholars, and practitioners, and strengthen dialogue and cooperation between counterparts in the Asia-Pacific and the United States.
Associated Projects
Arboretum Chinese Labor Quarters
The Arboretum Chinese Labor Quarters site (ACLQ) is located in the Stanford University Arboretum. The site housed Chinese employees who worked across Stanford lands. They were instrumental in the creation and maintenance of the University’s iconic historic landscapes: the Arboretum, Palm Drive, the Oval, and the gardens of the Main Quadrangle.
Cangdong Village Project
The Cangdong Village Project was developed to investigate the material practices of Cangdong Village residents during the Late Qing Dynasty (1875-1912) and Early Republic Period (1912-1927). The project is a transnational, interdisciplinary partnership of researchers from Wuyi University (Jiangmen) in China and from Stanford University and other institutions in the United States, including historians, architectural historians, archaeologists, folklife specialists, botanists, and zoologists.
Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project
The Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University has successfully completed its study, research, and writing. In 2012 when we began our work, we knew we faced formidable research challenges, but the dedicated and determined work of hundreds of scholars, students, and volunteers from around the world helped us recover Chinese railroad worker history unprecedented in richness and comprehensiveness. Our interpretations of culture and scholarship provided original insights into that central experience in Chinese American history and our efforts continue to attract international attention and inspire further efforts to see that the workers receive their due recognition.
Archives: Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford Research Files
Go to The Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project
Market Street Chinatown Archaeological Project
The Market Street Chinatown Archaeological Project is a research and education program developed to catalog, analyze, report, and curate a remarkable collection of artifacts that were excavated in 1985-1988. Once located at the intersections of Market and San Fernando Streets in downtown San José, California, the Market Street Chinatown was founded in the 1860s and occupied until it was burned in an arson fire in 1887. The Project is a collaboration between Stanford University, Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, and History San José.