News & Blog

Welcome to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!

It has been a difficult 14 months for the world, but our Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) brothers and sisters have faced even more struggles. From small harassments to intense acts of violence, the AAPI community has borne the brunt of American fears and grief relating to the pandemic. These malicious acts demonstrate as a country we are not living up to the ideals of our nation. As Americans and Knights, we need to demonstrate these ideals are worth fighting for. Actions you can take range from learning more about the AAPI experience and history to using any privilege we have to push back against racism and violence.

One way to learn more about AAPI history and experiences is to visit the Libraries’ Readings on Race guide. This guide includes pages for general information about racism in America and how to have conversations about it to pages specifically addressing the experiences of marginalized communities in the United States such as Asian America Pacific Islander, African American, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous. Take some time to familiarize yourself with lived experiences beyond your own race or ethnicity so we can stand together and become a more inclusive Knight community.

If you witness or experience incidents of discrimination or violence, report them to the university. If any of these incidents have impacted you, UCF has resources that can help. For more information, visit UCF Cares, Student Care Services or UCF Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) if you are a student, and the Employee Assistance Program if you are an employee.

For 2021 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, UCF Libraries faculty and staff have suggested these 20 books from the library’s collection by or about Asian Pacific Americans. Click the link below to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links. There is also an extensive physical display on the main floor of the John C. Hitt Library near the Research & Information Desk.

Featured Bookshelf: 2021 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Friday, March 26, 2021 at 3pm

Join a virtual panel of women academics from disciplines across the University of Central Florida as they discuss the effects the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their teaching, scholarship, service loads and personal lives.

Panelists:
Dr. RoSusan Bartee, Educational Leadership and Higher Education
Dr. Nessette Falu, Anthropology
Dr. Amelia Lyons, History
Dr. Leandra Preston, Women’s & Gender Studies
Dr. Linda Walters, Biology

Watch the event recording on YouTube with closed captions or STARS with open captions.

Panel hosted by Megan Haught, UCF Libraries, in partnership with UCF Women’s & Gender Studies program.

Exhibit: Monday, March 1st through Friday, April 30th, 2021

The Women First at UCF Project is a collaboration between Dr. M. C. Santana (Women’s and Gender Studies), Dr. Robert Cassanello (History), Mary Rubin, Eli Jimenez, and Christopher Saclolo (Special Collections & University Archives). In this interdisciplinary project, the exhibit team envisioned documenting the legacy of women who occupied a rank, position or graduation as first in their field. Our desire was to create awareness of the impact and work of hundreds of women in our university’s history.

The first part of the project was to complete an exhibit as well as conduct oral histories, with the help of Dr. Anne Bubriski’s students from WST 3371 Woman and Leadership (fall 2019) and WST 3371H Woman and Leadership courses (spring 2020).

The design of the banners and the exhibit logo were done with the help of Dr. Joo Kim’s students enrolled in GRA 3202C Type and Design courses (spring 2020). The logo was created by Courtney Metzger. The banners were created by Horus Moreno, Mikayla Vendryes, and Markis Zarate (1970s banner), Nathalie Deligero, Daniel Denison, and Macey Humphrey (1980s banner), Tyler Berget, Daisy Dixon, and Justine Vadnais (1990s banner), Isabel Hernandez, Valeria Loyola, and Valan Tune (2000s banner), and Jawn Roppoccio (2010s banner).

All historical documents and photos were provided by Mary Rubin and Eli Jimenez in Special Collection & University Archives with help from the Digital Initiatives unit of the UCF Library. The exhibit team is responsible for the curation and wall design. All oral histories will remain in STARS, UCF’s digital repository, as well as in the University Archives at the John C. Hitt Library.

We realize that in our research and outreach we inadvertently overlooked important voices for this exhibit. We apologize for any oversight on our part and ask that you contact us and tell us your stories. Please share your stories with M. C. Santana at santana@ucf.edu.

This exhibit was initially displayed for a short time in March 2020 before the change to remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Women’s History Month began as a week-long celebration in Sonoma, California in 1978 which was centered around International Women’s Day on March 8. A year later during a women’s history conference at Sarah Lawrence College, participants learned how successful the week was and decided to initiate similar in their own areas. President Carter issued the first proclamation for a national Women’s History Week in 1980. In 1987, Congress (after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project) passed Pub. L. 100-9 designating March as Women’s History Month. U.S. Presidents have issued proclamations on Women’s History Month since 1988.

The Libraries will be hosting two virtual events to celebrate Women’s History Month for 2021. The first is a talk by Nicholson School of Communication faculty member, Dr. Kimberly Voss, called “Make No Mistake, Florida is Crucial”: Sen. Lori Wilson and the Equal Rights Amendment, which discusses efforts to ratify the ERA in Florida. The second is a panel discussion called Women & Academia in the Time of COVID where five UCF faculty and administrators will discuss the impact of the COVID pandemic and remote learning on their teaching, scholarship, service loads and personal lives. Both events are free and open to the public. Click on the links to register to attend.

We have created a list of books about women, both history and fiction, suggested by staff. Please click on the read more link below to see the full book list with descriptions and catalog links. And don’t forget to stop by the John C. Hitt Library to browse the Featured Bookshelf on the main floor near the Research & Information Desk for additional Women’s History Month books.

Featured Bookshelf: 2021 Women’s History Month

Friday, March 12, 2021 | 10 am – 11 am | Virtual Event

The Equal Rights Amendment is still a debated issue in the United States. In its basic form, it would add women to the Constitution. The amendment was first written in 1923 – a few years after women won the right to vote. Decades later, it became a significant issue during the Women’s Liberation Movement. Near its almost ratification, Florida was significant – led by Sen. Lori Wilson. It was an interesting discussion about women’s roles in society. This talk will expose the battle for and against the ERA in Florida. It will also address where the ERA battle is today.
– Kimberly Voss, Professor, Journalism

Event recording on Libraries’ YouTube and STARS Libraries Diversity, Education and Inclusion.